Access to Accommodations Depends on College Socioeconomic Factors: A Case for Social Justice in Disability Determination and Accommodation Granting
Robert Weis, Denison UniversitySophie Bittner, Denison UniversityThe purpose of our study was to determine if students’ access to accommodations might vary as a function of socioeconomic factors. We analyzed data from the US Department of Education to examine differences in the percent of undergraduates classified with disabilities and receiving accommodations as a function of institutional type (i.e., public, private, 4-year, 2-year), selectivity (i.e., median ACT/SAT scores), and student economic status (i.e., percent of students receiving Pell grants), over the past 12 years, since the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. Results showed significant institutional characteristics by time interactions. Twelve years ago, there were no differences in accommodation access across institutions. Over time, accommodations have been increasingly and disproportionately awarded to students attending America’s most selective private colleges with the fewest percentage of low-income students.
20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course
Lyla Crawford, DO-IT, University of Washington
In this poster we share 20 tips—distilled from reports of students with disabilities, researchers and practitioners—that provide a good place for instructors and designers to start as they begin to work toward making their courses more inclusive of all students.
32 Heads Are Better Than One: How Grassroots Efforts Can Contribute to Our Professional Knowledge Base
Members of the Independent Long COVID Task ForceA group of 32 professionals from institutions across the country came together to create a resource for disability service providers to use in supporting students with Long COVID. This poster outlines the process we used in creating this resource, which we believe has practical potential for other grassroots efforts by disability service providers to support their colleagues in responding to issues of concern within the field. We started with a show of interest and a topic or concern that was not being addressed in any direct way by others. Through an open discussion of what we knew of the topic, what we worried about, what we thought might help, and what we were in a position to provide, we eventually settled on the format of a “work product” that we believed would be useful. We then followed a series of steps to move from concept to completion, with active participation from service providers with widely diverse experience and student focus.
Disability Resources Career Services… Best practices to help students with disabilities.
Allison Frees-Williams, University of IllinoisThe University of Illinois is one of the only Disability Resources that has its own Career Services Specialist in the country. This poster describes what the U of I DRES Career Services offers students with disabilities, as well as the campus as a whole, in teaching best practices when it comes to working with students with disabilities.
Addressing the Nuance in Accommodations Processes among Disability Service Offices at 4-Year Postsecondary Institutions
Sarah Young, Trinity Washington UniversityBecause beginning professionals may not have the experience or understanding of how to approach accommodations processes in DSOs, it's important to have frank conversations about what similarities and differences exist between DSOs at different institutions. How is the accommodations process engaged and implemented in different settings? This poster will dive into some of these nuances in difference based on results from a recent qualitative study in which directors were interviewed to understand how their offices function and specifics of their accommodations processes.
The Lived Experience: Student Perceptions of Inclusivity and Accessibility on Campus
Alisha Bailey, Western New England University
Ileana Alfonso, Western New England University
The purpose of our mixed-methods study was to understand the lived experiences of students on campus as it relates to perceptions of inclusivity and accessibility. 110 graduate and undergraduate students from a small private institution participated in an anonymous online survey titled Student Mental Health and the Impact of Inclusivity comprised of Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Results showed that students with disabilities consistently rated campus accessibility and inclusivity lower than those without a disability. This poster will further outline relevant themes from qualitative data derived from student experiences.