By Ashley Coto, Special to The Chronicle
Don Dreyer is an undergraduate professor at Hofstra University’s School of Communication with hobbies such as writing, photography, and playing the guitar. Aside from being a Hofstra alumni to the class of 1971, this individual brought success into his life by turning his “adversities into a positive bones.” People with this condition are usually below average height, and are extremely susceptible to fractures.
“I went through a lot of pain as a little boy — so many fractures, and loneliness,” said Dreyer. “I was homebound so my education was provided to me through professors that came to my classroom.”
As a new professor at the University, 2011 marked a challenge for him that he never imagined he would have to face. On 9/11, Professor Dreyer had the responsibility of calming the anxieties of his students, while taming his own. It was his first year, and his first month as a professor, yet he said it is something he would never forget.
Professor Dreyer is clearly more then a professor. He created a curriculum, taught police, and rocked in a band. He was homebound, suffered a painful childhood full of fractures, and even today lives his life in a wheelchair.
Short in height but tall in optimism, Professor Dryer is a role model who shows that having a disability does not mean to be owned by one.
Intending to teach for many more years, Dreyer says it is “an opportunity and an honor to teach the future leaders of teaching.”