What Students Can Do to Help Professors Help Them

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Students, there are a number of things that you can do to help your professors best accommodate you.  Here are a couple of examples:

1. Emailing your accommodation letter to your professors before you go to meet with them.

This is something that AEO already instructs students to do, but I think it’s important to highlight the benefits of this.  If your professors are able to see your accommodation letter before you go to meet with them, they have the opportunity to think about what they can do to best accommodate you.  There may be something specific about a particular assignment or the way professors conduct their class that might pose a problem for you due to your disability.  A professor who has your accommodation letter ahead of time may think to share this with you during your meeting, opening up the opportunity for you to talk about this and problem-solve.

2. Communicating with professors

There are a number of little things professors can do to make our lives as students with disabilities a little bit easier.  For example, if a there is an in class presentation, a professor might allow a student with an anxiety disorder to go first and get it over with.  He or she might also allow students with this kind of disability to pick up homework earlier so that they do not have to worry as long about getting it back.  And what about group projects? What if you wanted to use your staggered deadline accommodation? How would you go about doing that without revealing your accommodation to your classmates? It would be helpful if professors thought about a way to prevent this problem before assigning these kinds of projects.  But, our professors are not mind readers.  What we as students must do is not be afraid to let our professors know that these little things can really ease the stress of students with disabilities.  Although not all professors may be open to these kinds of suggestions, it is important to try and to communicate with those who are willing to listen.

 

 

What to Do When a Professor Denies You an Accommodation

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Although most professors are accepting and understanding of accommodations, there are those few who may push students to do the work without accommodations.  One student with a chronic illness said, “There are professors that are more willing to work with you than others.  Most of mine have been really good, but I’ve had a couple who sort of said, ‘Well, I really want you to turn this paper in on time, so even though you’re really not feeling well, let’s see if you can make that happen anyway.’”  Hopefully, this does not happen to you.  But if it does, here’s what you can do:

1) You can consider reasoning with the professor, reminding him or her of your accommodation letter received at the beginning of the semester.  Sometimes this can be difficult because your professor is in a position of authority.  But you should always remember that your accommodations are your legal right.

2) If a professor is being pushy and you don’t want to push back, whether it be because you are worried about your grade in the class or what the professor will think of you, then it may be best to contact AEO.

ACCESS update

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ACCESS, the Vassar organization for students with disabilities and allies, has been keeping busy! On Friday, October 5, ACCESS held a very successful game night in the Faculty Parlor in Main.  ACCESS’ began holding game nights to provide an alternative activity for students on Friday nights.  ACCESS’ next game night is November 16th.  Location TBD.

Dean Chenette’s recent curricular proposals have also caught ACCESS’ attention.  After discussing the changes, ACCESS has decided to write a letter to Dean Chenette in support of the reduction of the course credits required to graduate from 34 to 32.  With the current course credits requirement at 34, students have often elected to take more than 4 credits in a semester throughout their four years here.  ACCESS recognized that taking more than the standard 4 credits in a semester can often be more difficult for students with disabilities (for a variety of reasons).

Finally, as you all know, the Bookstore will be relocating.  This relocation will also bring a lot of other moving of offices and such.  With spaces opening up, ACCESS has taken this opportunity to push for a disability cultural center, similar to the LGBTQ Center, ALANA Center, and Women’s Center.  Why is ACCESS pushing for this kind of space? Here are just a few reasons:

1. Currently, there is no space on campus for students with disabilities.  Although AEO provides individual academic support and accommodations, there is no permanent, accessible, community space for social, educational, and cultural activities on disability issues for students and faculty.

2. Students with disabilities are an important group to recognize and support.  One in ten students on campus are registered with AEO and there are many more with unregistered disabilities or an interest in disability issues.

3. Disability cultural centers are beginning to pop up at colleges all over (including UC Berkeley, Syracuse, Georgetown, and Wesleyan, to name a few)!

4. It would provide students with a supportive, safe, and open space on campus that would foster a welcoming environment for the discussion, understanding, and support of disability issues and concerns.

Halloween alternative programming!

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On Saturday, October 27th, The Witching Hour, hosted by The Programming Board, took place in UpC from 9-10:45pm (before the Villard Room Halloween Party). There was a station to make your own flipbook, a candy table, donuts, make-your-own caramel apples, cider, and a costume contest with Vcash prizes.  The event ended at 10:45 so that people could head over to the Villard room if they wished or stay and to watch The Silence of the Lambs.  The event was perfect for anyone looking for something more low key to do on what is typically one of the craziest nights of the year at Vassar.

 

New Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action

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As of this fall, AEO has gained a new member. Julian Williams is the new Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA).  What exactly does that mean? Williams will be responsible for investigating complaints concerning harassment and discrimination on campus, training staff and students how to react and respond to such acts, promoting and organizing diversity activities on campus, and making sure the campus is accessible.  During his time at Vassar, Williams hopes to evaluate and improve the accessibility of buildings on campus.  For now, however, he hopes to learn more about the issues regarding accessibility that the Vassar community is specifically facing.  Finally, Williams encourages students to use him as a resource!

For more on our new director and his work, see the following article in the misc!

VC hires new EOAA director

What is a disability?

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The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a disability as the condition of being disabled.  How then do they define disabled? The dictionary says, “incapacitated by illness or injury; also : physically or mentally impaired in a way that substantially limits activity especially in relation to employment or education.”  Vassar’s Office of Accessibility and Educational Opportunity (AEO) defines a student with a disability as any person “who has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.”

Many times when people hear the word disability they have the image of someone in a wheelchair in mind; however, there are both visible and invisible disabilities. There are learning disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, mobility impairments, sensory disabilities, and chronic health impairments.  Because this blog will focus on disability in the context of education, I will refer to the thirteen disability categories listed in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

  • autism
  • deaf-blindness
  • deafness
  • emotional disturbance
  • hearing impairment
  • mental retardation (now known as
  • multiple disabilities
  • orthopedic impairment
  • other health impairment
  • specific learning disability
  • speech or language impairment
  • traumatic brain injury
  • visual impairment

For more information on how each of these disabilities is defined, visit http://nichcy.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/gr3.pdf