National Speaker/Disability Coach to Share Challenges and Triumphs Feb. 6

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Academic Support Center’s Office of Disability Services at Florida Institute of Technology will host speaker J.R. Harding, disability expert, on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. The free presentation is open to the public and will be in the Denius Student Center’s Hartley Room on campus.

The author of Now What?, Harding is a two-time United States presidential appointee and seven-time gubernatorial appointee. He will tell his own story about building a full, deeply satisfying personal and professional life after becoming disabled. Book signing will follow the presentation.

Harding, a quadriplegic, survived a violent act that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down in 1983 and a spinal cord injury in a 1998 car accident. Uplifted by the support of his professors and fellow students at Florida State University (FSU), despite his challenges, he earned his doctorate in higher education from FSU in 1999.

A disability consultant since 1990 and external affairs manager for the Agency with Persons with Disabilities since 2009, Harding has more than 20 years experience in public speaking. He has been invited to speak around the country to share his story.

For more information about the event, contact Rachel Densler at (321) 674-8285. More information about Harding can be found at http://www.jrharding.com/index.html.