Serving Students with Disabilities E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: J-B SS Single Issue Student Services
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 196

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

This issue examines what student services professionals can do to ensure the success of the growing population of students with disabilities. The contributors explore the critical role that community and dignity play in creating a meaningful educational experience for students with disabilities and show how to help these students gain meaningful access and full participation in campus activities. In addition to such common concerns as fulfilling legal requirements and overcoming architectural barriers, the contributors also address a full range of important issues such as effective approaches to recruitment and retention, strategies for career and academic advising, and the impact of financial resources on funding programs and services.This is the 91st issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Student Services.

Leseprobe

Contents

Editor’s Notes

Chapter 1: Setting the Context: Reconsidering the Principles of Full Participation and Meaningful Access for Students with Disabilities

Legal Mandates

Demographic Trends in Education

Values in Student Affairs

Challenges Facing Student Affairs

Conclusion

Chapter 2: Creating Environments of Ability

Environmental Components

Environmental Goals and Purposes

Conclusion

Chapter 3: Recruitment and Admission of Students with Disabilities

Recruitment Process

Admissions Process

Conclusion

Chapter 4: Enhancing Out-of-Class Opportunities for Students with Disabilities

Campus Life Activities

Internships and Service Learning

Study Abroad

Sports and Recreation

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Career and Academic Advising

Student Development Theory and the Interactional Model

The Interactional Model and Approaches to Student Services

Applying the Interactional Model to Specific Advising Issues

Conclusion

Chapter 6: Legal Issues in Serving Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education

General Obligations

Who Is Protected

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

Access to Postsecondary Education

Current Issues Regarding Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

Conclusion

Chapter 7: Funding Programs and Services for Students with Disabilities

Key Funding Issues

Current Concerns

Sources of Funding

Issues Related to Funding

Prudent Management

A Continuing Dilemma

Conclusion

Name Index

Subject Index

Serving Students with Disabilities

Holley A. Belch (ed.)

New Directions for Student Services, no. 91

John H. Schuh, Editor-in-Chief

Elizabeth J. Whitt, Associate Editor

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Editor’s Notes

This volume provides the higher education community generally and the student affairs profession specifically an opportunity to consider key issues that affect the growing population of students with disabilities. The chapter authors address not only two common concerns, legal requirements and architectural barriers, but also issues of dignity, access and meaningful participation, dimensions of inclusive and supportive environments, institutional obligations for recruitment and admissions, the value of and inclusion in out-of-class activities, strategies for career and academic advising, and the impact of financial resources on funding programs and services. Historically, the focus of the higher education community has been accommodations involving the location and level of access to assigned classrooms and residence halls, as well as academic requirements and, recently, learning accommodations.

New questions have emerged, however, that challenge us to look beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law and the essence of meaningful access and full participation. In the past, we were concerned with how students with physical, hearing, speech, or visual disabilities negotiate the physical aspects of the campus. Now we must consider how student affairs professionals, administrators, and faculty members can assist students with disabilities to gain meaningful access to and become full participants in a quality education.

Core values of community, equality, and human dignity serve as an important guiding influence for this volume. These values were proclaimed in the seminal historical documents of the student affairs profession in the form of honoring the uniqueness of the individual, maintaining a holistic view of the development of each student, serving the needs of a broad spectrum of students, and creating community among faculty, staff, and students by working in collaboration on behalf of student learning (American Council on Education, [1937] 1986a, [1949] 1986b).

Community as a value refers to the connection that embraces us as individuals, focuses our attention, and guides us through the educational process (Roberts, 1993). It is the synergy created by the collective effort of individuals to engage each other, to be willing to do something differently, or to learn something new in order to assist others in reaching their educational goals. Shaping and building community is an ongoing process that involves creating an environment that is inclusive and affirming of the uniqueness of individuals.

Equality as a value can be viewed as on a continuum (Clement, 1993). At one extreme is equality of opportunity, where opportunity should be equal for all with similar ability and aspirations regardless of social class. The random assignment of roommates in residence halls without regard to race, religion, or ethnicity serves as an example of equality of opportunity. At the other end of the continuum, fair opportunity describes equality in which intentional interventions mediate the effects of discrimination, bias, or inequity. Clement (1993) offered disability support programs as but one example of fair opportunity.

At the core of the struggle over individual rights is the notion of human dignity (Clement, 1993). For individuals with disabilities, the concept of human dignity is especially salient. The increasing diversity on college campuses compels us to recognize and celebrate the inherent worth of individuals through our behavior, attitudes, and language.

