What It Takes: Accessibility and Disability Service

There’s a lot to navigate when you start college: How do you politely tell your roommate it might be time to do laundry? Unlearn years of procrastination so you actually turn in an essay on time? Find your way to a discussion section in the bowels of an unfamiliar building?

But students with disabilities may face extra challenges: Negotiating with a roommate while living with a communication disorder, struggling to complete assignments while dealing with migraines, or finding a wheelchair-friendly route to that distant class.

That’s where the University of Maryland’s Accessibility and Disability Service (ADS) comes in. The office works with students to understand their needs and recommend and approve accommodations, from note-taking services to assistive technologies to paratransit.

“We help students navigate their time in higher education to support them and prepare them for whatever comes next,” said ADS Director Tessa Cahill. “By the time they get to graduation, they’re rocking and rolling. We emphasize ‘inter-dependence’—knowing how to connect and plug in to resources on your own.”

About 3,400 students, 9% of the population, are currently registered with ADS. Of those, 90% are undergraduates, but the office serves everyone from high school students in the Terp Young Scholars program to Ph.D. candidates working to defend a thesis.

The department has grown significantly since the pandemic, said Cahill, increasing to 27 full-time staff members, including 10 disability specialists who work one-on-one with students. But national statistics show that up to one-third of all college students could have a disability, so Cahill knows there’s more work to be done.

She and Disability Specialist Monica Aisenberg ’15 share how personal experiences got them into the field, explain the dramatic differences between K-12 and college approaches to disability, and dispel some misconceptions about ADS.

Cahill: I was the first full-time disability specialist that the department hired in 2014. We had only four staff members and six graduate assistants. We served fewer students, primarily folks with learning disabilities or ADHD. Fast forward to today, and we see a lot of folks with chronic medical conditions, like Crohn’s disease or migraines, and mental health-based disabilities.

Our staff have wonderful backgrounds in different areas. Monica has worked on transition and employment services, others in special education, hearing and speech sciences, vocational rehabilitation.

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Aisenberg: For my first summer job, I worked at a camp for individuals aged 13 to 21 who had intellectual and developmental disabilities. It was my first exposure, and I loved everything about it. I ended up becoming a student aide at my high school, providing one-on-one support for students with disabilities. I knew if I could do this for my career, it would never feel like work.

Cahill: Growing up, I had close friends and family members who are Deaf. I originally thought I would become an audiologist and planned to go to medical school. But then I was in an accident in college, and I had to take an extended leave of absence. When I came back, I had to meet with the disability service office at my school (Springfield College in Massachusetts) to make a plan to resume my studies, get extended time on tests, note-taking help and more. Getting that human-level support altered my trajectory. I took a class on assistive technologies, and decided I wanted to support students with disabilities in college.

Aisenberg: Leaving high school, some people compare it to a cliff. There’s little information about the services you can get as an adult. That’s why do a lot of outreach, such as tabling at orientation or going to the First or Second Look Fairs to make sure we’re present and visible for students. We also visit local high schools to talk to families.

Cahill: In the K-12 environment, you’re covered by education-based laws. Parents make the majority of decisions, and students don’t actually participate in those meetings, possibly until their senior year.

Once you step into college, you’re covered by a civil rights law: the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s about equal access. We focus on understanding how your disability impacts you, and figure out what’s here that you can use. And it’s the student’s choice if they want an accommodation for one class but not another. They’re in control.

Aisenberg: We make it clear in meetings: Nothing about me without me. We can’t independently communicate with professors about students. We don’t reach out to parents. Those things need to be student-led.

Cahill: To connect with our office, the first step is to fill out a registration application. That includes a self-report where they can tell us in their own words about their disability, how it impacts them and what areas they want accommodations. Then, they meet individually with a specialist who will ask targeted follow-up questions. The student also provides documentation of their disability, and that well-rounded approach allows folks like Monica to make recommendations for accommodations.

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Aisenberg: After they meet with us, we send a follow-up email summarizing what accommodations were approved, how to access those in the classroom, how to send accommodation letters to professors and more. Then at the beginning of each semester we send general reminders as a touchpoint, so students remember they can come back to us at any time to update diagnoses or to talk about new challenges.

There are a wide variety of disability accommodations, including note-taking and test-taking support. We provide a lot of assistive technology, such as software that can provide audio files of materials, or dictation software. In addition, if a student has an internship where they need support, we’ll provide that as well.

Cahill: We have partnerships across campus. Students can fill out an accommodated housing form to let us know if they need an ADA-complaint bathroom, air conditioning, a location near the elevator, and we’ll notify ResLife to do the implementation. Same with DOTS. We have a paratransit system—it’s as close to door-to-door as you can get. We determine if a student is eligible, then DOTS takes over. If someone needs an accessible piece of furniture in a classroom or assistance with course scheduling, we can work with Facilities or Academic Affairs. There’s no menu of accommodations—everything we approve is based on an interactive process to determine what students need.

It helps that we have a lot of really good allies among faculty and staff. I have a faculty advisory committee that tells me about the issues they’re seeing so we can offer targeted guidance. We also do presentations at staff meetings and visit individual departments to get into the weeds of specific accommodations students may need in a science lab, for example.

Aisenberg: It’s a myth that accommodations can only be implemented at the beginning of a semester. If you’re transferring in, or you’re noticing you need additional support during midterms, register with us at any time. Our offices are open year-round, not just during the school year.

Cahill: Students think it’s very complicated to get in touch with us, that there’s a long wait time, or that they’ll be turned away if they don’t have the perfect documentation. None of that’s true. ADS today is different from last year or two years ago. Stop by and say hello!

This is part of a series that looks behind the scenes at “what it takes” to keep the University of Maryland humming and create a vibrant campus experience. Got an idea for a future installment? Email kshih@umd.edu.