NORTHRIDGE : CSUN to Launch Job Project for Disabled

Juan Haro didn’t always consider his blindness an obstacle.

As a child, Haro thought he could go into any career he wished, he said. But shortly after starting college at Cal State Northridge last year, Haro, 19, gave up his ambition of becoming a chiropractor, believing that the hands-on experiments and observation required for the field were beyond his abilities, he said.

“Now that I’ve grown up, I see many fields that are difficult for me because people make them difficult, and others that are just too difficult for me,” Haro said.

This month, Haro will become one of 11 students to take part in Project APT (Access to Professional Technical Careers) at CSUN, a program designed to make sure students like him aren’t forced out of scientific fields due to disabilities.

Beginning Aug. 16, Haro, who now plans a career in computer science, will attend a four-day series of seminars at CSUN funded through Project APT to help him learn about technical fields. It will also help the university identify what kinds of adaptive equipment will be needed to help disabled students complete the programs they choose.

CSUN recently won a $225,000 grant for the three-year program from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA wants to increase the number of disabled people working in science and technical fields through Project APT, the first program of its kind in the country, said Dorothy Miller, chairwoman of CSUN’s computer science department.

Miller said NASA has been thwarted in its efforts to recruit disabled workers due to a dearth of qualified applicants. Disabled people are underrepresented in mathematical and scientific fields, she said. Many tend instead to pursue careers as teachers and therapists, professions they are familiar with because of their disabilities, she said.

Besides providing role models in technical fields, Project APT will channel students into internships at NASA. Purchasing equipment will absorb the largest portion of the grant, Miller said. For example, Haro requires specially designed readers--speakers that read text from computer screens--in order to complete his degree. The school will buy the equipment for use in the classroom, Miller said.