Welcome Back

Tina Schultz, Director

Welcome back returning students and welcome new students to the Office of Disability Services (ODS). This is expected to be a busy Spring Semester for ODS. In January we celebrate our first anniversary in the new LBJ Student Center. Our location has given us much improved counseling and testing space. In addition, the close proximity of the office to Texas Rehabilitation Commission and Student Support Services has improved access for students to all the offices.

Last spring, ODS solicited feedback from students about ODS services through a questionnaire that was mailed to each student in April. In order to improve the response rate we will ask each student who visits ODS during a three week period this semester to take a few minutes and complete a questionnaire. If you have suggestions and recommendations on how we can better serve you let us know. Your feedback is important to us!

In addition, construction will begin on the new Art/Technology/Physics building this spring and construction is expected to last 3 years. This project will disrupt pedestrian traffic across Comanche Street. ODS is working with university officials on access for students with disabilities.

Advance Registration

The Advance Registration sign up period at ODS for the upcoming 1999 Summer Sessions and Fall Semester is Monday, January 12 through Wednesday, March 10. To sign up, stop by the ODS office anytime Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. There will be no names accepted over the phone or any names added to the Advance Registration list after the deadline. If your name is on the Advance Registration list you will be eligible to register on "CATS" during the Advance Registration period. Check the Schedule of Classes to verify the following registration dates and times: SUMMER I & II 6:00 a.m. Monday, March 29 through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 7 and for FALL, 6:00 a.m. Thursday, April 8 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 23.

Nesenholtz Scholarship

The $1,000 Nesenholtz scholarship is awarded yearly and is open to all students with disabilities, although some preference is given to students with physical disabilities and to History majors. Applications will be available at ODS in February. Information on national scholarships for students with disabilities are also available at ODS. Students are also encouraged to fill out the General Scholarship Application at Financial Aid to qualify for other scholarship opportunities. The deadline for the 1999-2000 academic year is February 1.

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

A member of the President’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities will visit SWT to interview students with disabilities for internships, summer jobs and permanent positions with the Federal government. The representative will visit SWT on February 24, 1999. Students requesting an interview must complete a Federal job application. Applications will be available at Career Services starting February 8, 1999. If you have any questions please call us at 245-3451 or Career Services at 245-2645.

Data Link

Need a reminder for appointments, classes, or work? If so, then the new Data Link watch designed by Timex may be for you. The watch has a five-alarm feature that allows the user to set reminders for more than one time per day.

The user connects to a program on an IBM compatible computer and sets up anniversaries, phone numbers, alarms and a do list. After all entries are made, the user holds the watch up to the computer and presses the "send" button. Information is transferred from the computer to the watch through a beam of light. The information is now available to the user by pressing "mode". When the alarms go off the message typed into the computer for that time is scrolled across the bottom of the watch. The watch is waterproof therefore can stay on the user’s arm at all times. The personal reminder system encourages greater independence and accountability that can be of particular interest for students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders.

Requesting Accommodations

It is the responsibility of every student who requires accommodation(s) in the classroom to notify faculty about their need(s) early in the semester. Upon request, ODS will provide those students who qualify for accommodations based on SWT disability criteria, with an Accommodation Request Form to facilitate this process. In addition, any student who requires access to adaptive technology (i.e., CCTV, adaptive computer equipment) for an academic class needs to contact ODS a minimum of one semester before the class begins. If advance notice is not provided ODS cannot ensure the requested accommodation will be provided in a timely manner.

Student Support Services

Students who qualify for SSS can receive FREE tutoring, personal counseling, and academic and financial aid advising. A student must meet one of three condition; first generation student (neither parent graduated from a 4-year college or university), student in a low-income bracket or a student with a disability. To find out more about SSS, stop by their office just across the hall from ODS or call 245-2275

  Top Agencies

Each year Careers & the disABLED magazine asks its readers to name the government employers for whom they would most like to work or whom they believe would provide a positive working environment. Here are the "Top 20" for this year.

1. Department of Veteran Affairs
2. NASA
3. Department of Defense
4. U.S. Postal Service
5. Department of Education
6. Department of Justice
7. Department of Labor
8. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
9. Social Security Administration
10. Department of Rehabilitation Services
11. Tennessee Valley Authority
12. U.S. Coast Guard
13. Central Intelligence Agency
14. Department of Energy
15. Department of Transportation
16. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
17. Internal Revenue Service
18. Department of Agriculture
19. Department of Treasury
20. Brookhaven National Laboratory

Welcome Linda  

The ODS welcomes Linda Brown to our staff. Linda joined ODS in November as the Learning Disability Specialist. Linda has more than sixteen years experience working with individuals with learning disabilities, however working in a college setting is a new experience for her. Help us give Linda a warm welcome to ODS and SWT!

