Disabilities
EKU Web Accessibility
The concept of creating an accessible website means designing for the widest range of people's abilities. Not all web page visitors are using the standard browsers. Some use adaptive technologies such as screen readers or text-based browsers, have their browser graphics turned off, or may not be able to use a mouse or keyboard. Some users also have physical or cognitive disabilities that impact their use of a web page. Accessible web pages can also help PDAs or phones browse the web.
Academic
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Students who have a disability, particularly a learning disability,
are a rapidly growing population on college campuses. Though it is difficult
to obtain accurate figures, between 3 and 10 percent of college students
report having physical or learning disabilities that require compensatory
classroom teaching accommodations. Such accommodations are neither difficult
to provide nor distracting to the rest of the class. In fact, many of
these accommodations may make learning easier for all your students.
There are Strategies.
Rights and Responsibilities (To Assure Educational Access for Students With Disabilities)
Educational
access is the provision of classroom accommodations, auxiliary aids
and services to ensure equal educational opportunities for all students
regardless of disability. Creating equal educational opportunities is
a collaborative effort between the student, the faculty member, and
the Office for Disability Services (ODS).
Syllabus Disability Statement
A statement placed on course syllabi indicating a faculty member's willingness
to provide reasonable accommodations to a student with a disability.
An example disability statement that can be used/adapted for course
syllabi:
Teaching College Students with Learning Disabilities
At the college level, issues in educating students with disabilities are often different than those affecting K-12 education, and the instructional climate is changing. Taken together, these trends call for a more systematic method of accommodating diverse learning needs. This digest presents the issues and offers a practical approach to improving instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD).
Teaching Students with Invisible Disabilities
There
are numerous other hidden or invisible disabilities such as heart condition,
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Seizure Disorder. It is
also important to remember that the severity of functional limitations
do not depend on your ability to see the disability.
College Students with Learning Disabilities
Students with learning disabilities can greatly benefit when the teacher takes a little extra time and thought to accommodate their needs.
Dispelling Myths
The
first step in teaching students with disabilities seems obvious: treat
them, simply, as you would all students. After all, they come to college
for the same reasons others do and they bring with them the same range
of backgrounds, intelligence and scholastic skills.
Categories of Disabilities
Included
in this category are disorders in the structure and functions of the
eye as manifested by at least one of the following:
Identifying Disabilities
Other
students have what are known as hidden disabilities, which may include
hearing impairments, legal blindness, cardiac conditions, learning disabilities,
cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and psychiatric or seizure disorders.
Accommodating Students With Disabilities
Providing
accommodations necessary for ensuring complete access to and full participation
in the educational process is not intended to require the instructor
to compromise academic standards when evaluating academic performance.
Rather, the accommodations make it possible for a student with a disability
to truly learn the material presented and for an instructor to fairly
evaluate the student's understanding of the material without inference
from the disability. Accommodations may include one or more of the following:
Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities
Documentation
of the disability is required not only to establish the need for special
services but to determine the individual nature of necessary services.
Students who are believed to have a learning disability that has not
been previously, or reliably, identified should be referred to the Office
of Disability Services for consultation.
Teaching Students With Visual Impairments
Whatever
the degree of impairment, students who are visually impaired can participate
fully in such classroom activities, discussions and group work. To record
notes, some use lap-top computers or computerized Braillers. Students
who are visually impaired may encounter difficulties in laboratory classes,
field trips and internships. With planning and adaptive equipment, these
difficulties can be minimized.
Teaching Students with Physical Impairments
Be
prepared to arrange for a change of classroom or building if the classroom
or building is not accessible to students with mobility impairments.
Also be prepared to move class temporarily if an elevator is out of
service.
Teaching Students with Emotional/Social Impairments
Students
with emotional and social disabilities present some of the most difficult
challenges to a professor. Like some disabilities, these impairments
may be hidden or latent, with little or no effect on learning. Unlike
students with other kinds of disabilities, emotional disabilities may
manifest themselves in behavior ranging from indifference to disruptiveness.
Such conduct may make it difficult to remember that students with emotional
and social impairments have little control over their disabilities.
Teaching Students with Hearing Impairments
There
are a variety of services available to students who are hard of hearing.
Students may use Signed English, American Sign Language, Cued Speech,
or oral transliterators in the classroom. These are visual systems and
enhance the reception and expression of spoken English.
Teaching Students with Speech Impairments
Some
of these difficulties can be managed by such mechanical devices as electronic
"speaking" machines or computerized voice synthesizers. Others
may be treated through speech therapy. Speech impairments can be aggravated
by the anxiety inherent in oral communications.
Teaching Students with Other Disabilities
The
general principles set forth in the Overview section apply, particularly
the need to identify the disability and to discuss with the student
both its manifestations and the required accommodations. Below are brief
descriptions of some of the more prevalent disabilities among students
as well as recommended accommodations.
Overview about the students disability
Specific
suggestions for teaching students with disabilities will be offered
in the sections devoted to each disability. Here are some general considerations
to keep in mind.
Accommodation
Tips: Ideas to use with any person with a disability
Creating
Accessible Meetings, General Tips, Labels, and Meeting and Greeting
Initial
Steps to Accommodations
Faculty
play a critical role in helping students who may have disabilities by
referring them to a trained specialist. Once identified faculty can
develop "academic adjustments" that will permit students with
disabilities to fully access lecture and course materials.
Accessible Education Through Assistive Technology
Advances
in technology have had a direct impact on the individual student's educational
process. Schools report that technology is having a positive effect
on children's learning and their perception of themselves as learners,
which is why children with disabilities benefit from the use of assistive
technology.
Technology-based Assessment in Special Education
Technology-based
assessment in special education has made advances during the last two
decades. Whereas the first applications of computer technology for assessment
were for scoring student test forms, contemporary uses support many
other features and functions.
The
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
This
statute became effective for public entities on January 26,1992. It
provides comprehensive civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities
in the areas of employment, state and local governments, public accommodations
and telecommunications. The ADA consists of five titles.
Disability in Higher Education: From Person-Based to Interaction-Based.
The
meaning of disability is analyzed from a conventional and an alternative
perspective. Results of this analysis are applied to such higher education
issues as institutional role, pedagogical expectations, and program
quality. The article advances a view of disability as interaction-specific
rather than person-specific, as arising when the nature of the academic
task or instructional environment fails to support adequately the learning
characteristics of the student. Within this view, learning environments
(including teachers) have a primary influence in creating or preventing
educational disability. Implications of this position for all students
in higher education, not only those conventionally designated as disabled,
are explored.
Expectations and Surprises in Learning to Teach a Member of the Deaf
Culture.
This
article chronicles the experience of a faculty member who, without prior
training in teaching methodology or special education, taught a deaf
graduate student in four courses. Writing from a practical perspective,
the author discusses her expectations and reactions, what she learned
about the Deaf culture, and what the student and the interpreters taught
her about working with students who have disabilities.
