WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896 www.thesunflower.com
Jan. 18, 2024
Volume 128 Issue 16
‘OPEN DISCUSSION’
What Wichita State gets right when accommodating students with disabilities — and areas to improve BY COURTNEY BROWN
newsprojects@thesunflower.com
When social work student Ashlyn Wheeler experienced a health flare last spring, she switched to online classes and struggled to get accommodations in one of her courses. “It really impacted my class experience because I was getting zeros put in for big assignments,” Wheeler said. “And when I needed an extension or needed an explanation, that professor wasn’t there to help.” Wheeler, who has EhlersDanlos Syndrome and serves as accessibility liaison for Disability Rights, Education, Activism and Mentorship (DREAM), said that to address the professor’s lack of communication, the Office of Student Accommodations & Testing worked “up the chain of command” on Wheeler’s behalf. Finally, the dean of the college got involved. According to Wheeler, that process took over a month. After that meeting, the professor responded to Wheeler’s emails more quickly, and she received an extension to complete her assignments. “But it was frustrating to get to that point,” Wheeler said. Wheeler and other students with disabilities spoke with The Sunflower about their experiences with accommodations at Wichita State. While they said their experiences were generally positive, some experienced at least one professor attempting to deny their accommodations.
HOW OSAT HELPS The number of students with disabilities in higher education has increased throughout the past decade. According to the United States Department of Education, 21% of undergraduate students reported having a disability in the 2019-2020 school year — an increase from 11% in the 2011-2012 school year. About 700 Wichita State students are registered with the Office of Student Accommodations & Testing (OSAT), according to director Isabel Medina Keiser. The registration process for accommodations previously took place through the Office of Disability Services (ODS), but ODS and Testing Services
combined in July of 2023. As of fall of 2023, students request accommodations through the Accessible Information Management (AIM) Student Portal, which Medina Keiser called more “student-driven. Then students can select which professors are notified about their accommodations. “(AIM) makes it so that they can kind of customize their accommodations,” Medina Keiser, who is dyslexic, said. Mia Dennett, an autistic theater sophomore with anxiety and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, said OSAT registration was “very smooth.” Dennett said teachers at WSU are accepting and noted OSAT’s “very organized system” for test accommodations. According to Medina Keiser, students must schedule accommodated exams themselves via RegisterBlast, and they can receive extended time or a separate testing area, among other needs. “Wherever I go to take tests, there’s lots of people there,” Dennett, DREAM’s secretary and treasurer, said. “I think that they (OSAT) keep really good track of what accommodations you get.” Integrated marketing communications sophomore Zaylee Bell, a wheelchair user and DREAM president, similarly called OSAT’s registration process “really easy,” but she said it was harder for OSAT to enforce professors and classrooms to follow accommodations.
ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE CLASSROOM In a U.S. Department of Education survey released in April 2022, only 37% of students with disabilities informed their college, and out of those students, 85% received accommodations. Research published in 2019 highlighted one potential barrier to accommodations is negative reactions from classmates and faculty when disclosing a disability or requesting accommodations. Jasmine Peng, a Student Government Association at-large senator and accessibility subcommittee member with Crohn’s
“ If you’re going to offer
help, you should not assume what help they need. You know you better than I know you. CAITLIN BRUNER TRIO DSS academic adviser
disease, said she has spoken with students who have had trouble getting their accommodations honored, such as one student who was denied extended test-taking. Peng, a pre-nursing major, said one of her professors was also “stubborn” about honoring her extended test time. Eventually, the professor made a “compromise” for her to test on a different day and then send the exam to the testing center. “They (teachers) think everything should be fair, which is understandable,” Peng said. “But at the same time, it’s a new generation … I do believe that we need to change that mindset if we can.” While some may have concerns
that students with disabilities receiving accommodations is unfair, the American Psychological Association states that accommodations “provide a level playing field” by “eliminating or reducing disability-related barriers.” Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) also mandates reasonable accommodations be made in academic programming and exams when students disclose their disability. While Wheeler shared some negative experiences at WSU, she said she generally has had “great luck” with professors following accommodations at Wichita State, aside from the one online professor. She also said that OSAT is “really involved” and “willing to help” when needed. Hannah Bartlett, an autistic creative writing major with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, said most professors honored her accommodations — one even checked in on her. She also receives content
OSAT DOCUMENTATION FOR ACCOMMODATIONS To receive accommodations, students must inform Wichita State of their disability and provide documentation. According to Office of Student Accommodations and Testing Director Isabel Medina Keiser, when students register for OSAT, their disability documentation can come from: • Wichita State’s Student Health Services • Doctors or nurses • Individualized Education Plans used in high school • Documentation can also come from other relevant professionals and avenues. warnings about graphic images and content, which she said has led to other professors incorporating them into their lessons. SEE ACCOMODATIONS, PAGE 2
Student graduates with first American Sign Language bachelor’s at WSU BY MIA HENNEN
editor@thesunflower.com
When news first broke about Wichita State offering a bachelor’s in American Sign Language a year ago, Madison Fields and deaf studies instructor Lorita Slieter had no idea. “We hadn’t heard about it,” Fields said. “We were like, ‘What?’” At the time, Fields was majoring in sociology and minoring in ASL. She said the news about the new major coming to Wichita State in the fall of 2023 motivated her to reach out to her advisers to see if she could turn the credits from her minor into a complete bachelor’s degree. “(The advisers) created the paper for me with the requirements, just so I could have it,” Fields said. “I looked at it, and basically, it was five more classes.” Initially planning to graduate in the spring of 2023, Fields
Madison (Maddie) Fields, a fall 2023 graduate, waits to have her picture taken before walking across the stage in Charles Koch Arena. Fields was the first student at Wichita State University to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language. | Photo by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower
postponed her graduation until last semester. Fields had no prior experience in ASL before entering college. She started taking ASL courses in the fall of 2020 after learning that these could fulfill the foreign language requirements necessary for her liberal arts degree.
“People ask me often like, ‘Oh, did you know growing up, and then you took it formally?’ No,” Fields said. “I didn’t know anything.” Fields has also assisted and helped teach ASL classes alongside deaf studies faculty. Magaly Benítez Castillo, a
biological science student pursuing a minor in ASL, frequently spoke to Fields in the classroom as well as outside for tutoring help. “She’s the most accessible tutor you’ll ever have,” Benítez Castillo said. “It was really fun … to see her finally decide to do (the ASL major), and now that she’s done, it’s really cool to see.” The semesters leading up to her delayed graduation had their difficulties, though. Fields said that three of the five classes she needed to take to complete her degree hadn’t been established yet. “They didn’t exist, and there was no teachers,” Fields said. “And I know that they’re very busy and everything, but I wanted a little bit more fire (with the new degree).” Fields took matters into her own hands, asking two instructors to essentially teach independent studies in place of the three courses. “I was glad I found somebody
to teach them as well, so I could get them out of the way,” she said. Having just walked across the stage last month, the graduate now holds a double major in sociology and ASL. Fields said she could see herself taking various paths post-graduation, some options being teaching, community interpreting, pursuing a master’s degree, and more. For now, though, the grad will work under the agency Sign Language Interpreting Services, Inc. The WSU alum said that while she was able to obtain her ASL degree despite the obstacles, she hopes to see improvements as more continue their journey in the major. As of last fall, just over a dozen students have declared an ASL major. “I was totally fine with being the guinea pig for this one,” Fields said. “But for the future, I do hope that they improve on it a little bit.”