As we think about the values of community, equality, and human dignity with regard to students with disabilities, we are compelled to consider not only our individual convictions but also the positions taken by the institutions in which we work. Student learning, both in class and out of class, cannot be reserved solely for students who learn in ways that we recognize, or are familiar with, or are comfortable with. Higher education, as a learning community, must also welcome and engage those who think and process information differently than many other students do; those who see and experience life in very visual ways and communicate in a more tactile manner than many of us do; those who experience the world in a nonvisual sense, listen keenly, and hear and sense far more than most of us can imagine; and those who physically move from place to place with their own sense of grace and fluidity more so than many others.

It is necessary to extend beyond the efforts and good intentions of individual staff, administrators, and faculty in demonstrating care, nurturance, and a welcoming attitude to individual students in order to create an inclusive and affirming environment. What makes a program, or one part of the college experience, or a particular campus environment more welcoming to a specific student than another? Yuker (1988) characterized the influence of environment on individuals with disabilities as “often a characteristic of the environment rather than of the individual, and those of you who are psychologists will be aware that one of the great psychologists, Kurt Lewin, said that behavior is the function of a person in an environment. . . . The person may have the disability but the environment produces the handicap” (p. 33).

Attention to the environment and its influence on student development continues to play a significant role in our literature, theory base, and day-to-day life on campuses. Throughout this volume, you will recognize familiar concepts (recruitment, out-of-class activities, recreation, study abroad, career and academic advising) that are framed to acknowledge the equality and human dignity of students with disabilities. In addition, you will discover environmental conditions of support and challenge (legal, financial, theoretical) that will help you create supportive and engaging environments that reinforce the notion of community.

In Chapter One, Linda Hall and Holley Belch consider the core values of the student affairs profession and the essential meaning of access for students with disabilities. The lessons we have learned from the emergence of other historically underrepresented groups of students on our campuses serve as examples as we consider the demographic trends of students with disabilities and their participation in higher education.

In Chapter Two, Carney Strange provides a theoretical approach to understanding the influence and impact of environmental factors on the ability of a student to thrive and achieve. Beyond offering a theoretical perspective, he examines ways in which student affairs professionals can create conditions that improve the opportunities for success for students with disabilities.

In Chapter Three, Barbara Palombi suggests the recruitment of students with disabilities as a conventional admissions activity. The emphasis of this chapter is on providing all potential applicants in the recruitment process with appropriate information regarding support services. This approach transmits a sense of care, inclusiveness, and value to applicants who have a disability without compelling them to disclose in order to obtain helpful information. She identifies key issues in evaluating the admissibility of applicants and provides strategies for recruitment.

In Chapter Four, Donna Johnson considers the impact of involvement in activities, study abroad, experiential learning, and recreation and sports for students with disabilities. Out-of-class involvement is a critical element in the success of all students, including students with disabilities. She describes strategies, policies, and programs that serve as exemplary models of involvement.

In Chapter Five, Betty Aune argues for the utilization of an interactional model of disability in the framework of student development theory as a foundation for service delivery in career and academic advising.

In Chapter Six, Jo Anne Simon addresses the legal issues inherent in providing services to students with disabilities. She describes the most timely and current legal decisions and issues affecting higher education in general and student affairs professionals in particular.

Finally, in Chapter Seven, James Rund and Tedde Scharf consider various funding strategies necessary to sustain disability support programs. Complexity in the management of financial resources is addressed at the federal, state, and local levels. Case examples illustrate a range of ways in which various types of institutions successfully create opportunity, meaningful access, and full participation.

Throughout this volume, authors use the term students with disabilities to describe a group of students who have emerged as an underrepresented population on college campuses. As authors, we recognize that a singular term such as this does not convey the breadth of the types of disability (such as learning, visual, hearing, orthopedic, motor, speech, psychiatric, health related, multiple disabilities) represented by students today. It does, however, transmit a sense of understanding of the population of students at the heart of our discussion. We take a lesson from our work with other underrepresented populations in acknowledging that there are general issues or concerns shared by the larger group that might be addressed differently based on subgroup distinctions.

With all of our students, we have an obligation not only to recognize their struggles but also to identify ways in which we can help them transform struggle into accomplishment, disappointment into satisfaction, and presence into participation. This volume offers a framework for readers to examine their role in facilitating the integration of students with disabilities into the institution and to assist institutional representatives in clarifying their commitment to community, equality, and human dignity.

