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Fall 2005

Leveling the Playing Field for Students with Disabilities
The Office of the Vice President and General Counsel clarifies what are -- and are not -- faculty members' obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. How far should faculty members go in meeting student requests for accommodations? [Read the full story]

What is Universal Design for Learning?
by Robbin Zeff, Assistant Professor in the University Writing Program
Have you ever noticed how some products just make sense: a wider handle on a potato peeler for easier gripping or software that automatically corrects commonly misspelled words. In both instances these products were originally conceived to meet the needs of people with disabilities but ended up benefiting all users. This is the basis of UDL. . . . [Read the full story]

Mental Health Symposium, Art Exhibit Highlighted Disability Awareness Week
On Friday, October 14, DSS hosted a symposium entitled "Building a Protective Web: Reaching Out to Students with Mental Illness," the feature event of Disability Awareness Week, during which the Gelman Library also mounted an exhibit of the works of visual artist Riva Lehrer. [Read the full story]
 
New Test Proctoring Forms Among Many Website Changes
During the summer, DSS redesigned our website, and some of the many changes we've made are the direct result of faculty input. In addition to a new Faculty Support section, we've revised online Test Accommodation Request Form, which now requires students to indicate that they have discussed their needs with their professor

Test Proctoring and Note Taking: Your Questions Answered
Have you recently received a request from a student seeking test accommodations or help securing a note taker in your class and wondered what to do? Your questions regarding test proctoring and note taking procedures and policies are answered.

Introducing FAME
GW is a partner site for FAME (Faculty and Administrator Modules in Higher Education), a multi-state collaborative network of colleges and universities whose mission is improving the quality of education for students with disabilities. Created through a Department of Education training grant, FAME is an innovative on-line training curriculum for college faculty and administrators with an emphasis on teaching and accommodating students with disabilities. It includes the following four modules:

• Rights and Responsibilities - providing accommodations and effective instruction to students with disabilities
  
• Universal Design for Learning - creating instruction for a wide spectrum of learning styles and abilities
  
• Web Accessibility - building web pages usable by all, regardless of disability or method of access
  
• College Writing - helping all students overcome the challenge of written expression
  

The modules contain case-based solving techniques and suggestions for enhancing instruction. We encourage you to download and customize the modules for your own personal use. For instructions, please contact Disability Support Services at dss@gwu.edu.

For more information, visit the FAME home page at <http://www.oln.org/teaching_and_learning/ada/Fame/>.