Lesson 1.2: Being a Student with a Disability

Creating accessible courses can have a significant impact on all participants in the educational environment, including faculty, staff, and especially students. Many students with disabilities encounter accessibility barriers on campus. These common barriers have given rise to accessibility standards designed to benefit the entire university community. Accessibility standards should not be confused with accommodations, which instead provide support for specific individuals who encounter barriers.

The Student Experience

Watch the following video to learn about students with disabilities’ experiences.

Google Doc: A Student’s Perspective Video Transcript

To get a sense of what it is like to be a student with a disability, complete the following activity, which requires you to find out how to register with the disability resource office on your campus.

Activity: Disability Resources at Your Institution

Complete the following tasks and answer the questions associated with your experience. The purpose of this exercise is to emulate the experiences of students with disabilities who use your institution’s website to find resources.

Activity Guiding Questions

LESSON 1.2 ACTIVITY QUESTIONS

Name * Required
First Last
Email * Required
1. Find the webpage for your institution's disability resources (or similar). Are you able to locate it? Is the information to answer the following questions readily available? Include the name of your institution. * Required
2. What is the name, location, and contact information for the office where your institution's disability resources (or similar) are housed? * Required
3. What steps are necessary to register for services? * Required
4. Students who wish to register for services must provide legal documentation of a disability, requiring a doctor's visit at a minimum. In what ways could this be a barrier? * Required

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Additional Resources

Video: Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone (13:01) by The DoIT Center

To continue, select the Lesson 1.3 button below.

Lesson 1.1

Lesson 1.3