Technical standards determine career related skills and care must be taken in the wording of such task as to not show descrimination based on disabiility.
As ADA Coordinator, I have to ensure that appropriate documentation are filed accordingly to provide the appropriate accomodations. Student's records should be mainatined ina confidential manner, only allowing need to know, so faculty/staff who work with the student will be able to provide the necessary accomodation. I will coordinate efforts - and consult as needed - with our national team for support.
My role is to ensure that students who need accomodations are directed to the right people to get the help they need.
People with disabilities want to be treated the same as all others, and they should! It would be helpful to ask them what they CAN do instead of what they CAN'T do to complete the program requirements. Finding the right person on campus to be the ADA coordinator is a challenge for small institutions.
The biggest takeaway from this section is that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. Students with diabilities want to be treated the same as everyone else and to have people not just look at their disability or what they can not do.
My role is to treat students with respect and generally speaking, treat disabled students as I would any other student. If I'm ever unsure what to do with information regarding a disability or accomodation request I should refer to my employer's policy.
This module highlighted the importance of creating a culture of inclusivity for all students. It really challenged me to think about the impact personal bias can have on interactions with students with disabilities.
Reply to Bethany Azad's post:based off this comment Bethany, It is very important to also be careful in the wording.
In my generation, it was commonplace to refer to a person with a seizure disorder as an epileptic. A person with autism was called autistic, and not a person in the autism spectrum. There was the "deaf kid" in school, and there was always the "handicapped kid". It's remarkable to look back on those times and realize that our approaches were very dehumanizing, and because of this, it probably clouded the ability of the educational community of the time to see the true human potential within every person.
Placing people first puts a better focus on ability and less on the disability.
It's nice to be able to have the influence of current thought and societal norms when we look at people for who they are as people and not for who they are as a cluster of limitations and diagnoses. I am starting to believe, through this training, that once we look beyond things that may be limitations of one's disabilities, we begin to develop, intrinsically, and new mindset where that levelled playing field leaves noone on the sidelines.
This module was informative and provided useful guidelines to apply when supporting students. Treating students respectfully and equally is vital. When unsure about anything relating to support services, connect the student to the correct person on campus.
I am a little dissappointed that everything is from the admission advisory perspective. As Dean of the program, would like to have more information from that perspective. Regardless of that, the information related to technical standards was informative.
Treat everyone with respect regardless of the disability.
It's important that the student self-discloses. If their disability is obvious, then ensuring to ask how we can best assist them and make the experience positive is important.
The story about the technical standards, specifically the case of Casey Martin vs. the PGA in higher education is fascinating! It is a great illustration how attention and legal procedures are important in each particular situation.
Comment on Shashank Atre's post: I agree. Having had a sister that lived most of her life in a motorized wheelchair, I learned a lot about discrimination and about how she just wanted to be treated as normal as her condition would allow.
I found that little bumper sticker on the back of the motorized wheelchair about how "I may not be perfect but ..." I think it said something about excellence? It is something my sister with muscular atrophy would have had on her motorized wheelchair.
The point is we, or maybe it's just me, can be very quick to judge based on diagnosis or appearances and that isn't fair to the individual with a disability. Back in the day, my mom would say my sister was "handicapped." Debbie hated that description. Physically challenged was her preferred label. These videos are very helpful in seeing the whole picture.
That when a applicant is applying to college you shouldn't let their disability keep them from being accepted into the program.
Be tactful when finding out if a student has a disability.
While it is easy to focus on the student's disability, it's important to remember that the student wants to be treated like any other student.
Comment on Jodi Elston's post:
Jodi, I had no idea about half of these areas discussed in these module. What a vast area.. one of the most striking ones was the basic concept that we are not supposed to ask personal questions about the student’s disability..
My role, as a dean of nursing, is to ensure we are following the law and treating students with disabilities as a "person", nothing less, nothing more. At the same time, we must be cognizant that we are meeting their needs "to access" the learning journey that gives them the potential for success.
