Today many students with disabilities (who could not have attended a college in the past) are able to flourish in a higher education environment. The American Disabilities Act of 1990 sets out legal rights and protections for these students. You should familiarize yourself not only with these rights but also with strategies to help these students learn. Different strategies may be required for students with physical disabilities versus those with learning disabilities.
Physical Disabilities
In “The View from a Wheelchair,” Jeffrey Whitman, a philosophy professor from Susquehanna University, gives a number of insights for dealing with students who are physically disabled. You will find this essay in Teaching to/by/about People with Disabilities, a remarkable edition of Teaching Philosophy. Here are just a few of Whitman’s suggestions:
- Be proactive. Many students with disabilities have learned to advocate for themselves, but the faculty member should also reach out to find out what accommodations are needed and make every effort to provide them (Whitman 347).
- Don’t unwittingly treat a person with disabilities as “a pariah.” Many of us were trained as children not to stare at people with disabilities. Indeed, disabilities often make us uncomfortable, and we have a tendency to ignore students with disabilities. You should make every effort to fully engage these students in your classroom and make the same demands of them that you do of every other student (Whitman 349).
- Don’t patronize students with disabilities or be overly solicitous. Whitman cautions against using some of the overly “pc” terms and thinking. He writes “we are blind or crippled, not vision or mobility-impaired. Neither are we ‘confined to a wheelchair,’ . . . I for one am liberated by my wheelchair” (Whitman 350).
- Take advantage of the rich experiential background that students with disabilities can bring to our classes. In a safe academic environment, these students bring a completely new perspective to the classroom. Among other things, Whitman tells us that they may challenge many of the dominant assumptions of our culture, disrupting the “narrative concerning autonomy and self-sufficiency” held by many students (Whitman 352).
Whitman’s is only one of a number of equally important essays in this volume. Your editor also strongly recommends that every thoughtful person should read Robert F. Murphy's The Body Silent: the Different World of the Disabled. Murphy is a professor of Anthropology at Columbia, who suffered from a disease that progressively disabled him. This book was life-changing for me and for everyone I know who read it.
Learning Disabilities
Many students with learning disabilities do extremely well in higher education. Students with documented learning disabilities also have a right to specific accommodations. Most institutions have an office that supports these students, and faculty members are usually informed of what accommodations are necessary. Here are a few of the most common problems and some of the recommended accommodations. Many of these steps will also help students who do not have documented learning disabilities as well.
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Disability
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Accommodations
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Problems with attention and concentration.
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Additional time for tests, and provision of a distraction free environment. Sometimes teachers may be asked to clarify test questions.
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Problems with auditory processing, making it hard for students to understand what they hear.
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Provide more detailed written information and write more on board.
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Problems with visual processing.
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More time required to absorb information, use of auditory input (such as books on tape).
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Writing problems, misspelled words, letter reversals
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Extended time, use of spell check and human editor to edit papers.
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Memory problems.
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Repeat key concepts.
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Problems dividing attention or multi-tasking, e.g. trouble listening to lecture and taking notes at the same time.
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Allow tape recording, recommend access to peer notes, provide instructor lecture notes, help student identify someone to be a note-taker. Sample language: “Learning Support Services is seeking a volunteer note-taker in this class. Note taking is an excellent way to enhance your own comprehension of material.”
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Reading problems.
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Provide booklist in advance so students can purchase audio recordings. Read aloud material that is written on board. Provide study guides and outlines.
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Sources:
“Working with Students with Disabilities” Villanova University, 9 January 2008 <www.villanova.edu/vpaa/learningsuport/faculty/handbook.htm#2>.
Murphy, Robert F. The Body Silent: the Different World of the Disabled. New York: Norton, 1990.
Whitman, Jeffrey, “The View from a Wheelchair.” Teaching to/by/about People with Disabilities, Teaching Philosophy. Ed. Anita Silvers and Anita Ho (2007) 30.4: 345-356.
Author: John Immerwahr
Update: August 3, 2008