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Focus Group Results Are In!

In Spring 2006, DSS enlisted the help of the SASS Research Consortium and Dr. Jane Holahan, Director of the Academic Resource Center at Georgetown University, to organize a series of focus groups and individual interviews with GW students with disabilities. The results are in, and overwhelmingly students told us what a crucial role they see faculty playing in their overall experience at GW.

While students did report occasional interactions with faculty member that were less than favorable -- announcing the student's name to the entire class when making a request for notetaking assistance, for example, or delivering an exam to our office that was incomplete -- students largely felt faculty members played a positive role in their educational experience here. In fact, many students expressed the desire to be their own self-advocates and have a more direct relationship with faculty when it comes to accommodating their disabilities. In some cases, professors and teaching assistants were instrumental in connecting students to DSS by discerning the possibility of a learning issue that ultimately required further investigation.

Here are the chief recommendations that the members of our student focus groups offered with respect to faculty involvement in academic accommodations:

1) Including a disability statement on your syllabus sends an important message to all students, that your classroom offers a welcoming environment in which barriers to academic achievement are minimized. We recommend the following:

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact the Disability Support Services office at 202-994-8250 in the Marvin Center, Suite 242, to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information please refer to: <http://gwired.gwu.edu/dss>.

2) Making every effort to ensure the student's confidentiality by not disclosing a disability helps keep the university in legal compliance.

3) Engaging your students in a direct dialogue about their needs help them become successful self-advocates. Students and faculty members alike have rights and responsibilities in the disability arena, and DSS is here to serve as an intermediary when needed. Take advantage of the teaching guides, FAME training modules and other resources we have for faculty on the DSS website. Invite a representative from our office or a panel of DSS students from our Speaker’s Bureau to meet with your colleagues at an upcoming department meeting or present to your class.