Foreward
To: Faculty and Administrators in Postsecondary Education
About this handbook, Emerging Scholars: Students With Disabilities
We find that most faculty and administrators are committed to helping all of their students, including those with disabilities, learn in the best way possible, but they often have questions about working with their students who have disabilities.
At the same time, students with disabilities often confront negative attitudes and stereotypes in our society, which may present barriers to retention and graduation in postsecondary environments. There is also evidence that barriers exist in the employment of persons with disabilities. Indeed, government statistics show that students with disabilities graduate and are employed at lower rates than their non-disabled peers, while, in contrast, URI statistics show that the grades of students with disabilities, on average, compare closely to those of the larger student body.
The URI Office of Student Life, with the support of a US Department of Education Grant, “Changing the Culture: Enhancing the Inclusion and Retention of Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Institutions” has produced this Handbook as a resource to Faculty and Administrators at Rhode Island’s institutions of Higher Education. The handbook is a collaboration of Rhode Island’s three state-supported institutions (Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and University of Rhode Island), and addresses those institutions in particular, but we hope that other institutions will also benefit from the information herein.
Emerging Scholars: Students with Disabilities is divided into four sections
Rights, Responsibilities and ADA/504 Laws
II. Description of Various Types of Disabilities
III. Accommodations at RI State Institutions of Higher Education
IV. Learning/Teaching Strategies and Frequently Asked Questions
We hope you will find this handbook useful, and please visit our website www.uri.edu/disability_services for more information. For questions specific to your own institution, please contact your institution’s Disability Services provider (contact information is available on the last page).
Thank you. Your interest and concern will help college students with disabilities to achieve equality in higher education.
Pamela Rohland,
Director, Disability Services for Students, University of Rhode Island
Project Director, Changing the Culture, USDE Grant #P333A020023-03
