 "Photo: Photo by Chris Steinert")
At UW-Oshkosh, almost 600 students have a documented disability of some kind, but two groups work to provide these students with accommodations and the help they need to be successful.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” This could include a number of issues, ranging from mild to severe.
According to John Palmer, assistant dean of students and coordinator of services for students with disabilities, there are four different categories of disabilities that Oshkosh sees most often. There are learning disabilities, psychological disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder and physical disabilities. At Oshkosh there are two different departments that provide help for students. One is Disabilities Services and the other is Project Success.
It is difficult to say exactly what accommodations Oshkosh provides, simply because the programs work on such a personal level.
“Our accommodations are based upon an individual’s needs,” Palmer said, “so they could be very different depending on what an individual’s needs are.”
Director of Project Success, Teri Wegner said, “We try to find out how each student learns best and provide an arsenal of strategies that students can use to be independent college students and adults.”
Though each student has different needs, there are some basic accommodations that almost all of them receive. Many students require note takers and tutors. The University works with students and finds people who can help them with these tasks.
Students with disabilities may also struggle with test anxiety or simply can’t focus in the classroom while taking a test. Oshkosh helps with this by providing the Testing Services Center, located in Polk Library. Testing Services gives the student a quiet place to take their exam. Students can also go to Testing Services to receive extended time and readers for exams if necessary.
Federal law, under the ADA section 504, requires that universities provide certain accommodations, such as those listed above, to students with disabilities. Project Success is a program that goes beyond the ADA and is unique to Oshkosh. The majority of universities do not have programs like this.
Project Success is a program for college students with dyslexia or language-based learning disabilities. The program was founded by Robert T. Nash in 1979. Starting with helping just six students, it has grown to serve more than 300 students. The program also includes three full-time staff members and a number of graduate students.
“The over arching goal of Project Success is to help the participants become independent in and across all of the following academic areas: mathematics, spelling, reading, writing, comprehension, organization and study skills,” Wegner said.
Project Success provides a number of accommodations to help students reach this goal.
“We offer remedial work in reading, writing, spelling and math,” Wegner said, “also tutors, note takers, and instruction in a variety of learning strategies.”
Most of the students have known about their disabilities since a young age or at least since high school. Those students already have the documentation and prior testing needed to be eligible for accommodations.
But receiving the adjustments and help in college is different than in high school.
Students are now required to advocate for themselves and ask for the help they need.
“The big difference between high school and college-age students is, under the ADA for high school students, high schools are required to give what is called a free appropriate education,” Palmer said. “Their goal is to get the students to the highest level they can get them to in comparison with their peers. At the college level, we’re only required to level the playing field, so that disability students are on the same field as students without disabilities.”
By using the tools and services that Oshkosh provides, both Wegner and Palmer have seen students with disabilities succeed.
“As of the spring semester of 2009 over 75 percent of our students earned a cumulative grade point average maintaining their academic good standing,” Wegner said.
By being able to keep their good academic standing, most of the students who have disabilities are going on to graduate.
“We work with a number of students each year who complete and graduate,” Palmer said.
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