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Self-Advocacy is the Key to Success for
Students with Disabilites in College
by Ellen C. Farr
College graduate, fiancée,
Bristol-Myers Squibb employee: these all are terms that describe Lauren
George. A recent graduate of the history department at The College
of New Jersey, Lauren landed a job submitting a new drug for approval
from the FDA. She is also planning her wedding. One could say that
she has a lot on her plate right now, but she does not seemed fazed
by these major life changes. She is excited to be starting this new
chapter in her life. This stands in stark contrast to her earlier
experiences when going to school was a dreaded chore.
Early Frustrations
Lauren has been living with a learning disability that she was only
able to name when she was a junior in high school. All through elementary,
middle and most of high school, her teachers indicated that Lauren
struggled to learn but never took any action to determine why. Frustration
and more challenging coursework prompted Lauren and her parents to
seek some answers on their own. A series of tests revealed that Lauren
has attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and visual
and auditory processing difficulties. Reading is her number one problem.
The test results meant changing high schools in the middle of her
junior year because her former high school was not willing to make
the necessary accommodations. This was the beginning of a new learning
experience.
Discovering What Works
Lauren’s new high school provided smaller class sizes and more
attentive teachers. Being able to identify her problem allowed Lauren
to begin to overcome the challenges she faced in school. She experimented
with different strategies to help her cope with her difficulties and
soon found some that worked. For example, she learned to allot more
time to complete reading and writing assignments, and she rejected
mental math in favor of pencil and paper. She also discovered that
extended time on tests was a useful strategy.
Lauren graduated high school, completed community college, then enrolled
in The College of New Jersey. Ironically, the student who once dreaded
reading elected to become a history major, which is a reading-intensive
program of study.
Considering her previous struggles, one would assume that Lauren would
have sought assistance for accommodations at college. However, she
admits that it took her a while to learn how to self-advocate.
After graduating high school, Lauren thought she would be just fine
at handling her education at the community college. She took a few
classes without registering with the disability support office and
eventually discovered that she just could not keep up with the work.
It was only then that she sought assistance.
After transferring to The College of New Jersey, Lauren somewhat sheepishly
admitted, she again hesitated to ask for help. She thought she could
handle the coursework on her own. Then, Lauren met Terri Yamiolkowski,
coordinator of the College’s Office of Differing Abilities.
Through Terri, she learned about two important projects at The College
of New Jersey: The Adaptive Technology Center for New Jersey Colleges
and the Faculty Ambassador Project.
The Adaptive Technology Center for New Jersey Colleges, funded by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education's Special Needs Program, assists college students who have disabilities meet the academic demands of college by providing access to appropriate technology tools. Through its lending program, Lauren was able to try two tools that helped her with her coursework: WYNN (www.freedomscientific.com) and AlphaSmart (www.alphasmart.com). WYNN, a scan/read program with a text-to-speech feature, is designed to assist students with reading and writing difficulties. Lauren found it especially useful when writing papers. The program would read back what she had written so she could hear her words as she read them. This bi-modal approach gave her a better idea of the construction of her paper than if she had only read it. Lauren could have also used WYNN to help her conquer the enormous amount of reading required of her as a history major. She could have scanned the text into WYNN and had it read it aloud to her. She elected not to use this feature, however, because scanning every page was too time consuming. She had five required reading texts for one history course alone! Instead, she devoted this time to carefully reading, and rereading when necessary, her assignments.
Lauren also borrowed an AlphaSmart from the Adaptive Technology Center.
The AlphaSmart is a lightweight, portable word processor that allows
the user to enter text, then send it to any computer or printer. She
used the AlphaSmart outside of class to keep herself organized, particularly
during meetings or study sessions. Due to its small size and long
battery life, it was much easier to tote around than a laptop computer.
With these tools, Lauren was better equipped to tackle her college
coursework.
Educating Others
Lauren also became involved in The College of New Jersey’s Faculty
Ambassador Project. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office
of Post-Secondary Education, this three-year project emphasizes the
concepts of equity and reasonable accommodations as they pertain to
college students with disabilities. The goal is to increase the achievement
of college students with disabilities through the use of assistive
technology and the involvement of faculty mentors. This is accomplished
by educating faculty, staff and students on the role of assistive
technology as a reasonable accommodation at the post-secondary level.
Lauren became a student
ambassador for the project and learned what she considers her most
valuable lesson at college: how to self-advocate. Lauren indicates
that learning to self-advocate is “the most important quality
you can build for yourself. If you can convey difficulties for yourself
no matter what they are, then it is easier to prove that you are competent
to perform the same tasks as everyone else.” Being involved
in the project helped her regain confidence in approaching professors
and utilizing the resources that are available to college students
with disabilities
Lauren encourages other
students with learning disabilities to take charge of their own education.
Her advice to them is to contact the disability support office right
away. She admits she usually learns her lesson after one mistake and
regrets that it took her so long to accept that she needed accommodations.
With enhanced coping strategies and knowledge of available tools,
Lauren is looking forward to beginning her career. She is not sure
of all that is ahead of her, but she is planning on attending graduate
school. And this time, she says, she will be sure to ask for help
at the beginning of her graduate career.
Ellen Farr is an alumna of The College of New Jersey (M.S. in Educational Technology) and the Project Coordinator of the Teacher Effectiveness Grant.
