Change attitudes toward disabilities, Colleen Starkloff tells Fontbonne audience | St. Louis Review

By Joseph Kenny | jkenny@stlouisreview.com
Colleen Kelly Starkloff, co-founder of Paraquad and the Starkloff Disability Institute, applauded at Fontbonne University’s Dec. 17 commencement ceremony. Fontbonne president Dennis C. Golden, right, also took part. Starkloff received an honorary degree and spoke. Fontbonne also honored her late husband, Max Starkloff.
Colleen Kelly Starkloff, co-founder of Paraquad and the Starkloff Disability Institute, applauded at Fontbonne University’s Dec. 17 commencement ceremony. Fontbonne president Dennis C. Golden, right, also took part. Starkloff received an honorary degree and spoke. Fontbonne also honored her late husband, Max Starkloff.
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The Fontbonne University community is urged to be “agents for change” in helping the world to become more welcoming toward people with disabilities through taking a more positive approach.

Colleen Kelly Starkloff, co-director of The Starkloff Disability Institute, gave the commencement address Dec. 17 at Fontbonne and pushed for change in societal attitudes toward disabilities. “Your attitude toward an issue drives how you will approach it,” she said in her text, adding, “I don’t say that lightly — become an agent for change in the world.”

Fontbonne University’s fall dedicated semester topic was “The Disability Experience: Quest for Empowerment.” The topic, in part, was selected to celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The World Bank and World Health Organization issued a report in June that estimated 15 percent of the world’s population has a disability — a billion people, Starkloff said. “We all have to care about the issue of disability and take a positive approach to creating a world that welcomes all people.”

Read more of this article in the St. Louis review:

http://stlouisreview.com/article/2011-12-26/change-attitudes