[Georgia_ahead] FW: FW: Recommendation Needed
Bonnie Martin
bmartin at gpc.edu
Fri Aug 31 12:05:20 EDT 2007
Below is the posting Jim responded to.
I will add that an audiogram is something we always get from students
who are deaf and hard of hearing ---it is so variable. Some students
function Deaf and use ASL with more hearing than some student who
function hard of hearing. An audiogram is needed to know if an ALD can
benefit, or this person needs captioning, etc. Plus, accommodations from
high school for some hard of hearing and deaf students can be ....well,
unusual (to be kind). We once had a young man who had interpreters all
through high school and requested them at GPC. He did not know sign
language????
If anyone wants me to forward additional postings that may come up on
this subject, let me know. I can send to you individually.
Bonnie Martin
Georgia Perimeter College
________________________________
From: Disabled Student Services in Higher Education
<DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU> [mailto:Disabled Student Services in
Higher Education <DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU>] On Behalf Of "Deaton,
Fred" <fdeaton at JSCC.EDU>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 10:49 AM
To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: Re: FW: Recommendation Needed
"should be intuitively obvious to
observation"
Ok, my question is define the word "obvious". Wheelchair, white
cane/dark glasses, hearing aids, a different look.......... At some
point there is a borderline between obvious and something that is not
obvious, then the issue is in some sort of god like way deciding who has
to obtain evaluations and who does not.
Ok, I wear hearing aids. For aesthetic reasons, I have long hair. On a
rainy day, I might not wear them. Hearing Loss is hidden, and the most
severe person might not wear them. Why on earth would you grant me a
"free pass" leeway with my hearing aids on as opposed to treating me
differently if one does not see me wearing them not wearing them. More
than likely you would give a pass to the guy wearing the aids and make
the deaf person obtain an evaluation. Why on earth would you treat
someone differently if they were deaf and could not use hearing aids?
There is a word for having different rules for the same thing,
inconsistency!
There is a man on the street in the local town I reside that rides
around in a motorized chair. If he has trouble with the chair in a
certain spot, he gets out of the chair and to move it to another spot. I
have observed him actually lifting a portion of the chair to get the
wheel unstuck instead of backing up to go around the trouble spot. The
story of him is that he is mentally challenged and just uses the
wheelchair not for access but for convenience. He can't drive, and its
easier than the bus. If he came to your office what would you see to
make your assessment: the person or the chair?
When I first started as a college counselor, I would hear from others
around the country of people faking disabilities. I was shocked, but it
does happen. At least with the docs, you can say you made an effort to
assure proper accommodations.
Fred Deaton, LPC-MHSP
Coordinator of Disabled Student Services
...."Much I have learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues,
but most from my students".
..........Talmud
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-----Original Message-----
From: Worden, Elizabeth < eworden at EMCC.EDU>
To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Sent: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 8:51 am
Subject: [DSSHE-L] FW: Recommendation Needed
Gentle People, as I thought over the correspondence that Jorja and I had
privately, I thought it might be both interesting and useful to some in
DSSHE-land, so have received Jorja's permission to share it.
My original reply to Jorja was:
Jorja, I happen to be of the opinion that it is not reasonable to
require
students to document that which is intuitively obvious to the most
casual of
observers. Thus if I had a student who I can observe lacks arms or
hands, I
believe that it is reasonable to decide that he might need a scribe (and
to
learn how to use voice recognition software?) without documentation for
that
disability. I will be curious to hear what others say.
He responded with the following:
Elizabeth,
My heart is big, so I must admit that your approach was also the path
that I was
planning to take, however, I received the following response from
another
lister:
-------------------
"Jorja,
My suggestion (after 23+ years in the field) is to have policies and
ALWAYS
follow them. I have been through several OCR complaints during my
tenure. I
can tell you the policies and following them is the number one thing for
them.
I ONLY serve on a regular basis students that meet our guidelines
(request
services, have appropriate documentation, and then complete mutually
with my
office a plan for accommodations.) We have a long history of students
from
outside the US and now a new English Lang Inst.
I hold firm that ALL must meet the standard. I do give those with a
history of
a disability a one semester grace period. I use a differnt format that
list the
effective time of the accommodations. If the student does not satisfy
the
University criteria, they no longer will get our services.
This was hard for me to do at first. I want to help
everyone--disability of
not. However, if I cross that line--I end up in all kinds of problems
both
within the University and legally.
I would caution you to not let your 'feelings' over power your head in
staying
the course.
---------------------
Now, I'm a little concerned about the legal implications especially in
regard to
setting a precedence. What are your thoughts on the above?
Jorja
To which I answered:
I am not saying what I said because my heart is big. I say it because I
think
that there are some functional limitations that are so clear that it is
superfluous to ask for documentation.
I do not know that the other advice and mine differ so much. Remember
that I
qualified my statement by saying that it should be intuitively obvious
to
observation. Thus, if a student says they have a disability that you
cannot
clearly discern, require documentation. If you can clearly see for
yourself
that the disability exists, don't bother to. For instance, if I had a
student
who came in with a seeing eye dog and was using the dog appropriately,
and the
dog was behaving appropriately, I would not require documentation for a
visual
impairment. If a student came in with an electric wheel chair and used
it with
good skill, I would not require documentation for a mobility impairment.
I had
a student come in the other day who has malformed arms that are about
half the
length of a normal arm. She said she needed a scribe. I am going to
get
documentation on her, as she has multiple disabilities, but I do not
question
this need because she and I made sure she could get into the building,
to my
floor, in and out of the bathroom, etc and I observed what use of her
hands she
does have. Does this help?
Elizabeth Worden, Ph.D., Director
Academic Support Center
Eastern Maine Community College
354 Hogan Road
Bangor, ME 04401
phone: 207 974 4658
fax: 207 974 4888
website: www.emcc.edu/departments/asc/
< http://www.emcc.edu/departments/asc/
< http://www.emcc.edu/departments/asc/> >
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