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UCLA

Office for Students with Disabilities

ANNUAL REPORT
2002-2003

University of California, Los Angeles
P.O. Box 951426
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1426
A-255 Murphy Hall
(310) 825-1501 (voice)
(310) 206-6083 (TDD)
(310) 825-9656 (Fax)
http://www.osd.ucla.edu (Website address updated 05/29/2007)

The Office for Students with Disabilities

The Office for Students with Disabili­ties (OSD) is a campus resource that assists the faculty and the University in meeting the mandates of Federal and State law and University Policy to provide academic support services and programmatic access to students with disabilities. The OSD also provides information to faculty about academic accommodations for students with disabilities. The philosophy and mission of the office focuses on encouraging independence, assisting students in realizing their academic potential and facilitating the elimination of physical, programmatic and attitudinal barriers.

Services Provided 2002-2003

The OSD provides a variety of services including registration assistance, disability parking, on-campus van transportation, campus accessibility, assistance with housing appeals, tutorial referrals, adaptive equipment loan and the following:

Highlights This Year

New Van

The start of the new year brought a new van to the OSD.  With great assistance from Fleet and Transit Services, the OSD acquired a replacement van for its on-campus transportation Service. The new van runs on compressed natural gas which is less expensive and burns cleaner, so it is better for the budget and safer for the environment.  The new van has nine seats, space for two wheelchairs, and a wheelchair lift which is faster.  The turning radius of the new van is much tighter, so it maneuvers more easily, and the windows are much larger, so visibility is much better.

Scholarships

The Financial Aid Office has been working closely with the OSD to identify qualified students to receive scholarships that are specifically for students with disabilities.  Scholarships have been awarded from the Will Rogers Memorial Scholarship, the Gordon Hein Scholarship, the Kneller Scholarship, and the Ella Okern Scholarship.  Students have received scholarships for general support, adaptive technology, specialized tutoring and learning disability testing.

Disability Demographics

During the 2002-03 academic year, a total of 1,465 students with documented disabilities received one or more academic support services and/or parking assistance (a decrease of approximately 1% from last year). Of this number, 859 students received services other than parking (a decrease of 2%) and were identified in the following categories:

A total of 606 students requested and received only parking assistance. The graph below demonstrates our overall distribution between parking only and academic service users over a five-year period.

The Learning Disabilities Program

Support services were provided for students with specific learning disabilities (LD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), acquired brain injury (ABI), and students with psychological disabilities.

The Peer-Mentor Program is being redesigned in order to increase participation. Students continued to meet individually with LD Specialists to review specific skill strategies, most often in the areas of reading, writing and time management. Panel discussions on issues related to disclosure in the work place and in medical/law/graduate school applications were extremely well received and will continue to be offered annually.  In addition, several workshops were offered in which guest speakers presented on their specific areas of expertise related to a given disability. Finally, OSD offered a weekly support group for students with AD/HD. This was facilitated by an LD Specialist.

There was an increase in the number of requests by campus departments and offices for presentations about the Learning Disabilities Program. In addition to continued presentations to departmental teaching assistants, presentations to the Academic Advancement Program (AAP), athletics, health education, Ashe and other offices around campus were conducted.

Technology Resources for Students with Disabilities

The Office for Students with Disabilities maintains a Resource Room at Powell Library that is used by students for distraction-free testing and for use of special adaptive equipment and devices. There are several computer workstations with adaptive software that are used for scanning, reading, converting materials to large print and other activities. In addition, there are computer labs throughout the campus available to students who do not need adaptive software. The Office for Students with Disabilities works closely with the Disabilities and Computing Program (located in MSA 4909). The DCP provides adaptive technology and information access training, support, and services for students, faculty and staff with disabilities.  Web accessibility evaluations and recommendations along with voice synthesis, Braille print, large print, and voice recognition technologies are available, as are consulting for individuals and departments.  Students can contact the DCP directly at 310-206-7133 or be referred by OSD.  Also see the DCP web site at www.dcp.ucla.edu.

Mobility Assistance

A total of 6775 on-campus van rides were given to 204 students with documented mobility impairments. This represents a decrease of 15% in the number of riders and an increase of 25% in the number of rides.

Comparisons to Other Students

Overall, students with permanent disabilities averaged just .05 grade points below all other UCLA students. The most extreme differences were noted at the freshmen level, where OSD students averaged .34 higher than other UCLA freshmen, and at the professional level (medical, dental and law school), where OSD students averaged .17 below other professional level students.

Students with temporary disabilities had similar comparisons. The overall average was .02 below all other UCLA students. Freshmen with temporary disabilities averaged .27 higher than other UCLA freshmen and professional level students averaged .21 below other professional level students.

The Office of the President is currently tracking graduation and retention rates for UC students who have received academic support services at all nine campuses.

Evaluation

An evaluation of services is sent each year to all students who have received academic support services from the OSD. Based on comments received, changes may be made in the way service is delivered. Students who choose to identify themselves on this evaluation can request a follow-up on their comments. A total of 649 evaluations were sent out. The return rate was approximately 13% (87).  The demographic make-up of respondents appeared to be somewhat unusual. Normally the gender split is nearly 50-50. This year, females made up 63% of the respondents. Students with mobility disabilities make up about 8% of our population but 23% of the respondents. Finally, while our students with visual disabilities make up only 3% of our population, none responded to the survey. With that in mind, the ratings are indicated below:

* Indicates fewer than 10 people responded to this item this year.

The comparison to last year's results indicates that while some areas are slightly higher, several appear to be significantly lower and yet, the overall average is essentially unchanged and indicates a high degree of satisfaction with OSD services. This is due to the number of responses received to any given item. Items with higher response rates count more heavily in the overall score. Where only a few responses are given, even one extreme response could skew the score for an individual item but carry little weight in the overall total.

Resources Outside the Classroom

• Programmatic Access is provid­ed by campus departments for all campus activities including student organiza­tions, sport­ing events and extracurricular activities. Contact the UCLA Access Web at www.ucla.edu.
• The UCLA Libraries provide many services to students with disabilities. www.ucla.edu/home/lma.html
• A Support Group for students with learning disabilities and another one for students with AD/HD offers opportunities for personal growth. (310) 825-1501.
• Student Psychological Services and the OSD co-facilitate a support group for students with psychological disabilities. Contact the OSD for more information on this group.
• The Disabled Student Union (DSU) is an Associated Students special interest group. (310) 794-4109 or http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/dsunion/
• Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Dis­ability is made up of students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members. (310) 825-2242.
• The Chancellor's ADA/504 Compliance Office assists the University in recognizing and acting upon access and compliance issues. (310) 825-2242 or http://www.saonet.ucla.edu/ada.htm
• The Career Center provides career counsel­ing and other services. (310) 825-2981 or www.saonet.ucla.edu/career/.

OSD Staff

Student Workers

Irene Campos, Nick Fletcher, Dennis Lee, Yvette Martin, Mary Oyster, Bret Pursuit, Mike Robrock, Allen Rowin, Ann Tran and Lindsay Wells.