Access Services lends a helping hand to Highline students

_

Highline’s Access Services works with students, staff, and faculty with disabilities to provide equal educational access and inclusion, its leaders say. 

They help people at Highline with various kinds of challenges through support, resources and referrals, advocacy, collaboration, auxiliary aids/services, and accommodations. 

“The help I have received from Access Services is that I’m able to meet weekly with an Access Services counselor. I am offered assisted note-taking, audio recording of the class lecture, and 50 percent extended test taking time,” said Duncan Dao, a student at Highline. 

“They made my experience at Highline a lot more positive and accommodating for my needs,” Dao said. 

“One goal for the current academic year center is to increase our outreach to students so they know about the services we provide and who is eligible,” said Jennifer Sandler, the associate dean of Access Services. “Many students think they must struggle through in silence but there are supports to help them be successful.”

Students can have a hard time trying to persevere to be successful in college while they struggle with their mental health. 

This is true as well for students with learning disabilities, chronic medical issues, physical limitations, and more. 

“Often even the students who know they may qualify for accommodations do not seek services because of the stigma attached to disability. We want to change that,” Sandler said. 

Access Services is exploring other ways to get better student feedback that will help in evaluating their effectiveness.

“[Another] area of focus is to support the campus community to learn about assistive and accessible technology tools and practices that can increase the accessibility, inclusion, and persistence of all students including, students with disabilities,” said Sandler.

The pandemic has created both opportunities and challenges for Access Services requiring them to adapt to the changes so they could remain accessible and continue to support and assist students. 

Access Services found that many students have reported that they were able to find more access with online learning. 

However, some students felt differently. 

“Others [felt] more isolated than ever and [weren’t] able to access the support they wanted and needed in order to be successful,” said Sandler. “It has also been more challenging to reach out to new students while we have been remote.”

To aid those who need in-person support, Access Services’ new office space was opened this quarter and is available to students, staff, and faculty. 

The new office space is located on the fifth floor of the Library, Building 25, room 531. Services will continue to be offered both in-person and remotely.