Hello Dearest Readers!
Just a word of
warning - this blog will not only cover my graduate school experiences but will
also include miscellaneous thoughts pertaining to higher education
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| And gifs. Claro. |
Lately I've been thinking about the services we offer students with disabilities
at institutions of higher education. This is a topic that is of personal
interest to me and one that I don’t think is addressed often enough.
I'll preface this piece with the statement that I am just beginning my studies
in higher education so I have yet to learn about how colleges support students
with disabilities, outside of my lived experiences. But it is something that I
have questions about.
I do question the commitment that universities may have to students with
disabilities....but before we get into that, let's go over the basics:
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| That's right, get comfy. I'm bout to drop some knowledge on y'all |
American with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides federal guidelines
for increasing accessibility with people with disabilities
What is a Disability (as defined by the ADA)?
- A physical or
mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life
activities of the individual;
- A record of such
an impairment; or
- Being regarded as
having such an impairment
What Types of Disabilities Are There?
According to Southern New Hampshire University, the following is a brief list
of people affected by the ADA:
All conditions which entitled a student
to receive special education while attending grade school (e.g., mental
retardation, learning disabilities, serious emotional disturbances), AIDS,
cancer, alcohol or drug addiction (so long as the student is not a current user
of unlawful drugs), environmental illness, attention deficit disorder,
diabetes, asthma, physical disabilities, behavior disorders, etc., so long as
the condition substantially limits a major life activity.
How Does the ADA Affect Higher Ed?
Section 504
states:
No otherwise qualified individual with
disabilities in the United States...shall, solely by reason of his/her
disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of,
or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving
federal financial assistance...
In essence, an institution of higher education must provide reasonable
accommodations. These could include: class notes, extended test taking time,
tutoring, books in braile or audio, and other accommodations. And believe
me, I know that there are many professionals in higher education that are
working to make sure students feel comfortable in their new academic
environment.
But I question the lack of critical thinking about how and where we are
providing those services.
A Brief Critique (because I do not have time
for an in-depth analysis - I got papers and reading and grad work, oh my!)
I know two universities that place their Office of Disability Services on the
3rd or 4th floor of a building. Bowling Green State University, my alma mater,
has its office on the 4th floor of South Hall, one of the oldest buildings on
campus with an elevator that has seen better days (about two decades ago). My
current institution, Indiana University, hosts its office on the 4th floor of
the H B Wells library.
Why yes, there
are elevators in each of these buildings, but...really? That just feels rather
insensitive to me. It is an additional stress to students with physical
disabilities and increases difficulty in the case of exiting for an emergency.
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Not completely accurate, granted. But in case
of a fire…I mean, really?
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It seems surprising that these universities would not consider our students
with physical disabilities when it comes to designating their space on campus. Especially
when it seems that the term "disability" is immediately equated to a
physical disability, in the minds of many people - which isn't fair to students at all. Which leads me to the idea
that I feel like many people - students, faculty, staff, etc - forget that
there are other impairing disabilities.
Conditions that I
am especially aware of, due to personal experiences with family/friends,
include learning disabilities/cognitive disorders and psychiatric disorders.
Anecdotal evidence points to the fact that many staff and faculty members do
not understand the full extent of limitations and possibilities associated with
these conditions. This is understandable - there are a plethora of conditions
under these two main headings (autism spectrum disorder, attention deficient
disorder, depression, schizophrenia, etc). But we're doing a disservice to our
students by not attaining a full grasp of these issues. After all, how can we
properly counsel or teach students if we’re unaware of the connection between
their disability and completing college?
There is still a stigma in society concerning these conditions and I wonder at the acceptance level that exists - mind you, I'm not saying that faculty and staff do not care about these issues, but I do think there are cases where they do not "get it". These "invisible disabilities" are sometimes met with skepticism and I know personally of cases where professors don't really think that the student has a 'disability' and are less than accommodating.
Of course, the response to these critiques is to a)move disability services to a ground floor office and b)make sure more training is provided for understanding the various conditions that affect students. I understand that the former issue may require funds for renovations or the political pieces of 'taking' a different department's office. The latter would result from more funds (to invest in training) and time (spent training instead of daily tasks - because great training on disabilities requires more than just a 2 hour seminar). Additionally the trainings become very expensive when you begin adding up all the administrative staff and faculty members on a campus. But I challenge my peers in higher education to review these issues and take action on their campuses. Show your commitment to diversity and accessibility through action, not words.
If we are truly focused, as a community, on helping students succeed, we need to make sure we are helping all students succeed.
Quick Facts:
- In 1988, 16% of
students reported having a learning disability. In 2001 this number more than
doubled to 40.1%. (Southern New Hampshire University
- The proportion of full-time freshmen who
reported having one or more disabilities increased from 2.6% in 1978 to a high
of 8.2% in 1994, and most recently, 6.0% in 2000 (Henderson, 2001
- At postsecondary educational institutions,
enrollment of students with a psychiatric disability has grown from an
estimated 2.6% in 1978 to more than 9.0% in 1998 (Collins, 2000).
- While services at postsecondary institutions
are in place to effectively meet the educational needs of students with
physical disabilities, the educational needs of students with mental
disabilities have met with limited success (Collins & Mowbray, 2005b;
Loewen, 1993; Mowbray et al., 2006).
- Approximately 86% of students who have a
psychological disorder withdraw from college prior to completing their degree
(Collins & Mowbray, 2005a)
What Do
You Think?
Are we doing enough in higher education to meet the needs of our
students with disabilities? What more could be done? What universities out
there are doing a great job of addressing these diverse and intricate needs?
And finally, what are you doing to help address these needs?
Want to
learn more?
Northern Illinois University has a great basic breakdown of the
different types of disabilities as well as some statistical data: http://www.niu.edu/success/disabilities.shtml
. Also, be sure to check out the references – I found some great articles.
References
Collins,
K. D. (2000). Coordination of rehabilitation services in higher education for
students with psychiatric disabilities. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation
Counseling, 31(4), 36-39.
Collins,
M. E., & Mowbray, C. T. (2005a). Higher education and psychiatric
disabilities: National survey of campus disability services. American Journal
of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 304-315.
Collins,
M. E., & Mowbray, C. T. (2005b). Understanding the policy context for
supporting students with psychiatric disabilities in higher education.
Community Mental Health Journal, 41, 431-450.
Henderson, C. (2001) College freshmen with disabilities: a
biennial statistical profile. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education.
Kiuhara, S., & Huefner, D. (2008). Students with psychiatric
disabilities in higher education settings: the Americans With Disabilities Act
and beyond. Journal Of Disability Policy Studies, 19(2), 103-113.
Northern Illinois University. Enhancing
Success for Students with Disabilities. Retrieved on October 3, 2012 from http://www.niu.edu/success/disabilities.shtml.
Southern New
Hampshire University. Rights and
Responsibilities of Students in Higher Education (ADA). Retrieved on
October 3, 2012 from http://www.snhu.edu/1350.asp.
Wilhelm, S.
(2003). Accommodating Mental Disabilities in Higher Education: A Practical
Guide to ADA Requirements. Journal Of Law & Education, 32(2),
217-237.
