October is disability awareness month at LSSU, and on the first floor of the Shouldice Library on October 12, Vicki Fox, director of LSSU’s disability services, held an all-day open house that allowed people to get information about the services that LSSU provides for all forms of disability. Not only were brochures detailing what services were available on display, all of the steps towards registering to receive disability services were specifically listed.  Both the disabilities lab and Fox’s office are on the first floor of the library, so along with receiving information, students could register and view the actual services provided while they were visiting.

With proper documentation, any student with a disability may register with Vicki Fox to receive disability services.  The most common disabilities that frequent their office are usually related to learning, emotional, visual and hearing complications. In the disabilities lab, alternative formats of textbooks are created, such as CD-ROMs, tapes, and large-print versions of text. “We can provide alternative textbooks for virtually any class,” said Fox, who added that the disabilities lab has transcribed over 270 textbooks onto spoken word CD-ROMs.  In addition, notes are taken from lectures, listening devices, specialized software and other equipment aiding with hearing and vision problems are provided, and specialized tests are administered for students who cannot take tests in the regular format. There is even software available that allows students who have trouble writing to dictate their papers onto a computer program.  The disabilities lab is also meant to be an area for students who suffer from fatigue and other ailments to come to and relax, hence the large couches and comfy chairs that share space with the lab’s computers and tape racks. As the service center continues to work towards making the most of the budget that is provided they have been considering the possibility of replacing the large, cumbersome and expensive tape recorders loaned out to students with MP3 players, which are able to record up to 300 hours of lecture at a time and are about half the size and price of the tape recorders.   

As always, there is a process behind providing accommodation for students with disabilities.  Often students will have had some sort of disability throughout high school and not have realized it until arriving at University because of the drastic increase in individual responsibility that University brings.  Without documentation disability services is unable to provide accommodations for these students, and it should be known that the price of getting a diagnostician to examine the problem can be rather steep. The next step is funding for assessment through the Perkins fund, which has very specific criterion for eligibility and can only accommodate a limited number of students. Everyone at the disabilities lab remains committed to seeing that any students who require assistance receives it, and they hope that with greater awareness of the work that the disabilities lab is doing, and the ways in which it is enhancing the ability of disadvantaged students to learn and complete assignments, it will receive increased support.

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved