Disability Services Offices: How OT Can Make Its Mark on College Campuses

Rachel Hiatt Arnold

As occupational therapy students, we spend a lot time in the world of collegiate education, and I had the opportunity to advocate for our field by partnering with an office that is found on every college campus: the disability services office. My journey with accommodations and advocacy started when I was 8 years-old. I was diagnosed with dyslexia, which is a learning difference characterized by difficulty sounding out letters and words. This leads to challenges with reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, and writing. In my sophomore year of high school, I finally began receiving accommodations, which were meant to bridge the gap between my difficulty with phonics and my success in school.

In many ways, these accommodations were extremely helpful. However, when the time came to transition to college, I was concerned about whether they would really be enough to get me through 4 years of post-secondary education. Thankfully, my mom directed me to the disability services office at my university, where I was provided with encouragement and tools for my first set of classes and a new set of accommodations for my college years. Overall, this was a straightforward, easy process, and I found success with a variety of new strategies. However, after working as an administrative assistant for the disability services office for 3 years, I learned that my experience does not reflect that of many students who receive accommodations. For them, the road is much less clear.

My path to collaborating with a disability services office

Fast-forward a couple years: I was done with 1 year of my master’s degree in occupational therapy. As I fulfilled the various requirements for my degree, I had the opportunity to go back to the disability services office I used to work for and bring my new knowledge, especially of universal design principles for learning, to help with any projects I could. My experience doing these projects confirmed the unique insight occupational therapy can bring to the college education setting, and I realized that an occupational therapist is perfect to fulfill the role of the accommodations coordinator in places of higher education. I discussed my experience with multiple professors, two of whom recommended that I talk to the director of the disability services office at my graduate school about what I had done, and to see if there was any way I could help with similar projects.

Working with my graduate school’s disability services office, my role as a student who receives accommodations was even more personally significant. Here are examples of the projects I completed:

• Brochures written specifically for professors about common diagnoses that can lead to a student receiving accommodations, including ADHD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, autoimmune diseases, concussion, digestive disorders, migraines, and Specific Learning Disabilities. The brochures included a definition, symptoms, strengths, challenges, and specific ways to support a student with that diagnosis.
• A list of guidelines for professors to make their class websites and materials more accessible to all students.
• A PowerPoint presentation and handouts for faculty about the universal design principles for learners, and how to start integrating these principles into their classes. We delivered the presentation during the faculty orientation before the start of school to more than 30 professors.

I also served as the student representative to the disability services office’s Faculty Advisory Board. During the board’s monthly meetings, my role was to explain the student perspective of why certain accommodations were helpful, such as recording lectures. I also advocated for ways to support diverse learners in the college classroom.  

How can YOU get started?

If you are interested in doing a project with the disability services office on your campus, the best starting place is to ask! Ask your occupational therapy professors, or go directly to the office itself. Explain the distinct value of occupational therapy and offer to help in any way. If you are an OT student who receives accommodations, I think there is a particularly special role for you. You could speak on a panel for new students who are receiving accommodations or provide insight on how to make the process easier to access. You know from your own experiences how this process may have been awful, wonderful, and everything in between. I encourage you to use your own strengths and experiences to find ways to benefit students receiving accommodations.

Other ideas that could be fantastic to explore include using your knowledge of your campus to create a campaign to reduce the stigma around “disabilities” or barriers to receiving accommodations; create an orientation for students who will be receiving accommodations; reach out to a local community college or high school to find out if there are any opportunities to help on their campus; or find research on best practices in college settings for a study or project that you do for your degree. 

The best place to start may simply be educating others on your campus about occupational therapy. Personally, I talked about what I was passionate about and people pointed out opportunities to me. My professors were especially helpful in this area. I believe the disability services office on college campuses are a perfect place for occupational therapists and students to use their skills to make a great impact. As students, we can take the first steps to making that happen.

Rachel Hiatt Arnold is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound’s Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program. She served as her Student Occupational Therapy Association’s Assembly of Student Delegates Representative and Advocacy Chair. Rachel recently started her first OT job as an occupational therapist at Kent School District in Washington state.