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UCLA

Office for Students with Disabilities

ANNUAL REPORT
2005-2006

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 (tty)
(310) 825-9656 (fax)
http://www.osd.ucla.edu (website information updated 03/07/2007)

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 2005-06

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

Through the generosity of Mr. Ron Conway, the OSD was able to remodel new office space for our Learning Disabilities Program (LD). With Mr.Conways support, our three LD Specialists are together, which benefits our students in many ways. This year, the LD Program served 622 students with learning disabilities, AD/HD, acquired brain injury and psychological disabilities. This is an 11.7% increase over last year. Again, our thanks goes out to Mr. Conway.

OSD experienced another growth spurt. In academic year 2004-05, OSD served 989 students. In academic year 2005-06, we served 1,149. This represents an increase of 16.2% in the number of students served. We are extremely pleased to be providing services and accommodations to so many students with disabilities on our campus. For more detailed information on the growth this year, please see the section entitled "Growth Comparisons Within The Department" found later in this report.

Disability Demographics

During the 2005-06 academic year, a total of 1,514 students with documented disabilities received one or more academic support services and/or parking assistance (an increase of approximately 8.5% from last year). Of this number, 1,149 students received services other than parking (a significant increase of 16.2%) and were identified in the following categories:

A total of 365 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 a weekly support group for students with AD/HD facilitated by an LD Specialist.

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.

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 Braille 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 withDisabilities 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 480 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 365 students who requested no other services from this office; permits were issued to an additional 115 students who received other academic accommodations.

A total of 5,768 on-campus van rides were given to 230 students with documented mobility impairments. This represents a decrease of 3% in the number of rides although the number of riders increased by 29%.

Comparisons to Other Students

The OSD continued to work with the Registrars 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 .29 grade points higher than other UCLA freshmen, and at the professional level (medical, dental and law school), where OSD students averaged .33 grade points below other professional level students.

Students with temporary disabilities had similar comparisons. The overall average was .03 grade points above all other UCLA students with all levels averaging higher than their non-disabled counterparts. The most striking comparison is at the freshman level where students with temporary disabilities averaged .45 grade points higher than other UCLA freshmen.

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.

Growth & Comparisons Within The Department

In 1985-86, OSD served 331 students. In 2005-06, OSD served 1149. This represents a growth of over 247% over the past 20 years. The growth has been over 90% in the past 10 years and 31% over the past five years alone.

Service Costs

The OSD always tries to mitigate service costs wherever possible by the use of technology and networking with other departments to bring the most appropriate and cost effective service delivery to students with disabilities. A perfect example of our use of technology is illustrated in the chart below.

Evaluation

An evaluation of services is sent each year to all students who have received academic support services from the OSD and who have addresses in our database. 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 900 evaluations were sent out. Approximately 100 were returned by mail services due to outdated addresses. The survey return rate was approximately 7% (66). This is the second year in a row that the return rate was less than 10%. We did not include last years results in the annual report because of this. This years results are compared with the results from 2003-04 when the return rate was 25%.

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.
+ No responses were given in this category.

The comparison to the results from 2003-04 show some areas significantly different but, upon further examination, almost all areas showing more than a .2 change are also areas with fewer than 10 respondents. Scores are likely to be skewed with such a small sampling. 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.ucla.edu/home/Ima.html

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

Chancellors Advisory Committee on Disability is made up of students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members. (310) 825-2242.

The Chancellors 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

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, Learning Disabilities Program

Dr. Sharon Teruya, Learning Disabilities Specialist

Chana Bell, Learning Disabilities Specialist

Ed McCloskey, Mobility Assistance Coordinator/Notetaking Services Coordinator

Deb Owen, Budget Analyst/Supervisor of Technology Planning and Training

Maria E. Martin, Payroll/Personnel Administrator

George Auletta, Programmer/Analyst

Denis Lee, Administrative Assistant

Tony Buffo, Alternative Format/Assistant Proctor Coordinator

A.J. Mason, Resource Room Assistant

Melodie Gifford, Staff Captionist

Roberta Munsey, Staff Interpreter

Ramon Norrod, Staff Interpreter

Lori Smith-Hillman, Staff Interpreter

Student Workers

Estrella Arciba, Cody Badger, Gabriel Cohen, Jay Donnell, Josue Montiel, Stephen Perisho, Carmen Romero, Brenda Rosales, Steven Skinner and Delvin Tsay.