Monday, March 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The ability to help others is something people too often take for granted, according to veteran volunteer Paul Van Rossen.
In July, he'll be 70 years old, but some weeks he works full time as a volunteer in UNLV's Disability Resource Center.
"Being sightless is one thing, but some can't hear and others are confined to wheelchairs and can't even grip a joystick to move their chairs around -- even then they don't give up," said Van Rossen, who has had muscular dystrophy since his youth.
"I have a mobility problem, but some of these kids are dealing with things I can't even imagine and at such a young age. They have their whole lives to deal with these things. They deserve so much credit -- all the credit -- for succeeding. They do it on their own, as far as I'm concerned, and it's nobody's business how or what kind of help they receive."
Though Van Rossen never actually meets with students in person -- he reads textbooks onto tape -- he has been invaluable to dozens who rely on his dedication.
"There is not an award great enough for him," said Anita Stockbauer, who directs the center. "We don't like to abuse him, but when he says, 'You can count on me for emergencies,' he means it."
His only stipulation is that he prefers not to be called if a paid student worker is available, because he remembers college and knows "they need the money."
Stockbauer said good, reliable readers are hard to find. Some textbooks can be intimidating and reading can be very time consuming, she said. But readers are crucial to the about 70 UNLV students who are visually impaired.
"It's like telling someone to go to class without a textbook and take all the tests, and you wouldn't do that," Van Rossen said.
Over the past 18 months, Van Rossen has recorded more than 500 audio tapes for the resource center. If you played them all back-to-back, it would take more than two weeks.
Cynthia Phelps, a senior majoring in business, said Van Rossen is her favorite reader. His 32-year career in business with the Chrysler Foundation lends something to his readings.
"His voice sounds like it is familiar with the terms and make it very natural sounding," said Phelps, who is legally blind.
Being a volunteer reader isn't as simple as dictating, Van Rossen explained as he recounted stumbling over "four-dollar words."
"He who wrote the college textbook needs to go back to college and take plain English 101," Van Rossen quipped.
"Instead of saying something straightforward, they feel obligated to use words that are not in common speech, so students have to get the gist of what they are saying instead of really getting it."
A reader's voice is supposed to carry more meaning than a monotone recitation, but Van Rossen said it's difficult to do that with passages that contain sentences with nine commas and paragraphs that go on for more than a page.
"And these authors have a nasty habit of dropping in Italian and French words," Van Rossen said. "Some of the textbooks read like a good book, but others ..."
One of his assignments was an anthropology text on the Yamamamo Indian tribe of Venezuela. He modestly called it "tension generating." It seems the Yamamamo tribe keeps running into other tribes, all with names foreign to his tongue.
"Sometimes the best thing is to do it phonetically. You just have to remember to do it the same way every time. It may not be correct, but the student will be able to tell tribe A from tribe B."
Then there are the charts, graphs and pictures to consider. Phelps, whose law and management texts frequently feature such obstacles, complimented Van Rossen's translation.
His secret is his wife, Patty. When he's not sure he has described something accurately, he hands her a paper and pencil, plays the tape and looks at the result. If what she writes doesn't resemble the item in the book, he tries again. Because of his care and attention, students who have used one of his readings put in requests for his services.
Van Rossen said at his age this is the closest to school that he wants to get, but he appreciates the education he receives from dictating international business, psychology and marketing texts.
"It's really great to be forced to read something that you wouldn't normally pluck off a library shelf," he said. "It's amazing the things you learn and the things that interest you that you never thought would."
People interested in volunteering at the center can call the office at 895-0866.
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