The authors hope to challenge readers to examine the manner in which student affairs professionals, administrators, and faculty individually and collectively take responsibility for the education and development of students who happen to have disabilities. Our intent is not simply to extend the traditional boundaries and responsibilities of disability support programs and the accompanying professional staff. Rather our work here is intended to challenge and broaden our thinking on the value of community, equality, and human dignity and the role we play individually and institutionally in ensuring the involvement and success of students with disabilities in higher education.

References

American Council on Education. “The Student Personnel Point of View.” In G. Saddlemire and A. Rentz (eds.), Student Affairs: A Profession’s Heritage. Alexandria, Va.: American College Personnel Association, 1986a. (Originally published 1937.)

American Council on Education. “The Student Personnel Point of View.” In G. Saddlemire and A. Rentz (eds.), Student Affairs: A Profession’s Heritage. Alexandria, Va.: American College Personnel Association, 1986b. (Originally published 1949.)

Clement, L. M. “Equality, Human Dignity, and Altruism: The Caring Concerns.” In R. B. Young (ed.), Identifying and Implementing the Essential Values of the Profession. New Directions for Student Services, no. 61. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Roberts, D. C. “Community: The Value of Social Synergy.” In R. B. Young (ed.), Identifying and Implementing the Essential Values of the Profession. New Directions for Student Services, no. 61. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Yuker, H. E. Attitudes Toward Persons with Disabilities. New York: Springer, 1988.

Holley A. Belch

Editor

Holley A. Belch is assistant professor, student affairs in higher education, at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She has served as a student affairs professional at Arizona State University, Babson College (Massachusetts), and Siena College (New York) and on the faculty at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Chapter 1

Setting the Context: Reconsidering the Principles of Full Participation and Meaningful Access for Students with Disabilities

Linda M. Hall, Holley A. Belch

Campus communities committed to providing meaningful access to students with disabilities reflect and learn from their history with other underrepresented groups, understand today’s students with disabilities, and wholeheartedly embrace opportunities and challenges before them with solid grounding in the core values of our profession.

A series of legislative mandates in the past thirty years created access to higher education for students with disabilities. Demographic trends confirm the efficacy of the laws with regard to access as an increasing number of students with disabilities are enrolling in postsecondary education. Coupled with an ever increasing number of students with disabilities on campuses is the diversity in the type of disability these students have. In spite of these trends, students with disabilities have been less than successful in participating fully in the college experience and in attaining a college degree.

Legal Mandates

When Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was signed into law, higher education was required to take seriously its responsibility to accommodate the needs of students who are disabled. Colleges and universities have struggled ever since to understand their accountability for meeting the needs of this growing population.

Efforts to serve the educational needs of students with disabilities began more than 135 years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to provide funding for Gallaudet University, a liberal arts institution in Washington, D.C., created to provide higher education for students who are deaf. This legislation sent a message to the country and to higher education that those with disabilities are not “incapable of thinking, learning, or achieving” (Jarrow, 1993, p. 5). Nevertheless another hundred years passed before additional legislation confirmed the legal responsibility of colleges and universities to provide meaningful access to students with disabilities. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (reauthorized in 1992) was the first national civil rights legislation that provided equal access for people with disabilities to public and private postsecondary institutions that receive federal financial assistance. Following the 1973 act, four more years were needed to issue the regulations that implemented this act.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law in 1990, extended disability law from federally funded programs and institutions to those funded by state and local governments as well as private institutions. The ADA defined disability with respect to an individual as (a) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (b) a record of such impairments, or (c) being regarded as having such an impairment (42 USC 12101[2]). Since the 1973 legislation providing access to students with disabilities, additional types of disabilities have been identified and included within the law, which requires campuses to understand differences among students with disabilities and respond in new ways to a wider variety of student needs. The spirit of the law will continue to serve as our compass while the letter of the law continues to be clarified. Since the ADA was signed in 1990, the demographics involving students with disabilities have dramatically changed on campuses.

Demographic Trends in Education

Since the mid-1980s, researchers have forecast the entry of growing numbers of students with disabilities into higher education (Fichten, 1988; Wiseman, Emry, and Morgan, 1988). In 1985, Hodgkinson’s All One System provided the educational community with a compelling statement of the demographic trends that would lead us into the new millennium. There is clear evidence that students with disabilities are represented in increasing numbers on college campuses and have a wide variety of disabilities that are often unseen or invisible (Henderson, 1999).

