The Office of Disability Services would
like to welcome all new students, including students with disabilities, to
the APSU community and congratulate all who are about to embark on the new
adventure of higher education.
More college students report disabilities
June 12th, 2009
-- From the
[Memphis, TN]
Commercial Appeal:
Colleges increasingly welcome students with
disabilities. A national survey of college freshmen last year by UCLA found
that 3.3 percent reported having a disability, up from about half a percent
in 1983. New
technology, federal laws and increased awareness are helping colleges
support students with such conditions as autism, Asperger’s, attention
deficit disorder, hearing deficits and other learning and behavioral
disabilities.
… Professors
are slowly altering long-held teaching methods to ensure
that class lectures and assignments are accessible. These
adjustments may be as simple as printing handouts on light
blue paper, because some autistic students with visual
sensitivities find black text on white paper jarring.
Maxine Ford, the recently retired director of disability
services at Southwest Tennessee Community College, said the
college has seen a “tremendous increase” in the number of
students with disabilities such as attention deficit
disorder (ADD), hearing impairments, and autism.
Students with
disabilities typically require more tutoring and take longer
to earn their degrees, according to the University of
California, Los Angeles, which tracks college trends
nationwide. Its national freshmen survey found that last
year 3.3 percent of college freshmen reported having a
disability. In 1983, only a half percent of freshmen
reported having a disability.
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June: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term
encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious
diseases that cause physical disability in human
development. There is no known cure for CP.
Christy Brown - (June 5, 1932 – September 6, 1981) was an
Irish author, painter and poet. The Academy Asard winning
film My Left Foot profiled his life. Christy Brown had
cerebral palsy and was incapable for years of deliberate
movement or speech. Doctors considered him to be mentally
disabled as well. However, his mother continued to speak to
him, work with him, and try to teach him until he famously
snatched a piece of chalk from his sister with his left foot
to make a mark on the floor. He was about five years old and
only his left foot responded to his will. His mother then
taught him the alphabet and he laboriously copied each
letter, holding chalk between his toes. He learned to spell
out words and finally to read.
July: A mood disorder is a condition whereby the
prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to
the circumstances. Types of mood disorders include
depression, unipolar and bipolar disorder.
Harrison Ford - (born July 13, 1942) Ford is best known
for his performances in the Star Wars film series and the
adventurous archaeologist and action hero, Dr. Henry
"Indiana" Jones Junior, in the Indiana Jones film series. He
suffered from depression in his youth, and would sleep long
hours, often miss class and have trouble to keep up with his
studies. He quickly got over it after signing up for drama
class where he overcame all of his fears.
August: Obsessive compulsive disorder
(OCD) A psychiatric disorder manifested in a variety of
forms, most commonly characterized by a persons obsession to
perform a particular task or set of tasks.
Billy Bob Thornton - (born August 4, 1955) is an Academy
Award-winning American screenwriter, actor, as well as
occasional director, playwright and singer. He came to fame
in the mid 1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in
the film Sling Blade. Billy Bob Thornton explains his
particular penchant for repetitive compulsive actions. 'I
have a little bit of OCD,' he says. 'The simple ones I can
explain to you. The more complex ones, I don't even know how
to tell anybody.' He and rock singer Warren Zevon became
close friends after sharing their common experiences with
the disorder.
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President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate
Kathy Martinez, for Assistant Secretary for Disability
Employment Policy (ODEP), Department of Labor.
Kathy Martinez is an
internationally recognized disability rights leader
specializing in employment, asset building, independent
living, international development, diversity and gender
issues. She was appointed Executive Director of the
World
Institute on Disability (WID), based in Oakland, CA, in
2005. Martinez, blind since birth, directs Proyecto Visión,
WID's National Technical Assistance Center to increase
employment opportunities for Latinos with disabilities in
the United States, and Access to Assets, an asset-building
project to help reduce poverty among people with
disabilities. At WID, she also led the team that produced
the international webzine
DisabilityWorld in English and Spanish.
In 2002 she was appointed by President
Bush as one of 15 members of the National Council on
Disability, an independent federal agency advising the
President and Congress on disability policy.
In 2005
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appointed Martinez as
one of eight public members of the newly-established State
Department advisory committee on disability and foreign
policy.
In 2007 she was appointed a member of the board of
the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Congressionally-created
agency dedicated to research and projects in conflict
management.
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A principal who pioneered inclusive education at a Boston
elementary school two decades ago celebrated his retirement
as the school he worked at is renamed in his
honor.
At a surprise ceremony, the Patrick O’Hearn Elementary
School will be renamed the William Henderson Elementary
school as a tribute to a principal who has improved the
lives of thousands of children, according to parents.
Principal William Henderson, 59, who is blind, began
teaching students with disabilities alongside their typical
peers at O’Hearn in 1989, and the school earned a national
reputation as a model for inclusive education, particularly
among urban schools. Currently, one-third of the students at
the school receive special education services.
“Boston has far too many kids in segregated classrooms
and not enough schools like the O’Hearn,’’ said Thomas
Hehir, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School
of Education and a former director of the US Department of
Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. “The
O’Hearn is one of the few schools in urban America that
demonstrates all students can succeed.’’
Henderson also shattered stereotypes about what people
with disabilities can achieve professionally as his career
continued to blossom even as he progressively lost his
vision.
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JULY 3rd
University closed for Independence Day
JULY 4th Independence Day, marks
eight weeks from the first day of fall classes. All alternative
format textbook requests should be submitted by this date for timely
delivery on August 29th.
JULY 10th Last day of classes Summer I
2009
JULY 13th Classes begin Summer II 2009
AUGUST 14th Last day of
classes/Final Exams Summer II & Full Summer -- Summer
Commencement 2:00pm, Dunn Center
AUGUST 21st Grades available on AP Self
Service
AUGUST 23rd Last day for students who
preregistered to pay with credit card or web check via AP
Self Service. Self Service accepts payment in full or
students may sign up for the installment plan
CLASSES
WILL BE DROPPED FOR PREREGISTERED STUDENTS WHO HAVE NOT PAID
AND/OR CONFIRMED THEIR CLASSES BY 7:00PM
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We want YOU! If you have a piece of
artwork, comments about a previous newsletter article, a
photograph, a poem, a story about how you overcame a
challenge, a favorite recipe, a tech. tip, or an
announcement that you would like to publish in
the Advocate, please send it via email to ODS@apsu.edu
with the subject line "Advocate submission", or drop your
submission off at the ODS front desk. Don't forget to
include your name, contact information, and any special
instructions. And please make sure your submission is
typed and legible.
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All APSU Students including ODS
registered students have access to the Assistive Technology
located in the the library (first floor-- JAWS and Kurzweil
3000) and ODS Access lab (second floor JAWS, Kurzweil
3000/1000, ZoomText, CCTV and Dragon Naturally Speaking) and
MUC114 ODS AT Lab (Closed Caption Television (up x60
enlargement), Zoom Text Magnifier, JAWS Screen Reader,
and Kurzweil 3000/1000). Further description of ODS
Assistive Technology is available through the
Services for Access and Assistive Technology
link on the ODS web.
For an orientation explaining the
assistive technology ODS provides, please come to an open AT
orientation— for dates and times go to the link
Announcements and Events on the ODS web site.
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The Office of Disability Services (ODS)
primary mission is to ensure access for students with
disabilities to all curricular and co-curricular
opportunities offered by Austin Peay State University.
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