CJ (00:38):  Welcome to Transitioning to College, Navigating Disability Services brought to you by the Yeah Council. The Yeah Council is a youth-driven and directed group of individuals with disabilities and our special healthcare needs. We’re focused on developing and strengthening the skills and resources needed to achieve the unique independent life that we each desire. Yeah Council does this by empowering, educating, and supporting individuals and professionals in the areas of education, advocacy, and healthcare.

The transition from high school to college can be challenging, especially for students with disabilities. Our goal today is to provide guidance to students and their families about obtaining disability services at college. We will hear from young people who have gone through the process and discuss the various aspects of disability services for obtaining accommodations to advocating for your needs. Joining us as we explore the opportunities and obstacles of this exciting time in a young person’s life are Keegan, Lexi,

And I’m CJ.

So how did you find out about the services available?

Keagan (01:37):  So this Keagan speaking, I found out this information through online and then meeting with the coordinator through the campus tours. And then she actually came up to one of my IEP meetings to tell me what I was in for. This included like, what she can provide and what kinds of help. So how I was expected to participate on campus and how it was she was to help that process.

Lexi (02:19) also heard about the disability services at my college ⁓ during the tour. It wasn’t like someone told me these were the options available to me. I was kind of already aware and I was thinking about what services I wanted to take them up on before I went to campus.

CJ (02:37): Did you meet with someone from the Office of Disability Services as part of your college tour? Did that impact your choice to go to the school?

Keagan (02:45): I did meet with my person at ODS.  I did not inform my decision to go to the school. I actually had three colleges and what ended up driving my decision was out of the two colleges I applied for. I, two of them offered live on campus options because I wanted to be independent. And what made me select Keene was the layout of the campus and the accessibility of the buildings. So. Yes, it was nice to know what services I had offered to me, but I was going there regardless. And I encourage everybody to meet with the Disability Service Coordinator. It just was not the driving factor for my selection of campus.

CJ (03:34):  I had a similar experience. I applied to two colleges and on my tour of one of them, I realized that that campus would be impossible for me to live in. It was so spread out, there was no way I was going to be able to walk that much in a day.  So the second college that I applied to, which was much smaller and easier to get around, I ended up choosing. I would definitely recommend looking at the campus, being there and seeing whether the size, whether the layout will work for you.

Lexi (04:18):  So yeah, my experience is like pretty similar to CJ’s, like I didn’t necessarily base my decision which college I was going to go to based on their accessibility services, especially because the major I was looking at was like kind of niche. So that was kind of the primary driving factor determining what college I was gonna go to. So I didn’t really talk to SAS at all during my tour. I reached out to SAS retroactively after I’d already decided to go there to see what they could do to like address my concerns about the campus and meet my needs.

CJ (04:49):  Are there virtual appointments available with your disability services coordinator at your college?

Keagan (04:55):  Yes, especially now you had options between virtual and in person, especially now that I’m at Plymouth State. They’re a couple hours away, so I’m not going to their office for a disability services appointment.

CJ (05:13): I think there’s a lot more stuff available virtually now. I know some of my professors allow you to go to class virtually, but you do usually have to talk to them in advance. How did you sign up for the services?

Lexi (05:27):  So I emailed my Student Accessibility Office over the summer before my freshman year. I got into contact with them. They were really good about responding to me. We went through the whole process. Like, I was lucky that I contacted them very early so we had time to go through everything and I got to meet with them multiple times over zoom and like send them information over email in their portal.

CJ (05:53):  What are some of the steps and when you send the paperwork in which is after admission?

Keagan (06:02):  Definitely after admission is you want to beforehand, you’re trying to figure out A: do you want to go to the college and then you have to, you know, you can, anybody can go on a tour even without submitting an application. So you want to make sure you send this paperwork in after and actually, um, over the summer is a good time to do it.  The kinds of paperwork I had to submit was, if you’re on an IEP, your most recent current three-year evaluation, they can use the school psychologist’s report and things. They can’t use the IEP specifically, but they can use the assessments that you’ve done for that, I had another neuropsych report done and I had my primary care doctor write a note and another specialist wrote a note on my behalf. And once that was done and they received all the paperwork, they reviewed it and then told me the list of services that I could receive from them or that they could provide.

CJ (07:23):  So what kind of information ⁓ you shared the assessments from IEP, what other kind of documents might you need to submit?

Lexi (07:38): So I know it definitely varies on what kind of accommodation you’re trying to get. For me personally, I was getting a housing accommodation, so I needed to get a note from my primary care physician, the specialist that was affirming that I had the condition that made me eligible and saying that, you know, yes, this condition would entitle her to these benefits.   I, so I had like a sort of a two reasons. So for the second one, that was the primary care physician one. The other one was a specialist. I, I, they had like a portal that they sent you through, like a secure portal in order to keep all your documentation like safe. So they wouldn’t let me do it over email. I some issues with their portal initially, but like, luckily like resolve those within like a week.

