Shift for Students from High School to College

Published April 21, 2009 @ 04:00PM PT

I'm tracked heavily into higher education and the autistic spectrum as I'm doing training session on the topic with brokerage staff today. So I can't pass up a posting on the article Students with autism can do well in college from Fort Wayne (IN). Especially where as it makes a point I stress repeatedly in my presentation:

While the American Disabilities Act of 1973 [ed. the ADA and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are two separate policies; there is no "ADA of 1973"] provides for certain educational accommodations for high school students with disabilities (extra time for tests, help with notes), the scenario changes slightly for college students with autism.

...Eric J. Wagenfeld, director of the Office for Services for Students with Disabilities at IPFW, agrees communication is the key to success for a student with special needs.

"A student must provide me with documentation about his or her disability," he said. "Then I'll conduct an interview to determine what services that student needs. It may be extra test time, having tests read to them, taking an exam in a room without distractions."

In other words, the scenario changes so that the responsibility for seeking accommodations is on the student. So it's critical that a student be given the information, tools, and full support needed to advocate for their needs successfully. This includes selecting a supportive university--something which sounds from the article like Huntington does a good deal better than my university--

But that's a rant best left for another day.

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It is very much the same in Australia in that the onus is on the tertiary student to first disclose their disbility, then provide evidence of it to the university, then have a disability liaison officer determine your supports. Unless you are an activated self-advocate it is unlikely that you will go through this process as the infomation is not readily available upon enrolment. It also takes a lot of effort to maintain you "access plan" making sure that it is up to date for each new topic. As a Masters student currently studying externally the idea of negotiating an access plan is a headache to say the least and I am a Disability Studies student and consider myself to be and activated self-advocate. I know just where a lot of my clients are on this one - it doesn't even rate for them as it has never occured to them that they would be entitled to something like an access plan. Unfortunately this is how people in services do 'demand management' - stay quiet about the service and people's rights and the demand will stay low!!!

Posted by Katharine Annear on 04/21/2009 @ 10:23PM PT
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YES! The barriers to accessing a service are set so high no one accesses it. Then people say "well, no one wanted the service." Not wanting and not being able to access are *very* different things.

Posted by Dora Raymaker on 04/22/2009 @ 09:57AM PT
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"Students with autism can do well in college" is not exactly breaking news. At least one (me) made cum laude at Yale, which is more than George W. Bush '68 can say.

Posted by Mark Romoser on 04/22/2009 @ 11:46AM PT
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Dora is committed to improving quality of life for individuals on the autistic spectrum--including herself! She is Co-director of the Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education and a member of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network's Board of Directors.