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UCLA

Office for Students with Disabilities

ANNUAL REPORT
2003-2004

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 2003-2004.

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:

* corrected after publication of 2003-04 report
* One full time staff position was lost due to budget cuts. Counseling hours for 2003-04 reflect this reduction.

Highlights This Year
OSD "Notetaker Needed" Icon Debuts on my.Ucla

Beginning Fall Quarter, the OSD, with assistance from the College of Letters and Sciences Information Services, introduced a new method to recruit notetakers. A "notetaker needed" icon picturing a notebook with a dollar sign imposed on it - appears on all my.Ucla classes for which a notetaker has been requested. When users click on the icon they are directed to OSD information on how to apply to be a notetaker with a link to an OSD Notetaker application as well.

An added feature of this new process is that if an icon appears for longer than two weeks, the OSD can rapidly send an e-mail to all students enrolled in the class asking for a notetaker. Use of the my.Ucla Notetaker Needed icon has greatly increased the speed with which the OSD provides notetakers. For those students who request notes before the start of the quarter, it is very likely that they will have a notetaker in place for the first lecture.

Disability Demographics

During the 2003-04 academic year, a total of 1,351 students with documented disabilities received one or more academic support services and/or parking assistance (a decrease of approximately 7.5% from last year). Of this number, 865 students received services other than parking (an increase of just under 1%) and were identified in the following categories (see next page):

A total of 486 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.

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 two weekly support groups, one for students with AD/HD facilitated by an LD Specialist, and one for students with psychological disabilities, co-facilitated by an LD Specialist and a psychologist from Student Psychological Services (SPS).

There was continued interest from campus departments and offices for presentations about the Learning Disabilities Program. These included presentations to departmental teaching assistants, Academic Advancement Program, athletics, health education, Ashe and other offices around campus.

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 (DCP, located in MS 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 610 students with documented disabilities affecting their mobility were issued disability parking permits. Placards from the Department of Motor Vehicles and letters from physicians were accepted forms of verification. Permits were issued to 486 students who requested no other services from this office; permits were issued to an additional 124 students who re­ceived other academic accommodations.

A total of 6,373 on-campus van rides were given to 177 students with documented mobility impairments. This represents a decrease of 6% in the number of rides and a decrease of 13% in the number of riders.

Comparisons to Other Students

The OSD continued to work with the Registrar's Office to compare the academic progress of students who receive services from this office with all other UCLA students. The results indicate more similarities in grade point average (GPA) than differences.

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 .18 higher than other UCLA freshmen, and at the graduate level (excluding medical, dental and law school), where OSD students averaged .15 below other graduate level students.

Students with temporary disabilities had similar comparisons. The overall average was .01 below all other UCLA students. Freshmen with temporary disabilities averaged .6 higher than other UCLA freshmen. Professional level students (medical, dental and law school) averaged .47 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 700 evaluations were sent out. The return rate was approximately 25% (174). The demographic make-up of respondents appeared to be somewhat skewed in the gender split. Our student population is approximately 56% females and 44% males, however, this is now the second year that, females made up approximately 2/3 of the respondents. Each disability category was represented almost exactly in proportion to our population.

A 5-point rating scale is used. 5-Excellent, 4-Good, 3-Acceptable, 2-Fair and 1-Poor. 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 some areas are slightly higher, some slightly lower with the overall average essentially unchanged. Almost all scores indicate a high degree of satisfaction with OSD services.

Resources Outside the Classroom

• Programmatic access is provided by campus departments for all campus activities including student organizations, sporting events and extra-curricular activities. Contact the UCLA Access Web at www.ucla.edu.

• The UCLA Libraries provide many services to students with disabilities. www.library.ucla.edu/service/disability.cfm

• A Support Group for students with learning disabilities and another one for students with AD/HD offer 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 disunion@ucla.edu

• 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 www.ada.ucla.edu

• The Career Center provides career counseling and other services. (310) 825-2981 or www.career.ucla.edu .

OSD Staff

Kathy Molini, Director
Dan Levitt, Assistant Director/Coordinator of the Program for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Students
Linda Stolt, Assistant Director/Proctor Coordinator
Dr. Julie Morris, Coordinator of the Program for Students with Learning Disabilities
Dr. Sharon Teruya, Learning Disabilities Specialist
Chana Bell , Learning Disabilities Specialist
Ed McCloskey , Coordinator - Mobility Assistance and Notetaking
Deb Owen, Budget Analyst/Supervisor of Technology Planning and Training
Maria E. Martin, Payroll/Personnel Administrator
George Auletta, Computer Technologist
Allen Rowin, Murphy Hall & Resource Room Asst.
Tony Buffo, Alternative Format/Assistant Proctor Coordinator
A.J. Mason, Resource Room Assistant
Rachel Abbatiello, Staff Captionist
Melodie Gifford , Staff Captionist
Sally Helmerich, Staff Captionist
Kristin Larson, Staff Interpreter
Ramon Norod, Staff Interpreter
Anastasia Swinkles, Staff Captionist

Student Workers

George Ahumada, Cody Badger, Cathy Cueto, Jay Donnell, Chris Hoag, Denis Lee, Chris Limon, Andrea Lopez, Yvette Martin, Stephen Perisho, Mike Robrock, and Ann Tran.