Services for Students with Disabilities General P resentation

1. Services for Students with Disabilities General Presentation

2. Take Away Messages • - Clarify the mission of SSD. • - Assurance that the central mission of SSD is adequately funded and SSD staff is doing an excellent job. • - A perfect storm- historical growth at a time of historic cuts in budgets. • - SSD is willing to expand its mission, if funded. • - Development will be the key to expansion.

3. History of SSD • UM officially recognized the Office of Disabled Student Services in February of 1974. Five months after the passage of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act which included a section (#504) for the protection of individuals with disabilities in institutions receiving any type of federal assistance. In 1989, the office changed its name to Services for Students with Disabilities to reflect a more student centered approach.

4. SSD History Continued • Throughout SSD’s history it has played a prominent role in advocating for students with disability issues at the state, national and international levels. Some of the accomplishments of directors both past and present include: President of the international organization known as the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD); President of the Michigan chapter of AHEAD; design and implementation of the professional standards used to assess postsecondary disability services worldwide; contributed to writing the national documentation guidelines for learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and mental health disabilities; current members of the editorial board of the international peer reviewed journal: Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disabilities;

5. SSD History Continued • instrumental in passing a piece of legislation known as the “Barbara Bill” which made it Michigan law that print publishers must provide electronic versions of books to institutions of higher education to make them accessible to the students with vision and reading disabilities; established one of the first adaptive computing labs and in concert with the Provost’s office established a fund to support mandated accommodations the cost of which would overwhelm the resources of the SSD office. This fund is one of the first of its kind and has become a model used nationwide.

6. Mission • The mission of the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is to support the University’s commitment to equity and diversity by providing support services and academic accommodations to students with disabilities. We share information, promote awareness of disability issues, and provide support of a decentralized system of access for students within the University community.

7. SSD’S Philosophy or Core Values • SELF ADVOCACY • SELF EMPOWERMENT • SELF DETERMINATION

8. SSD Staff: • 4 professional staff who each have an expertise in particular disability areas • 1 *academic Coach. • 1 administrative staff • 1 staff devoted to closed captioning of media • *Beginning in the middle of January of 2014 SSD will be able to hire a temporary half time academic coach for at least the next year and half.

9. Budget: • SSD is funded by two sources: • 1. General Fund- Since 2007 this budget has been cut 1.5% every year. Which means a cut of $7500 every year and these cuts will continue for the immediate future. Once salaries and benefits are accounted for in 2007 SSD had an operating budget of $32,000. Our operating budget for this academic year is $18,000. • ADA Provost Fund- Covers all ADA mandated academic accommodations not covered by the general fund, this means (depending on the year) an additional $300,000- $700,000.

10. Growth • Since the academic year 2008-2013 SSD has witnessed more than a 100% growth in the number of students registered with the office. • Since the beginning of welcome week of Fall 2013 we have registered over 500 students.

11. Students Registered with SSD 2008-2013

12. Breakdown by Disability

13. SSD Student Racial / Ethnic Background

14. SSD Students' Home State/Country

15. Student Class Standing (at time of registration)

16. Trend in Largest Disability Groups(2010-2013

17. Student Success Outcomes • -80% of students registered with SSD graduate within five years • -The mean GPA of SSD students is 3.0 • -Post-graduation employment rates of SSD-registered students are at parity with the employment rates of other UM graduates.

18. Big Ten Schools Disability & Staff • At the end of the academic year 2012-2013-The University of Michigan has the second highest number of SSD registered students – 2,116 – in all of the 14 Big Ten schools.

19. Big Ten Schools Disability & StaffRanking by Registered Students

20. Big Ten Schools Disability & Staff • The University of Michigan ranks 11th of 14 in the number of full-time disability services staff providing accommodations to students with disabilities. • 3 : 1,000 is the smallest ratio of staff to SSD registered students in the Big Ten.

21. Big Ten Schools Disability & StaffRanking by Full-Time Staff

22. Academic Accommodation in 2012-2013(extrapolating from these numbers SSD successfully advocated for over 50,000 academic accommodations.

23. Academic Accommodations 2012-13 • SSD continues to provide note takers, video captioning, CART services and interpreters for its deaf/hard of hearing students.

24. Expanding the mission and Development opportunities: • For the first time in SSD’s history there is funding opportunities for every disability group: (These are primarily gifts for the purchase of adaptive technology, tutoring or a student’s own professional development) • In the December of 2013- SSD closed out gifts commitments totaling $277,000 • Gifts of $50,000 and $150,000 for students with LD. • A gift of $75,000 for students who stutter or have speech dysfluency. • A gift of $2000 for the purchase of emergency medical equipment given to SSD by CSG. • These gifts are on top of established funds like the Miller Fund, FACT fund, Samet Fund and Web Fund.