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Disability Resources for Family

Welcome to Disability Resources for Families

The University can be an unfamiliar world for families. There are additional questions and concerns when your son or daughter has a disability. This page will help you explore the many differences between getting disability accommodations through a post-secondary disability office and through K-12 special education.

What college students need to know

The best gift parents can give their college-age daughters and sons is self-determination. By this, we mean teaching young adults how to manage their lives by making thoughtful choices and developing self-advocacy skills. These skills are of enormous value as students make the transition from high school to college. A college student with a disability should be able to:

  • Describe their disability and its impact in academic settings
  • Schedule and keep appointments
  • Take any needed medications at prescribed times
  • Work with others to request and arrange their accommodations

Jane Jarrow, a nationally known disability specialist, who recently sent her own daughter (who has a disability) to college for the first time, wrote it this way:

If you are worried that your child with a disability will have a difficult time making a successful transition to college without your involvement… then you are probably right to be worried. Very few children with disabilities can succeed at the college level. On the other hand, students with disabilities survive and thrive on college campuses across the country. If you still think of your son or daughter as your "child," and they still are comfortable in accepting that role, it is time to take a careful look at where you have come from and what lies before you. As parents, it is time for us to step back and allow/encourage/gently nudge our SWD's (Students With Disabilities) to assume significant independent responsibility for their own lives, both academically and personally.

For the full text see: arkahead.org/letterfromjane.htm

Top 8 Parent Questions

  1. What is the major difference in disability law between high school and college?
  2. What documentation is required?
  3. Why aren't students automatically registered with Disability Resources?
  4. What accommodations are available?
  5. How do students get accommodations?
  6. Who will manage my son or daughter's education?
  7. What is meant by "self-advocacy"? How will my son or daughter learn to self-advocate?
  8. My son or daughter wants nothing to do with Disability Resources!

And the answers are…

  1. What is the major difference in disability law between high school and college?

    The laws that protect the rights of college students with disabilities are civil rights laws. Instead of ensuring a student's success in school, as does K-12 special education, post-secondary disability legislation focuses on making sure that all admitted students, including those with disabilities, have equal access to all of the University's courses and programs. Disability Resources' role is to help students get the accommodations they need for equal access. In K-12 special education, the school is responsible for setting goals for the student and mandates his/her success.

  2. What documentation is required?

  3. Why aren't students automatically registered with Disability Resources?

    College students are protected by civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, and only indirectly mandate the accommodations necessary for full participation in the University. It is the student's responsibility to self-identify to the University (specifically, to Disability Resources) and request the accommodations they need. College students are adults, expected to take charge of their education and be responsible for their own success

    Disability support offices do not determine or provide accommodation without student involvement, nor do they ensure that a student requests accommodation. If a student doesn't request (or refuses) an accommodation, the consequences of that action belong to the student.

    New students are encouraged to make an appointment with a Disability Resources specialist, whether or not they plan to use accommodations. Often students who didn't need accommodations in high school will need them in college.

    Knowing what accommodations are available and how to request them can be invaluable later in the semester. Colleges have no liability to provide accommodations until the student self-identifies and requests accommodations. Nor can accommodations be made retroactively.

    Both new and returning students should make their appointments with their Disability Resources specialist during the first week of school even though the appointment might not happen until the following week(s).

  4. What accommodations are available?

  5. How do students get accommodations?

  6. Who will manage my son or daughter's education?

    All college students, including those with disabilities, are responsible for managing their own education. They are not completely on their own, however; UMD offers an array of resources to help students understand and comply with University expectations.

    In addition to Disability Resources, students with disabilities have access to academic advisors, faculty, teaching assistants, the Tutoring Center, the Writing Center, Health Services and Counseling, the First Year Experience office, and faculty mentors to name a few.

    Students must maintain University academic and conduct standards, with or without accommodations. College students are legal adults, and only they can decide whether or not to use accommodations.

  7. What is meant by "self-advocacy"? How will my son or daughter learn to self-advocate?

    Successful students must have the beliefs, knowledge, and skills for goal-directed, self-regulated behavior.

    The knowledge and skills are critical, because it is the student, not Disability Resources, who will approach instructors, other staff, and sometimes other students to request the accommodations that are reasonable and appropriate for them. When students leave the University, they will need these same skills to successfully move into their chosen careers.

    Disability Resources promotes this self-knowledge and skill development. As students meet with Disability Resources staff, they learn to explain their disability in a way that is normal and comfortable. Meeting with faculty to discuss their Letters of Accommodation provides multiple opportunities to explain how their disability affects them and how these limitations can be effectively accommodated.

    Understanding that their accommodations do not give them an advantage, but rather create a level playing field for them, is an important beginning. As they learn to make thoughtful choices, students also learn they are capable of conceiving and shaping their own futures.

  8. My son or daughter wants nothing to do with Disability Resources!

    Every year we meet a number of new students and their parents during Advisement and Registration. We discuss the disability accommodations the student needs and how to get them. The student may even fill out a request form. Sometimes this is the last we see of them until they are on academic probation or are in danger of being dismissed. Other students, who choose to "do it on my own" do graduate, but with a lower GPA than they are capable of. If this describes your son or daughter, perhaps sharing some of these ideas with them may help.

    In many respects, disability is devalued in our culture. Even the good intentions of professionals and other adults can reinforce this devaluation. Students with disabilities may internalize their perceived devaluation as embarrassment or shame about the disability. To feel better about themselves, they shun everything that reminds them of their disability. They just want to like everyone else: no more "help", "lowered expectations", or "advantages". College is their new beginning!

    Those "good intentions of professionals" are based on the medical model of disability. (See "A new perspective of disability".) In contrast, Disability Resources is structured on the interactional model.

    The interactional model sees disability as a normal part of life and diversity. We neither try to "fix" students, nor "help" them in ways that provide an "advantage" over their peers. We expect no less of students with disabilities than we do of all other students. Our goal is to work with the student and the University to accommodate the student's academic interactions - to modify how certain academic tasks get accomplished. All we want to "fix" are negative attitudes.

    Some ideas to share with reluctant students…

    • Disability is a normal part of life, thus there is no shame in having a disability. If a student is accepted by UMD, they have every right to be here.
    • All disability-related information about students is confidential. Disability Resources records are separate from other University records.
    • Academic accommodations are merely a way of leveling the playing field. They are not "help" or "unfair advantages", and never, ever reduce academic standards or expectations.
    • Students must believe that they are in charge of their own education. Disability Resources will never "make" them do anything.
    • Checking out Disability Resources does not commit students to using accommodations - but it's smart for them to know what they are refusing.
    • Each year a few students come to Disability Resources when it's too late to selvage a failed class, or worse, a failed term. When this happens, we will do what we can to help the student turn things around; however, accommodations cannot be made retroactively.

Useful Information

 indoor climbing wall in the Sports and Health Center

Questions?

For more information, contact:

  1. Disability Resources

  2. 258 Kirby Student Center
  3. (218) 726-6130
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The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Last modified on 02/28/12 03:55 PM
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