Kim Borowicz wants people to look past her disability.

As president of the MSU Council of Students with Disabilities, Borowicz is recognized by some national equal rights leaders as one of the nation’s top young activists.

Borowicz, who is legally blind, spent the past summer as an intern with the American Association for People with Disabilities.

“She blew everyone away,” said Ollie Cantos, general counsel and director of programs for the association.“Kim really makes an impact everywhere she goes.

“She’s also just plain, darn good. She’s an up-and-coming leader.

Borowicz, an interdisciplinary studies in social sciences junior, is working to revive MSU’s council, which returned in 2002 after remaining inactive for several years, and is working to make connections with other minority groups.

Before her internship at the nation’s largest cross-disability organization, Borowicz was chosen as one of 20 participants at a Civil Rights Summer Fellowship at Harvard University. She joined students from across the nation to help revive the Civil Rights Movement.

The Lake Orion resident said her internship allowed her to realize how national organizations deal with the same problems as campus coalitions, including low membership and funding.

“As I was there, I saw them running into the same issues as I faced,” she said. “I’m not the only one pulling my hair out.”

Walking into the association, Borowicz said she expected to be doing mundane duties and working with low-ranked staff.

She was pleasantly surprised to end up in an office with Andy Imparato, the association’s chief executive officer.

“We connected on both a personal and professional level,” Borowicz said. “He’s one of the coolest grown-ups I’ve ever met.”

Borowicz researched legal definitions for people with disabilities in many countries that will be included in research published by the association later this year.

“It’s shocking to see how disabilities have to be proved,” she said. “You don’t have to prove you’re black. You don’t have to prove you’re a woman. In proving your disabilities, you’re disproving your abilities.”

But Borowicz has more than proved her abilities.

Cantos said she brought a youth perspective to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission’s annual meeting for the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Borowicz spoke at the meeting about her pursuit of fair accommodations for reading instructions at her job during high school, after initially being turned down.

“She always took initiative and did more than was asked of her,” Cantos said. “It’s no accident that though hundreds of people applied, Kim earned the internship.”

Borowicz applied dedication and commitment to the association, Cantos said.

“She basically illustrates what it is to be a leader,” he said. “To find something they’re really passionate about, if she applies that to everything she does, Kim will always be successful. She’s an example to anybody, with disabilities or without, that they need to be involved in their community.”

Cantos said Borowicz never considers herself different from anyone else.

“She has a disability, but that’s just part of who she is,” he said.

Borowicz said she always intended to work in advocacy.

With determination, Borowicz has learned to “balance classes, activism and some semblance of a social life.”

Tyler Gill, ASMSU representative for the Council of Students with Disabilities, said he “has never met a more active student leader.”

“She’s very knowledgeable about student-disability issues,” the civil engineering sophomore said. “Kim has a real drive to improve the university for students with disabilities and just students in general.”

With Borowicz as president, Gill said the council will “accomplish far beyond our expectations.”

She said the council is working to better residence hall accommodations for students with disabilities and improve technology’s accessibility on campus.

Mike Hudson, director of the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at MSU, said leaders such as Borowicz help university officials keep in touch with students’ needs.

“It helps us stay attuned to ever-changing accessibility issues for students,” Hudson said.

Hudson said Borowicz, as president of the council, acts as a liaison between students and administrators and the council brings any issues students might have to the attention off officials.

“They’re a sounding board for us,” he said. “Kim was active last year. She always working hard to get people together and make the busy schedules work.”

Borowicz said despite the workload, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else with her future.

“I’m just trying to make the system more fair,” she said. “I’ve never been so sure of what I want to do with my life.”

Tara May can be reached at maytara@msu.edu.