Five Windows and a Locked Door: University Accommodation Responses to Students with Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

Increasing enrolments of post-secondary students with disabilities are resulting in accessibility services offices reaching capacity levels. This trend has created the ‘perfect storm’ in terms of meeting these students’ needs. While collaboration between accessibility services staff and professors seems a logical solution to maximizing resource management and ameliorating this issue, additional tensions arise when issues of fairness, authority, and roles come into play. Using the constructionist model of disability as a lens, I analyzed the viewpoints of faculty members and accessibility services staff members in order to contribute to our understanding about these tensions as well as to make recommendations for their resolution. Le nombre grandissant d’étudiants handicapés qui s’inscrivent au niveau post-secondaire a pour résultat que les bureaux offrant des services d’accessibilité atteignent les limites de leurs capacités. Cette tendance a créé une situation explosive pour ce qui est de répondre auxbesoins de ces étudiants. Alors que la collaboration entre le personnel des services d’accessibilité et les professeurs semblerait être une solution logique pour maximiser la gestion des ressources et améliorer ce problème, des tensions supplémentaires surviennent quand des questions d’équité, d’autorité et de rôles entrent en jeu. En me servant du modèle constructionniste du handicap comme une loupe, j’ai analysé les points de vue des professeurs et des employés des services d’accessibilité afin de faciliter notre compréhension de ces tensions et pour faire des recommandations en vue de trouver une solution.

In the Nick of Time: A Pan-Canadian Examination of Extended Testing Time Accommodation in Post-secondary Schools

“…Unless researchers design and conduct quality studies about the best practices for awarding ETTA to students with a variety of learning and assessment needs, even the most dedicated and knowledgeable SAS professionals are left without the necessary tools to make fair and appropriate decisions. Furthermore, they are constrained by lack of resources (Sokal, 2016) and the constant threat of litigation that together place them in a very precarious position.…”

“…Our sample included those serving a broad range of students at a broad range of institutions, and our study design based on survey data therefore may have masked some of these differences. Finally, we are cognizant that although the funding to SAS offices is increasing, it is insufficient to keep pace with the growing accessibility needs of the student body (AUCCCD, 2014;Sokal, 2016).…”

Academic Accommodations for Special Education Students: A Systematic Review

“…Increasing enrollment in post-secondary education by disabled people in Canada and the United States aligns with existing federal mandates upholding their inclusive rights. The ballooning admission rates of these groups of students are likewise associated with an augmented dependence on the universities' provision of academic accommodations to facilitate equitable access to learning [1,2,3,4].…”

“…Overcoming attitudinal barriers and improving awareness through training for faculty was found to be vital. [4] found that trying to balance fairness to students with disabilities alongside their peers can be challenging, primarily due to the different perspectives. Also, legal obligations (such as the duty to accommodate), must be balanced with the students' potential to adapt and its long-term benefits.…”

“…Administering Academic Accommodation [4] opined that the increasing enrollment of post-secondary students with disabilities results in accessibility services offices reaching capacity levels. He further stated that "while collaboration between accessibility services staff and professors seems a logical solution to maximizing resource management and improving issues with access, additional tensions arise when problems of fairness, authority, and roles come into play."…”