The third annual “Reaching Out for Answers” Disability Resource Expo featured 66 different resource and service exhibitors and demonstrations aimed toward spreading awareness about the disabled community in Urbana-Champaign.

UI students from a special education class participated in the expo Saturday at Lincoln Square Village by creating a “sensory experience” service-learning project to allow people to experience what it is like to have a disability.

The “sensory experience” consisted of four different activities, including a wheelchair activity, an ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) station, a visual impairment simulation and a walking brace activity.

“This is teaching people what it’s like have a disability so they can better understand people with disabilities,” said Samantha Kocher, freshman in Education.

Throughout the day, many children and adults participated in the four activities of the “sensory experience”. Each activity provided information and awareness about a different disability.

“It allows them to experience what it’s like to have a disability and whenever you experience something it changes your perspective on it,” said Olivia Ebinger, sophomore in Education.

“We’re not just telling them about it, they’re actually experiencing it,” Ebinger said.

The expo has been held annually to inform the community about resources and services that people with disabilities can utilize.

“One of the reasons that we do this is for general awareness about disabilities,” said Barbara Bressner, expo coordinator and a consultant for the Champaign County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Board.

Bressner said there are many resources available to the disabled community, but some people do not know they exist.

“Also, it’s a way to eliminate the stigma that is related to disabilities by people learning and being more educated about the disability community,” she added.

Despite the presence of the disabled community on campus, students still may not be aware of issues that face this community, said Travis Von Alst, freshman in Education.

“I feel like students are not as aware as they could be because I know I wasn’t until I started taking this class (Special Education 117),” he said. “I’ve learned how to communicate better with people with disabilities and knowing when to help them and how to ask if they need help.”

Taking special education classes and just interacting with students with disabilities are ways students can become more aware of the disabled community, Ebinger said.