Professors to study campus accessibility issues

by Mark McGowan

Questions regarding a university's accessibility for persons with disabilities are not restricted to the physical campus. Obstacles could arise for blind students, or those with low vision or severe reading disabilities, as soon as they log onto the university's Web site.

Susan Vogel

Or, when students with disabilities arrive, they might not find the necessary software in the computer labs that enables them to read a syllabus or write their papers.

Susan Vogel, a professor in the Department of Literacy Education, is working with a team of colleagues at NIU and three other state institutions to enhance access to information and accommodations needed by qualified students with disabilities to succeed in their classes and complete their degrees.

Vogel is the project director of "Enhancing Success for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education," a project funded by a three-year, renewable Illinois Board of Higher Education HECA (Higher Education Cooperation Act) grant worth $91,000.

Nancy Long, professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders, and Nancy Kasinski, director of the Center for Access-Ability Resources, share in the grant money and the work.

"In this first year," said Vogel, a Presidential Research Professor, "we are trying to find out: What are we doing right? What are the hidden, or invisible, barriers to academic success? Are our Web sites accessible? Once students are enrolled, do they feel faculty, administrators and supportive professional staff are welcoming and knowledgeable about disabilities, disability law, accommodations and resources on campus?"

As a first step, Vogel and research assistants Amy Bauer, Corrie Peters and (project coordinator) Soyna Holder became familiar with the campus Web sites, campus resources, awareness activities and policies and procedures that pertain to students with disabilities.

The next step was to work with retired professor Yona Leyser and the HECA team to develop and refine three surveys to assess the current practices and interest of the faculty, administration and supportive professional staff in obtaining more information.

The next stage was to put surveys online with assistance from Harry Clark and his team at Information Technology Services; professor Richard Orem, director of the Research, Evaluation and Policy Studies office and graduate assistant Anies Baswedan.

Thanks to these efforts, the surveys will become available on the project's Web site this week. Once the data is analyzed, the HECA team will know what information is needed and of interest, how the information should be provided (brochures, speakers, workshops, Web-based, one-on-one consultation, etc.) and in what time frame.

Next year will bring action as Vogel and her team work to develop strategies to provide the information that people want in the way they want it. NIU and its partners at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Sauk Valley Community College will be able to individualize the activities to each campus and to the key personnel in each institution to enhance academic success of students with disabilities.

A final component of the project funded under this IBHE initiative will be to develop a Web-based manual that will allow other institutions to enhance access, diversity and academic success with the help of some of the strategies being developed at NIU.

The work is crucial, Vogel said.

According to data provided by the HEATH Resource Center (American Council on Education), the total percentage of full-time freshmen with disabilities has climbed from 7 percent to 9.4 percent from 1988 to 1998. Most of this increase has been among those with learning disabilities where there has been a dramatic rise in the last 10 years, from 1.2 percent to 3.5 percent nationally.

Based on her longitudinal research over the last 20 years, Vogel has found that students with learning disabilities who studied in a welcoming environment, who registered with offices of support services early in their college careers and who received reasonable accommodations enjoyed the same amount of academic success, graduated at the same rate and achieved the same level of success after college as did their non-disabled classmates.

"But this is not always the case. National data indicate that students with disabilities are not graduating at the same rate as their non-disabled peers. We want to improve that," she said. "NIU has been responsive to the needs of students with disabilities, and we're becoming more aware and technologically sophisticated all the time. I have seen increased awareness and amazing changes, even in the first semester of the project."

The HECA grant team asks all faculty, administration, supportive professional staff and students with disabilities to respond to the surveys at http://www.cedu.niu.edu/success. Allow about 15 minutes to complete the survey.

Faculty, administration and supportive professional staff response is critical to the success of the project: Only if there is a robust response will the team know what information people want, how they want to acquire it, what format they want it in and what time frame.

Call Vogel at 753-8432 or contact her via e-mail at svogel@niu.edu for more information or to receive a copy of the survey in the mail.