Keagan (08:25):  Right. So I had a similar situation, the point of those notes, or at least I saw a couple of them, that were written, one of them was just sent to them and I didn’t end up seeing part of what happens on in those notes is explaining why they think you should have this accommodation or why it is you’re receiving services. So they describe your condition, whether they think it’s going to improve or whatever exactly.  It kind of helps supplement some of the other reports you send in from like the IEP and your neuropsych files and things like that.

CJ (09:10):  What are some of the services you’ve utilized? Can you describe them?

Keagan (09:15):  So I used mostly ODS and priority housing and aspire that they are they’re a career program for first generation and low income students and they also help, one of, one of the things you can, one of the other things on their list too, is if you have a disability, but they’re mostly, they specialize in low income, first generation college students are, are their first two first two qualifications. And it was really nice to have them, in addition to ODS, cause it was somebody who go and talk to about FAFSA and your academics and how things are going and if, if things needed to be changed more so more so, or in conjunction with your office of disability services, who are the ones that fill out the forms, view your academic in class accommodations or help you get prioritized housing.

Lexi (10:30):  So mine is a housing accommodation. So I have a single dorm room and, I need to have a room by myself when I travel for extracurricular activities. And, you know, informally I’ve used the on-campus transit system to help when I have mobility issues.

CJ (10:43):  Thank you guys for sharing. What has been the most helpful?

Keagan (10:50):  that are most helpful in my transition process was the, ⁓ was my family and, you know, Aspire and ODS to a certain extent.  And, you know, I also had a transition plan which allowed me to do some of the research beforehand and kind of try to let me know what I had to expect when I got to campus.  I guess tutoring services too. Those have been helpful.

CJ (11:41): And what could be better?

Lexi (11:42):  I have actually been pretty happy with my campuses disability services. Like, I feel like they’ve been really responsive to my needs and helpful. I mean, I think it’s unfair to ask them to like work faster because they’re a bureaucracy and they have to go through the channels. So I think that’s really reasonable.  The one thing I would love is just like, sort of to be in contact regularly and be like, Hey, you know, like even if we can’t get you what you need right now, like we’re working on it and like giving an update about where they are. So, you know, even if it still took the same timeline, would relieve a lot of anxiety to sort of know where my case is in the queue.

Keagan (12:21):  I guess for me, the biggest thing would be consistency of support. I know I was kind of in a, most of the people were welcoming to when I went to Keene State, but in particular, this was this one person and I’m telling the story not to scare everyone, but I’m telling you this story to say this is out there and, to prepare you guys. I had, two days prior to coming to campus, had the disability services coordinator tell me that, granted it was because she didn’t, this was the first time I was independent on my own going to college. And so, you you had to learn about fixing a chair when it breaks down and those kinds of things. But two days prior to my coming to campus, I was told that if I was a safety concern, she could make me an online student very quickly. And so that’s not really helpful for somebody who’s, already scared as it is, to go to college, let alone have a situation like that. And I just want others to know that, you know, you’re not alone and that, you know, you can do it. So just consistent support among everyone.  Not just from a few.

CJ (14:00):  There might be support from most places, but in the places where they aren’t you, you really feel it.

Keagan (14:08):  Yes, I would say that. And, I would say that I overall,  I enjoyed my experience, but I think people should be aware of that sometimes this happens during transition.

CJ (14:08):  Yeah, that’s an important thing to know. And again, thank you for sharing. Is there anything you’ve learned about working with the Office of Disability Services or using support at college that you wish you’d known earlier?

Keagan (14:34):  My main thing here would be, it’s one thing to say you have all these independent skills that you’re going to need to have to go to college. It’s another thing to actually do it, and so like I was talking about before, like, so I use a wheelchair, the office of disability services is not responsible. Ensuring access is not making sure that the chair functions for you to get to class and ensuring accesses to make sure you can get in buildings and participate on an even playing field in your academics. So there’s these skills that yes, you can tell somebody to be independent and that you need to know these things, but it’s something else to do it. So when you’re going to college, try to think about the little things that you don’t even think about in terms of like, what does this look like for me? You know, my equipment vendor was for example, two weeks. Well, what does that mean for me in classes? That means I just try to hope that the chair doesn’t break down any further, but I don’t have another chair on campus. So I’m using that, you know, so.  Or managing when PCAs don’t show up or those kinds of things that I don’t think, or at least I didn’t think about until I got on campus.

CJ (16:14):  Yeah. I’ve had close calls like that too, where I forgot my CPAP at home or I forgot my medicine at home, when I was visiting and then I get back to campus and you know, if I can’t sleep that night, even if I should have been able to. You just have to go to class or if you can’t take your medicine, it doesn’t matter that you’re in withdrawal days. That’s not an excuse. So you have to have backups and be careful about planning ahead.

Thank you. And that’s a wrap for today’s episode. We hope that you found this discussion on transitioning to college and navigating disability services helpful and informative. Remember, you’re not alone and there are resources and support systems available to help you succeed.