Participation Rates in Higher Education

Several studies have provided data regarding the participation of students with disabilities in higher education. Between 1986 and 1994, the percentage of individuals with disabilities, age sixteen or older, who reported attending college or completing a degree rose from 29 to 45 (U.S. Department of Education, 1996). A study in 1996 revealed that 6 percent of all undergraduates reported having a disability (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999). In a study conducted in 1998, approximately 9 percent of all entering college freshmen reported having a disability, a substantial increase from 1978, when less than 3 percent reported a disability (Henderson, 1999). The self-report options of disability by college freshmen in the 1998 study included speech, orthopedic, learning disability, health related, partially sighted or blind, and other. Categories from the 1996 study (learning, orthopedic, hearing, visual, speech, and other) were similar to but not exactly as those outlined in the 1998 study (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999).

Factors Contributing to the Increase

A number of factors have converged to contribute to the increasing number of students with disabilities on college campuses. Over the past twenty-five years, disability rates in the general population have increased due to demographic changes. Despite some of the change attributable to an aging population, the increase since 1990 is due to children and young adults with disabilities (Kaye, LaPlante, Carlson, and Wenger, 1996).

The proportion of school-age children with disabilities has risen continually since the 1930s (Anderton, Barrett, and Bogue, 1997). The U.S. Department of Education has reported that in recent years the number of young people age six to twenty-one with disabilities has increased at a greater rate than the general school enrollment (HEATH, 1999). Mainstreaming in secondary schools, efforts by institutions of higher education to increase facility and program accessibility, advances in medical technology, civil rights laws, and an understanding that higher education increases opportunities for employment and independence have contributed to the increasing number of students with disabilities pursuing postsecondary education (Fichten, 1988; Fichten, Bourdon, Amsel, and Fox, 1987; Flick-Hruska and Blythe, 1992). State laws and mandates for transition planning at an early stage have helped students and parents focus during high school and plan for college (Brinckerhoff, Shaw, and McGuire, 1993; Mangrum and Strichart, 1992). Modifications in secondary education (such as greater contact with teachers, more structured time, and more effective teaching techniques and skills) (Brinckerhoff, Shaw, and McGuire, 1993) and changes over time in society’s perception of disability (Walling, 1996) have also contributed to the increase in numbers of students with disabilities enrolling in higher education. Advances in adaptive technology have offered individuals with a variety of disabilities (for example, visual, orthopedic, motor, hearing, learning, speech) greater independence, self-sufficiency, and access to information (Lazzaro, 1993). In addition, students with specific types of disability (such as speech and language impairments, specific learning disabilities, hearing or visual impairment) are more likely to graduate from high school than students with multiple disabilities or autism (HEATH, 1999).

Varying Types of Disability

Not only has higher education witnessed an increase in the number of students with disabilities over time, but the range of disabilities in the student population has expanded as well (Kroeger and Schuck, 1993b; Ryan and McCarthy, 1994). A decade ago partially sighted or blind was the most commonly reported disability among college freshmen; it was fourth in frequency of reporting in 1998 (Henderson, 1999). “Disabling conditions that are most prevalent today are more likely to be invisible (learning disabilities, health impairments, speech impairments, low vision, or loss of hearing) than obvious (deafness, orthopedic, blindness)” (Henderson, 1992, p. iii).

Rates of participation of students with disabilities in higher education vary according to disability (Fairweather and Shaver, 1990; Henderson, 1999). Among students reporting a disability, 41 percent reported a learning disability, 22 percent said they had other disabilities, 19 percent indicated they had a health-related disability, 13 percent indicated they were partially sighted or blind, 12 percent were hearing impaired, 9 percent had orthopedic or physical impairments, and 5 percent had speech impairments (Henderson, 1999). Students with sensory impairments (hearing, visual) showed the highest rates of participation in postsecondary education, whereas young adults with multiple impairments (for example, visual and hearing, speech and mobility) were least represented among the college-going population (Fairweather and Shaver, 1990; HEATH, 1999). One reason for the lack of documentation of students with multiple disabilities on college campuses is directly attributable to data-gathering techniques. In both of the most recent studies, response categories are discreet, and respondents are instructed to select all categories that apply, thus indicating specific types of disability rather than signifying multiple disabilities as a descriptive category (Henderson, 1999; National Center for Education Statistics, 1999).

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