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Disability Awareness Day: ADA Session for Faculty and Staff, 1:00 October 21, 2003, Donohue 403

Richard H. Beinecke, Associate Professor, Suffolk University Dept. of Public Management and Coordinator, MPA Disability Concentration
Our students have many disabilities. Some are obvious such as being in a wheelchair or being deaf or blind. Many others are hidden, for example cancer, a mental illness, a learning disability. Some of our students will become ill or disabled during their time in your class or they are or will need to care for a family member or friend who is disabled or ill. My experience is that with a few accommodations, these students can do very well, even in a graduate program.

Below are a few suggestions for helping to make this happen. I hope that other suggestions will be shared by others during the session.

  • A key is your attitude. Stigma that you recognize or do not recognize in yourself is quickly obvious to these students and can easily get in the way of good learning. Know thyself.

 
  • People first. Students with disabilities are people first. A disability is just a part of who they are and is probably not the main thing that defines them. Use people first language such as a "student with a mental illness", a "person with CP", "students with disabilities", NOT "disabled students", "the learning disabled", "the mentally ill". Encourage all of your students to do the same and to recognize the difference.

 
  • Make sure that all of your students, not just students with disabilities, are comfortable in your classroom. Bring them in fully as classmates to students with disabilities by explaining disabilities and accommodations that you are making (while respecting confidentiality), putting all students whether having a disability or not on teams, and using a disability as a basis when appropriate for a class discussion.

 
  • Students with disabilities’ glasses are half or mostly full, not half empty. Be careful of thinking of them as having an illness or being sick, and not being able to do the class work. Think of them in a positive way, as in recovery, as just as capable as any of your non-disabled students. Remember, genetically, we are all disabled in some way, and we all are at most temporarilyable-bodied.

 
  • Treat your students much as you would anyone else. They still must do your class assignments and tests, do their reading, and be graded by the same criteria that you do others. They cannot dominate a class discussion (unless you want them to) any more than any other student. They must take responsibility for coming to school and meeting the requirements that go with an undergraduate or graduate education.

 
  • Collaborate with your students on what is best for him or her. Early in class, discuss their needs. They usually know best from their experience what is needed.

 
  • Be creative in your accommodations. A wide variety of accommodations may help your students. Most are simple and not difficult to do. Examples: Extra time to take a test or making it a take home instead of in the class test, asking another student to take notes for the disabled student (the Dean of Student’s Office has paper with carbons you can use), letting a student with a back problem stand during class, letting others take a break to go to the bathroom or to get their mind back focused, letting a student miss two classes to help in a family crisis or to briefly go into a hospital, letting student leave some classes early when they are tired from their medications, etc. etc.

 
  • Confidentiality is critical. At the start of every class (whether a class on disability or some other class), as I go through the syllabus language (below), I emphasize that students with disabilities or other personal issues should discuss them privately with me and, unless they give me permission, I will not say anything about this in class. In several classes, for example, I have had students with hearing impairments, mental illnesses or learning disabilities. While I knew of their disabilities, it was UP to them to reveal or not reveal them in class. In most cases, they did and for some it was the first time that they had ever "come out" about it to a group, a powerful experience. But, don’t assume they will. They have every right to never reveal it.

 
  • Put language in your syllabus that makes it clear that you want o support students with disabilities and what procedures they should follow to be sure that their needs are addressed. The following is the standard language in my syllabi and was developed with the Dean of Student’s Office:

Special Needs

Suffolk University is dedicated to a full university education for all its students and is prepared to ensure that all students have access to University services. Students with physical and learning disabilities who seek accommodations are required to (1) identify their needs to the instructor by the end of their third class and (2) notify and provide documentation to the Dean of Students who will, upon approval of the request, forward this information to the student’s instructor and assist him/her in making accommodations. All information will be confidential. Students with other special needs such as work hours, out of town trips, work-family issues, or family emergencies should discuss their situations with their instructors.

Students with serious medical or family/work issues that will require an extended period of time away from the University should consider the option of withdrawing from the course and taking a Leave of Absence.

  • Facilitate an accessible room. If you have a student in a wheelchair, make sure he/she can get into the door and have room to maneuver the chair to a table with enough space. If someone is deaf for hard of hearing, they may need to sit directly in front of you to read your lips.

 
  • Act in an accessible way. Turn your back to the class as little as possible when you have a student who is deaf or hard of hearing, and face towards them as much as possible, especially if they do not have an interpreter. Blind people cannot see your wonderful overheads; verbally describe them as well as showing them.

 
  • Utilize their special experiences and relationships. Some of my best discussions have been when students talked about their disabilities, their feelings, their experiences with services. On several occasions, I have invited their family members, a care giver, or another contact into the class as guest speakers. They often have materials or other resources that I am not familiar with.

 
  • Identify problems early in a class or when a student enters Suffolk and act to resolve them. There is nothing worse than a student whether disabled or not having a crisis at the end of a class or their degree that could have been avoided by addressing it earlier.

 
  • Be ready to handle a crisis and don’t panic. People with disabilities sometimes have crises that may take some collaborative work between the student, their care giver(s), the Dean of Students Office, and yourself to resolve. It may take some work to do so, but it will be time well worth spending.

 
  • Work with the Dean of Students Office. They are very skilled in developing accommodations. They are very knowledgeable about the ADA and what we must do or are not required to do.

 
  • Document what you do, especially ifa student might legally challenge you or the university.

 
  • Get to know your students with disabilities. Most are very interesting people. Their stories are often courageous, inspirational (but not in a super-cryp way), and full of learnings for you and the class (if they want to share them). Together, you can have a great Suffolk experience.