In 40 years, the definition of human disabilities — once perceived to be limited to seeing-, hearing- and mobility-based conditions — has expanded to include disabilities caused by mental and physical conditions.
The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, born in 1974, has responded by providing the most effective accommodations for all students with disabilities, and targeted academic coaching. The goal is to give students an equal opportunity at academic success.
And in its 40th anniversary year, SSD has registered its highest number of students ever — 600 — bringing the current number of students served by the office to 2,100. Students and families who contact SSD can seek referrals on a range of services and adaptive equipment.
The anniversary is celebrated with monthly presentations by experts on student disabilities, and the latest ways to accommodate these students.
The presentations continue with “Engineering and Disabilities” May 15 with Clive D’Souza, assistant professor, Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, and David Chesney, research investigator, College of Engineering, in Room 1670, Bob and Betty Beyster Building, North Campus.
The highlight of the public presentations is Oct. 17. It is the All-Day Conference on Disability Issues: Honoring the Past and Exploring the Future, at Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery, Room 100. Reservations are required; contact [email protected] by Oct. 10.
“The whole university community is invited. We’re trying to appeal to faculty, staff, administrators and students,” says SSD Director Stuart Segal.
Participants will include E. Royster Harper, vice president for student affairs, and Dr. John Greden, executive director of the U-M Depression Center, on the treatment and history of mood disorders. Law school faculty will speak on the history of disability law, and CoE faculty will discuss a driverless-car project and the implications for people with physical and visual disabilities, among other presentations.
SSD’s mission is to support the university’s commitment to equity and diversity by providing support services and academic accommodations to students with disabilities.
Segal says the university can take pride that the office was formed only six months after the passage of landmark civil rights legislation, the 1973 Vocational Rehabilitation Act-Section 504. The law created a federal mandate to provide accommodations to individuals with disabilities. But he says U-M’s accommodations to its students with disabilities actually predate 1974.
“The office still has an endowed fund, titled Projected Books, which dates back to the end of World War II when some student veterans with disabilities needed their books projected on to the ceiling in order to be able to read them,” Segal says.
The office today accommodates students with disabilities ranging from sensory impairments, learning disabilities, ADHD, all the mental health conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety and bipolar conditions) to chronic health conditions. These include digestive illness, diabetes, seizure disorders, AIDS and cancer. Many of these conditions can affect student’s ability to focus, concentrate and make decisions. Accommodations give them an opportunity to succeed, Segal says.
They include devices and tablet and laptop applications that provide access to lecture recordings or text, to access sections students may have missed if a mental or physical condition caused their focus to wander.
“There are new apps students can access on tablets or laptops that can read to them out loud,” Segal adds.
SSD also offers academic coaching to make students more effective and organized learners. All services are free, as SSD seeks funding support for services and accommodation devices from a range of sources.
“Our hope is the university community will join us in our yearlong celebration honoring the office and the students we serve,” Segal says.
