Editor's Choice: Lessons on Disability and the Rights of Students

Community College Review, Summer, 1999 by Linda L. Treloar

When students self-identify and request accommodation for disability, faculty must refer students to the DRC for an individualized assessment and valid documentation of disability. Effective administrative policy supports the responsibility of students to contact the DRC, rather than limiting self-identification to faculty. Failure to do this could promote charges of discrimination when faculty members provide different accommodations. The college catalog and student admission and registration materials should contain a statement requiring students with disabilities who need accommodation to contact the DRC. Colleges need to establish an alternative mechanism for advising students with visual disabilities who cannot use this information in written form. A student is not entitled to accommodations until he or she self-identifies as a person having a disability.

What kinds of concerns might faculty have related to students with disabilities and the ADA/Section 504? ADA accommodations may inconvenience us. Worse yet, we may question the validity of some alleged disabilities. In other cases, reasonable accommodations for significant disabilities don't seem adequate. Students with mental disabilities who fail to follow their treatment plans may create problems that affect their classroom behavior and performance. Concerns surrounding confidentiality restrict our ability to collaborate with others who might help such students. We can't require that prescribed medications be taken; dismissal may be our only option. Reinstatement of the student should require medical clearance and other possible stipulations consistent with administrative policy. Equal treatment, not preferential treatment, of students with disabilities ought to be our goal.

Promoting Success by Students with Disabilities

The American Association of Community Colleges solicited information from 150 community colleges nationwide about factors that promote success in disability support practices (Barnett, 1993). Leading programs were characterized by four key factors in success that included administrative commitment, community linkages, staff expertise, and faculty support. In addition to institutional support, a student-oriented approach and stable funding, the following practices were found to promote effective disability support: creativity and flexibility in service delivery, job transition or placement activities, comprehensive student support services, assistive technology, and a structured curriculum. Clearly, community colleges provide leadership in disability support practices and innovative solutions that meet students' special needs.

Disability, hidden or obvious, changes the packaging of our bodies. People with disabilities are the same, but different from nondisabled persons. Educators who build community in their classrooms begin with a view of each student as a person having value and worth. Effective teachers don't assume they understand disability: They ask the other person to describe his or her world. Disability challenges all of us to capitalize on the differences of each student, and to anticipate success in learning. These actions by faculty and staff are necessary to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to participate in educational and extracurricular programs in community college settings.