Career Planning

The world of work demands that graduating college students develop certain characteristics in order to be successful in their search for a job. As a student with a disability, you have an additional challenge of clarifying the implications of your disability to the employer and, more importantly, the means by which the disability can be compensated in the work setting. This clarification becomes critical in order to correct any misapprehensions or biases the employer may have about anyone with a disability or with a certain type of disability. This allows the "disabled" applicant to be on an equal footing with the "non-disabled" applicant in the interview.

The five major factors that enhance the interview process are:

• Your knowledge of, and positive attitude towards yourself, particularly towards your disability and your abilities.
  
  Employers respond well to applicants who are confident in their abilities and knowledgeable about the position for which they are applying.

• Your knowledge of services, resources, and technology available to you.
  
  Technological advances are crucial tools for job seekers with disabilities. Specially adapted hardware and software make computers and their various applications accessible to many professionals with disabilities.

• Your knowledge about the job for which you are applying.

It is essential for you to know what demands the job will make of you insofar as your disability is concerned. To allow you to see how you may face challenges your disability may present, you must evaluate the responsibilities of the position, the other staff with whom you will interact, and the specific daily and periodic work the job involves.

• Your knowledge of your rights.

Keep in mind that you are not required to state that you have a disability on the job application. With regard to your disability, and more importantly with regard to your abilities, you are the expert. The employer will rely on you to make him/her aware of how you will meet certain requirements of the job that may not seem compatible with your disability.

• The knowledgeable and positive way in which you present yourself in the job interview.

Dispelling any doubts with confidence yet sensitivity to the employer’s possible knowledge regarding your capabilities is an essential part of a successful interview. If you have done your research about the job and its demands, and can explain what resources or service you use or what modifications to the job site are required for you, the employer will be impressed with your initiative and problem solving skills. If you are knowledgeable, you should be assertive and conduct yourself with confidence in the interview. With these qualities and skills you should make a good impression.

Knowledge about your abilities as well as about your disability is essential to good career planning and making the choices that work best for you. Knowing how to accommodate any limitations your disability may impose means knowing yourself well and being a resourceful and creative problem solver.

Most universities offer career counseling. At SWT, Career Services provides individual and group career counseling to help students in identifying career goals and in selecting a major. Vocational testing and the use of a computerized career information and guidance system, called DISCOVER, is included a part of the career counseling process. The center assists students in finding career employment through a comprehensive on-campus interview program, a job posting service and job search seminars and workshops. Individual counseling is provided to assist students with specific job search needs and questions. The center also maintains a comprehensive print and media library of career and employer organization information which students can use to obtain information about careers, specific job opportunities and organizations. Check them out today!

OCR Upholds University’s Documentation Requirement

University of Massachusetts, CASE No. 01-97-2095
12 NDLR ¶315 (OCR Region I 1998)

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) upheld a university’s rejection of a student’s documentation which diagnosed her as having ADD, requiring that she submit evaluative information to address: (1) her current level of cognitive functioning (2) the criteria used to reach the diagnosis and (3) recommend accommodations, i.e., extra time on exams, separate test setting and note takers. OCR concurred with the university that letters submitted by the student’s physician and social worker failed to do more than provide a diagnosis and recommend one type of accommodation: take-home exams.

Although the student eventually complied with the university’s documentation requirements, OCR upheld its refusal to require a professor to allow the student to take her exams at home. The professor would not adequately measure the student’s mastery of the skills and concepts that the course was designed to teach, including the ability to think on one’s feet and to react to new information under time pressure. However, the professor did permit the student to use a computer in class and afforded her extended examination time in a quiet locale. OCR also affirmed the university’s decision denying the student her request to work alone on a group project. OCR reasoned that both requests: take home exams and working alone, constituted fundamental alterations of program requirements, hence not required by either Section 504 or the ADA. Finally, OCR rejected as meritless the student’s claim that the professor exceeded his normal office hours to allow the student to meet with him and permitted her to call him at home outside his written normal hours of availability. Nor did the professor’s suggestion that the student sit up front, where her use of a laptop computer would not be as distracting to other students, constitute harassment or the creation of a hostile environment based on disability.

  Do you know about the 170- Hour Rule?

Under Texas law Senate Bill 1907, students who have attempted 170 hours or more semester credit hours while classified as a resident student are subject to a higher tuition rate. The higher tuition rate is pending approval from the Board of Regents in November for students to be charged out-of-state tuition. The law will go into effect fall 1999. There are several exemptions to this law, to find out what these are and any other additional information on the subject, contact your School advising center.

National Park Service

There are various employment opportunities for people with disabilities with the National Park Service (NPS). NPS employees both permanent and seasonal employees in a variety of positions including campground rangers, fee collectors, tour guides, firefighters, lifeguards, clerks, historians and more. Seasonal employment refers to three to six month appointments during the summer or winter season. In addition to competition for permanent positions some individuals including people with disabilities and students may be selected without competition.

NPS jobs are advertised by the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the telephone number for OPM is listed in the telephone book under federal agencies or browse the NPS website under "jobs" at www.nps.gov and at www.usajobs.opm.gov.