AccessCollege

Background

My name is Owen. I am a college student with depression and narcolepsy. I take medication for symptom management. One side effect of this medication is severe migraine headaches that cause me to have difficulty concentrating, sleeping, and attending class consistently.

Access Issue

I never know when I might get a migraine headache and be forced to miss class. As a result, I have missed quizzes, tests, and assignment deadlines.

Background

My name is Christian and I'm a geography major. I have a learning disability that affects my reading and writing skills.

Access Issue

Due to my disability, I receive testing accommodations (extended time and computer access) through the disability services office. I recently enrolled in a geography course where my exams are given in class followed by continued lecture time. I was concerned about how I would take the extended time I needed for tests on the in-class computers and access the lecture material following the exam.

A turtle or other animal that simply provides a companion for stress relief and relaxation does not meet the definition of a service animal and therefore the institution may not allow it in campus housing. 

DAISY stands for Digital Accessible Information System. The DAISY/NISO Standard is the Digital Talking Book (DTB) specification for accessible digital textbooks. It is a multimedia standard that supports traditional presentation of images and text, as well as audio, content navigation, video, and animation. The DAISY specification is based on an application of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and is formally known as ANSI/NISO Z39.86 Specifications for the Digital Talking Book.

In 2003, several undergraduate students taking a class in disability studies at the University of Washington in Seattle discovered that there wasn't a strong student group on campus working to advocate for students with disabilities. The students thought that members of this campus community should have a stronger voice in promoting accessibility and diversity on campus. So, as a class project, they decided to form such a student organization to promote accessibility and disability activism on their campus.

Since each student's accommodation needs are unique and the student is often most knowledgeable about effective accommodations, be sure to talk with the student about what accommodations they might need.

Some specific accommodations that might be useful to a student with a health impairment in a science lab include the following:

Access For All (AFA) is a student organization at the University of Minnesota-Duluth made up of individuals interested in disability rights and issues. AFA hosts a series called "I am who I am" which features an individual from the community who has a disability speaking at a campus forum each month. The speakers share information about their disabilities, employment issues, accommodations, challenges, and successes.

The speaker series serves to

Podcasts will pose a barrier to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing unless the information is made available in an accessible format. For audio-only podcasts, consider posting a transcript on your course website; this document will also be of value to students who are not deaf. Podcasts that include video can be captioned. Be sure to make transcriptions and captions available in a timely manner.

The training and resource needs of distance learning professionals regarding how to make courses welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities depends on their respective roles. Key stakeholder groups include program administrators, course designers, instructors, and evaluators. Training for these individuals should be tailored to their unique needs and may include content related to access challenges for people with disabilities, legal requirements, accessibility guidelines/standards, design techniques, and resources.

Many students have difficulty seeing the connections between the separate and distinct subjects presented in school. Students at all ability levels often ask, "Well, what does this have to do with that?" They wonder what the purposes of certain lessons or even entire subjects are. When students also struggle with a learning disability, which can make communication and comprehension even more challenging, it is no wonder they often disengage from the classroom.