New Access for a New Education

A conversation with two very different colleges on the roles and goals of their Disability Support Services

Assistive Technology-The Education of Access: A conversation with two very different Maryland colleges on the roles and goals of their Disability Support Services

Disability Support Services can be a touchy subject for many colleges and universities around the country. Often, schools reason that the lack of disability support services is due to the lack of student demand for such services. This, however, is a shortsighted fallacy. If a school fails to offer the services a student with disabilities will need, or fails to make known the services it is willing to provide, the student will likely seek out another school better equipped to support his/her needs, even if it means settling for a college he/she isn't as interested in. Thus, it is not the student's responsibility to demand or incur change in the services provided by the schools, but rather it is the school's responsibility to make the curriculum and campus as accessible as possible through universal design (for access and learning) and assistive technology. The challenge rests in getting schools to recognize this.

The lack of disability support services is not a foreign problem for Maryland's higher education school system or the Maryland college-student with disabilities. As technology becomes a significant, necessary part of contemporary life, students with disabilities are more in need than ever of information and technology resources that will help them in acquiring an equitable education. Yet, as schools begin to redefine their curriculums to include and incorporate state-of-the-art technology, they do not often take into consideration the needs of the entire student body. Thus, as opportunity for most students expands in the range of technology education, many students with disabilities are still facing difficulties in acquiring basic educational services, from accessible campuses and computers to basic assistive technology. However, two schools that are setting the trend for Maryland's higher education community have incorporated their disability support services' vision with innovative technology to provide each student with his/her own resources for acquiring an education.

Through Montgomery Community College's and University of Baltimore's understanding of students' needs and an awareness of future changes, both schools have effectively found a balance in providing services and technology while creating a vision for other colleges to follow.

Montgomery Community College's (MCC) Disability Support Services Director, Brenda Williams, and Assistive Technology specialist, Kitwah Boyce, have worked to create an environment conducive to learning while promoting independence and self-advocacy. With a full range of services including sign language interpretation, Braille services, tutoring, note-taking, distance learning, accessible classrooms, and more, MCC provides its students with services that integrate education with independence. However, it is not these basic provisions that makes the school stand out in its services, but the steps it has taken to provide a wholesome education for all its students though universal accessibility.

Kitwah Boyce, the AT specialist at Montgomery Community College, has developed an ADA standard computer prototype that the college has been using since 1999. Though there are three campuses to the school, both Williams and Boyce have made it their prerogative to supply each campus with at least one. The computer includes a range of hardware such as an adjustable table, 21-inch monitor screen, scanner, printer, trackball, keyboard overlay, and more. The software includes Kurzweil 3000, Jaws, and Zoomtext. Furthermore, the school has created a Bobby approved, award-winning website for any student or prospective student with disabilities to easily access.

The University of Baltimore, a small two-year senior college located in the heart of Baltimore City, has observed the needs of its students with disabilities and taken efforts to provide not only the tools necessary to finish college but to enhance and incorporate technology into the university life. Like Montgomery Community College, UB offers a wide variety of services for its students, including sign language interpreters, Braille services, tutoring, note-taking, alternative testing, textbooks on tape, distance learning, etceteras. However, UB has incorporated the most up-to-date assistive technology with a challenging curriculum. From accessible computer workstations around the campus to a Bobby approved accessible website, Jackie Truelove, the DSS director, has made it her goal to provide each student with any and all the learning support he/she needs.

Though it has a small population of students with disabilities, 157 as of June 30, 2001, University of Baltimore's students with disabilities are leaders in the intellectual setting of the school. Many are participants and officers in student government and other organizations on campus. With the average GPA of students with disabilities at 3.0, these accomplishments, in part, can be associated with the quality of services and assistive technology at the school, including software programs such as Jaws and Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Yet, what makes these two schools significant in their services is their devotion to providing an equal education to all students. With a large population of students with disabilities, the need for these services is immense and still growing. Enrolled in Montgomery Community College's fall 2001semester are 644 students with learning disabilities; 144 with physical, orthopedic disabilities; 61 blind/ visually impaired; 103 deaf/hard of hearing; 320 attention deficit; 314 other; making a total of 1145 students that need specialized services. Due to the immense AT needs, one of the most widely used support services is books on tape and the Kurzweil 3000 computer program, closely followed by the note-taking service. The school makes sure that each student has a chance to excel and grow in its program. But how prepared are the students to handle the technology that they are provided when they enter Montgomery Community College?

The majority of the students enrolled come from other schools, mainly high schools where assistive technology is not always available. Because of this, many students, according to Brenda Williams, "don't know how to advocate for themselves." MCC helps teach students how to become their own advocates, how to learn about and use the technology they need, and how to become independent in a college atmosphere. And it is these services that help integrate the students into the social and intellectual structure of the university; Williams declares, "Technology helps reach the goal of the college mission- student success."

University of Baltimore, too, is utilizing the vision of student success as it prepares and provides for its students with disabilities. Perhaps one of UB's most effective and substantial services is its dedication to its students as they move forward into a world vastly different from the university setting. The disability support services office has made sure that the transition from school to the working world is not as difficult for its students with disabilities as it could be. Through its partnership with the UB Center for Student Involvement, DSS runs either a workshop or panel each semester on transitioning into the work world, as well as a campus-wide job fair at least once per semester. The DSS office also works with students in developing their interviewing techniques. Furthermore, a federal recruiter works with the DSS office to help place students with disabilities in jobs.

As both schools work towards a vision of universal design for learning, accessibility, and assistive technology, they are also discovering the areas of disability services that still need to be addressed.

Montgomery Community College, though well equipped with services, is facing its own challenges and changes. With very little support in the arena of panels and workshops on employment for students with disabilities, Brenda Williams admits that not enough is being done. She would also like to upgrade a good deal of the technology and establish new, off-campus facilities where students can access AT. With many changes occurring in the classroom, such as an increase in students with Attention Deficit Disorder and learning to deal with mental illness in the classroom, the Disability Support Services at Montgomery Community College is looking to the future needs of students to shape its present goals and services.

As technology changes, Jackie Truelove redefines the goals of the DSS office at University of Baltimore to include attaining technology grants, providing state-of-the-art technology, and partnering with other local organizations to help integrate technology into the daily life of students with disabilities. As society incorporates technology more readily into its own daily movements, Jackie Truelove foresees a disability support service that will provide more technological support (such as downloading books for students) and less individualized / personal services.

Each college has its own traits that distinguish it and set it apart from other schools. But what both Montgomery Community College and University of Baltimore have in common is their vision of a college atmosphere where assistive technology helps integrate students with disabilities into the intellectual and social structure of the schools. As students are preparing for life and jobs in the twenty-first century, it is pertinent that each student (either with a disability or without) have equal access to the technology that will help him/her discover talents, desires, interests, and most importantly, a sense of self-reliance and independence. When a school is willing to provide these without the student requesting each and every service, it leaves that student with more time to get involved with clubs and organizations, discover new ways of expressing him/her self, making friends, and learning about who he/she really is. Though many Maryland colleges are willing to provide these services upon request, the shared vision of Montgomery Community College and University of Baltimore allows time and room for the social, intellectual, and personal development of students. Thus, students with disabilities can spend less time acquiring services and
more time doing what college is meant to help one to do- learn and grow.