Student disabilities services accommodates students
Being unable to hear your professors is not something many students think about.
But for students who are deaf, the issue is more than a thought.
Student Disabilities Services and Residence Life offer accommodations for these students so they can have the most typical college experience possible.
Brenda Mather, assistant director of SDS highlighted the accommodations offered to students who are deaf, including sign language interpreters, caption systems and microphones that pick up hearing aids.
“We also have things like priority seating so they can sit in front (at events) if they read lips,” Mather said.
Roughly 660 students currently utilize Student Disabilities Services, with 30 of these students being deaf or hard of hearing. The group works with individuals whose disabilities range from moderate aid to severe.
The program itself is meant to allow students who are disabled their own agency. Once the student has made contact and has received aid for their disability, they are free to make contact with SDS as much or as little as needed.
For students to register for disability help, arrangements must typically be made by August 1st. However, for students who find themselves in situations of transferring late in the school year or suddenly finding themselves disabled, added accommodations can be made.
“They can register any time,” Mather said. “They would just come in the office and do it on paper or online. It’s just a one page paper, just general information and that starts the process for us.”
While SDS assists students who are deaf with academics, Joan Schmidt, Director of Residence Life, has also helped students live more comfortably in their residence halls.
“We have done things such as install doorbells that are connected to strobe lights so they know when someone comes to the door,” Schmidt said. “We’ve also had accommodations where the phone would have a light on it so that they would know that it was ringing. And we’ve put strobe lights in the hallways so they know if a fire alarm goes off, they need to get out.”
Student Disabilities Services’ on-campus location can be found in Park Library, office 102. Their doors are open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Staff reporter Karissa Lutz contributed to this report.
