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to Atlanta to get taste of ‘Idol’ |
Jusitn Boulmay
Features Beat
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Foster Hunt | The AppalachianAlaina S. Walker, a senior Spanish
major, said many disabled students have trouble getting around
campus. Walker is legally blind.
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Appalachian State
University students with disabilities face unique challenges when
traveling the university’s campus.
Alaina S. Walker, a senior Spanish major from Fort Lauderdale,
Fl., said she remembers her first semester on campus. Walker,
who is legally blind, meaning she retains sight but cannot drive
a car, said she was walking down the steps by the memorial in
front of Sanford Hall when she could not find the railing and
fell down the steps.
“There was no visual cue,” she
said. |
Walker
said other students with disabilities have had problems getting
around campus. “The fact that the student union and the book
store are separated eliminates another route for people in wheelchairs,”
she said.
Walker said one thing that has helped her during classes were
people who volunteer to take notes for her.
Physical impairments are not the only types of disability that
some students have on campus. Coordinator of Disabilities in the
Office of Disability Services (ODS) Suzanne T. Wehner is in charge
of helping to meet the needs of those particular students.
Wehner taught special education at a public school for 19 years
and was the director at the school’s program for four years.
She began working in the ODS in the fall of 2000.
When students come to Appalachian, they are asked to list any
disabilities they might have, whether they be physical or mental.
Once that form is submitted, the student must go through a process
and be approved by Wehner to enter the ODS.
Wehner said disabilities also include students with health problems,
such as cancer or injuries from an automobile accident.
Some students with a physical disability are given a student escort
for the first week of school but only if an escort is needed,
Wehner said. In addition, the location of a handicapped student’s
class is very important and sometimes subject to change.
“We may have to reassign classroom locations to make sure
they’re accessible,” Wehner said.
Teachers are informed ahead of time if their class may have to
be moved, she added.
Other actions taken by the ODS to improve navigating the campus
for visually challenged students have been putting reflective
tape on the stairs to help with “depth perception and just
more visibility,” Wehner said.
More handrails and guardrails have also been put on campus, Wehner
said.
The classroom has also been an area the Learning Assistance Program
seeks to improve for disabled students, Wehner said.
If a student has a learning disorder, such as Attention Deficit
Disorder (ADD), they may have trouble taking a test in class due
to distractions. The ODS has a program where those students go
to the D.D. Dougherty building, where the ODS is located, and
take their tests in a room by themselves. The student is given
an extra half an hour to complete his or her exam.
The tests have been effective, Wehner said, and used to tell her
students “if you don’t see a 22-point difference, it’s
not worth it.” |
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