The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 3, 1993-- 3 OVERCOMING OBSTACLES 1 In addition to exams, term papers and CRISP, these students face the daily challenge of making the University "I know that the first thing that goes through their minds when (my professors) look at me is, 'Oh my gosh, how am I going to deal with this? This is new to me.' That's something that doesn't have to happen If the *University educates the profes- sors about the basics ahead of time." - Richard Clay - visually impaired student ithin the next week, a freshly inted copy of the University's first Services for Students with _0 U W Disabilities(SSD) 'Faculty Hand- book' will arrive in the mailbox of every faculty member on staff at the 'U.' And when that happens, a smile is sure to shine on Rick Bernstein's face. And on Susan Purdy's. And on Christine Anthony's. And on Sarah Ginsburg's. And on the faces of the rest of those students who shared their struggles with the Daily this past week. And on the faces of all of those whose voices will be hard in other places at other times. WThese smiles will emerge because the cre- ation and execution of a handbook by SSD is one more step through the obstacle course these students have been overcoming, each in his or her own way, while striving for disabil- ity awareness since arriving on this campus. Being a student with a disability on this campus is hard. Students have long wrestled with the prospect of educating each professor Sey have to their specific needs year in and ar out. And now, with concentrated time and effort, SSD has knocked down one of the highest hurdles by providing what Richard considers to be basic education. Sam Goodin, director of SSD, recognized the many concerns that students with disabili- ties have, but indicated that change is some- times slow in coming. To speed these changes students with dis- abilities see the need for improved funding for SD and expanded educational programming or the non-disabled University community. OVERCOMING T HE BIGG EST OBSTACLE with the Daily this week agreed that T he students with disabilities who spoke SSD does a more-than sufficient job addressing their needs. Readers Oe made available for visually impaired stu- dents. The option of having oral interpreters in large lecture classes is given to hearing impaired students. A paratransit transportation system allows mobility-impaired students to travel around campus. And students with learn- ing disabilities are assisted in obtaining alterna- accessible to them and of raising others' awareness of their needs. LSA junior Susan Purdy makes her way up the ramp to the Graduate Library. The ramp makes it easier for students like Purdy to go places they need to go, but, "accessibility on campus has a long way to go," she said. Purdy serves on the Affirmative Action Office's Accessibility Task Force of the Council for Disability Concerns. tive exam formats. Indeed, all of the students expressed appre- ciation for the efforts made by SSD to help make their lives run more smoothly. But the one thing the campus still lacks is a method for educating professors. The faculty handbook is the University's attempt at leaping the education hurdle, Goodin said. A sister publication, a student handbook, has also been in the works, for some time. "I've had one similar to this on every college campus I've worked in," Goodin re- marked. "It's a useful tool. There htad been a lot of discussion before I got here. It was a matter of finding the time and getting it done." He noted that educating faculty and staff regarding the needs of students with disabilities is something SSD takes very seriously. "That's been an ongoing concern," he said. "There are a number of different ways to approach it." In addition to the handbooks, SSD also created a faculty awareness videotape. The videotape, which consists of faculty members and students discussing needs of those with disabilities, will be sent out to the University's 3D list --a list of department chairs and others who can make the handbook accessible to the University's larger community of faculty and staff. Sarah, a first-year Law student who has a learning disability, has also made her hand- book for students with learning disabilities available to the University community through SSD, a practice she hopes will spread to other college campuses throughout the nation. With these instructional tools in place, the education of 'able-bodied' members of the University, both faculty and students, may be more easily achieved. n his comments to the Daily, Richard also expressed frustration over the current reader system the campus uses, sug- gesting that the University adopt a cen- tralized system like that in use at Michigan State University (MSU). Visually impaired students at MSU have a reading center where readers dictate texts onto tape in soundproof booths. This eliminates the scheduling conflicts between readers and readees. SSD is not adverse to the system at MSU, Goodin said. "There are some advantages to that sys- tem.... There are a variety of different models for providing the reader service," he added. SSD is exploring the possibility of creating a similar system here. "We've talked to some people in housing and discussed the possibility of getting a cen- ter together," he explained. "When you start talking about having to build carols and perhaps adding staff members ... I don't know when we'll have the money. But I don't think it's a sort of 'pie in the sky' thing. I think it's something we'll get done," he said. Another concern shared by almost all of the students who spoke with the Daily is the avail- ability of adaptive computing technology. Ri- chard noted that of the 30 or so computing sites on campus only two have computers that are adaptable to visually-impaired students. But that obstacle will soon be overcome, said Jim Knox, adaptive technology coordi- nator. With the help of ITD, Knox is creating a server onto which adaptive computing pro- grams can be placed. This will consequently allow any student who needs the programs to access them from any University computer, making that com- puter instantly accessible to most students - even the visually impaired. BUiLDINGS AND S usan, a mobility-impaired student, expressed a number of concerns in her comments to the Daily - the most urgent of those is frustration at the lack of accessibility she per- ceives around campus in both buildings and bathrooms. Goodin notes that the ADA applies only to newly-constructed buildings and to those undergoing renova- tions. "But that doesn't mean that the Univer- sity should not do things to alter existing buildings that aren't ac- cessible," he said. In response to Susan's concern about the inaccessibility of bathroom stalls, Goodin said that he would have to be ap- praised of particular cases in order to know how readily alterations for easy accessibilityI could be made. "For instance, ifit'ss a case of a door open- ing into the stall, that could easily be changed. But other_ cases may not be easy to alter without major structural changes," he explained. He noted that the University has ongoing efforts to increase accessibility. "All of the construction going on around campuswillbring things up to code," he added. In his comments, Richard mentioned that while he appreciates the efforts SSD makes to accommodate all of the needs students with disabilities have, he would like to see the office expand, perhaps with another office on North Campus. Goodin said that while he, too, would like to see the office grow, the economics of the situation may not allow for such expansion in the midst of other changes the office wants to make. "You prioritize things that you would like to see done," Goodin said. "Things like the reader service. If we need to hire additional staff, I'd prefer to have that staff member than to expand into another office." y Michele Hatty PROGRESS, SLOWLY BUT SURELY hristine, a hearing-impaired student, relayed her satisfaction with the way in which resources have been offered to her since she arrived at the University. So, too, did Sarah. While their needs are different from one another, they both have a common wish: To make faculty and fel- low students aware that although they have disabilities, they are students first, and people foremost. Yes, they need compensa- tion for their disabili- ties. They may need to do things differ- ently, tolearnthrough alternate methods, but giventhe opportunity, they will succeed. As these students by strive to overcome these obstacles, the University -outside 4 {s of SSD - is also at- %: E Wytempting to match their efforts, playing a role in increasing awareness of the needsofstudents with disabilities. At the end of July, on the ADA's third anniversary, Vice President of Student Affairs Maureen Hartford and Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Gilbert Whitaker released a memo to all faculty and staff providing a brief overview of the needs of students with different types of disabilities as well as suggestions on how to address those concerns. Goodin said that efforts such as these will slowly but surely increase awareness, and will help to foster communication between the faculty community and the faction of students who overcome obstacles every day. Left photo: First-year Law student Sarah Ginsburg in the Law Quad. Above: First-year engineering student Christine Anthony sits on the Diag. Graphics by Kimberly Albert and Jennifer Angeles Photos by Anastasia Banicki LEARNING DISABILITIES VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS MOBILITY IMPAIRMENTS HEARING IMPAIRMENTS ® !gicrn Iandiiridcpand4 nral intprnr m irptprfi