UAC

What Every Volunteer Needs to Know about Students who have Disabilities

STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS

1. When addressing someone with a visual impairment, speak directly to the individual and not to those accompanying the individual.

2. Do not stare at the individual.

3. Speak in a normal volume there is no need to speak loudly.

4. Direct questions to the individual: If you would like to know limitations, abilities, or the nature of a disability, ask the individual. Most individuals would rather have you ask than to assume.

5. Let the individual set his or her own limits they know their abilities.

6. When organizing group activities, include the individual in all of them. When the individual is participating, do not overemphasize the individual's disabilities.

7. Maintain a relationship that is based on open communication. This will allow the individual to approach you when he or she does need assistance.

8. When printing material, ask the individual if he or she would like the information in large print.

9. Be willing to read, or assign another member of the group to read, written information.

10. Describe a picture/drawing, rather than pointing. This enables the student to create a mental image of the item being described.

STUDENTS THAT ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

As hearing losses increase in severity, vision becomes more important. Those students with moderate hearing impairments or with more severe hearing losses may depend upon lipreading or a sign language interpreter. An important guideline is to remember that hearing-impaired students cannot see and hear two different things at the same time. Imagine that a tour guide is taking you through an art gallery. A hearing person would look at the paintings or sculptures while listening to the guide describe them. A person with a hearing impairment must either look at the guide to get the description, or look at the art.

— One-To-One

1. Get the deaf person's attention before speaking. A tap on the shoulder, a wave, or another visual signal usually does the trick.

2. Speak clearly, but do not yell, exaggerate, or over-pronounce. Exaggeration and overemphasis of words distorts lip movements and makes lipreading more difficult.

3. Look directly at the deaf person when speaking. Even a slight turn of your head can obscure their lipreading view.

4. Do not place anything in your mouth when speaking. Mustaches that obscure the lips, pencils, chewing gum, and putting your hands in front of your face make it difficult for deaf persons to follow what is being said.

5. Maintain eye contact with the deaf person. Eye contact conveys the feeling of direct communication. Even if an interpreter is present, continue to speak directly to the deaf person. He/she will turn to the interpreter as needed.

6. Avoid standing in front of a light source such as a window or bright light. The bright background and shadows created on the face make it almost impossible to lip read.

7. Use pantomime, body language, and facial expression to help communicate.

8. Be courteous to the deaf person during conversation. If the telephone rings or someone knocks at the door, excuse yourself and tell the deaf person that you are answering the phone or responding to the knock. Do not ignore the deaf person and carry on a conversation with someone else while the deaf person waits.

9. Write down dates, times, and places of events, activities, and other important information.

— In a Group

1. Seat the deaf person to his/her best advantage. This usually means a seat near the speaker so that the deaf person can see the speaker's lips. Check the area lighting so that the speaker is illuminated clearly.

2. Provide new vocabulary in advance. It is difficult to lip read or finger spell unfamiliar words. If new vocabulary cannot be presented in advance, write the terms on a paper, chalkboard, or an overhead projector. If a lecture or film is to be presented, a brief outline or script given to the deaf person in advance helps that person follow the presentation.

3. Do not turn your back or look down when presenting information on a blackboard or overhead projector. Make sure you are looking at the group to explain your work. It is difficult to lip read a person in motion (or whose back is turned to the group).

4. Use visual aids if possible. Vision is a deaf person's primary channel for receiving information.

5. Make sure the deaf person does not miss information. Write out any changes in meeting times, special assignments, additional instructions, and so forth. Allow extra time when referring to manuals or texts, since the deaf person must look at what has been written and then return his/her attention to the speaker.

6. Repeat questions or statements made from the back of the room. Remember that deaf persons are cut off from whatever happens outside their visual area.

7. Allow full participation by the deaf person in the discussion. It is difficult for deaf persons to participate in group discussions because they are not sure when speakers have finished.

8. Use hands-on experience whenever possible in training situations. Like other people, the deaf person learns quickly by doing. What may be difficult to communicate verbally may be explained easily by a hands-on demonstration.

9. Use an interpreter or FM System in a large group setting. An interpreter will be a few words behind the speaker in transferring the information to the person; therefore, allow time for the deaf person to obtain all the information and ask questions. An FM System is an assistive listening device that consists of a transmitter hooked to the speaker and a receiver hooked to the deaf person. This allows the deaf person or person with a hearing impairment to understand the speaker. Because it only works with the speaker and the individual who wears the receiver, make sure that questions asked by others are communicated to the individual who is deaf or hard of hearing.

10. An interpreter is a channel for transmission of thoughts, ethically bound to interpret everything that is said, and interpreters prefer to be invisible to everyone except the student. The interpreter should be seated close to the student, facing him/her (ideally in the same sight line as the teacher) so the student can watch the interpreter and also glance at the teacher or see the teacher peripherally.

11. Speak to the student, not to the interpreter. Avoid referring to or addressing the interpreter; it is very difficult to convey to the student what the teacher is talking about when the interpreter him/herself is being addressed.

12. When called upon, the student may wish to use his or her voice (this varies from student to student and may change from class to class) or may want to have the interpreter voice while he/she signs (reverse interpret). Either one will take a little getting used to for everyone, and depending on the interpreter's skills, may take some time.

STUDENTS WITH MOBILITY IMPAIRMENTS

The major concern of students with mobility impairments who are in wheelchairs is maneuvering in the classroom.

1. Always ask the person in a wheelchair if he/she would like assistance before you help. Your help may not be needed or wanted.

2. Do not hang or lean on a persons wheelchair, because it is part of the person's body space.

3. Speak directly to the person in the wheelchair, not to someone nearby as if the person in the wheelchair did not exist.

4. If the conversation lasts more than a few minutes, consider sitting down or kneeling to get yourself on the same level as the wheelchair user.

5. Do not demean or patronize the person in a wheelchair by patting him or her on the head.

6. Give clear directions including distance, weather conditions, and physical obstacles that may hinder the person's travels from one location to another.

7. Do not discourage children from asking questions about the wheelchair. Open communication helps overcome fearful or misleading attitudes.

8. When a person in a wheelchair transfers out of the wheelchair to a chair, toilet, car, or bed, do not move the wheelchair out of their reach.

9. It is OK to use expressions like "running along" when speaking to the person in a wheelchair they may use the same expressions.

10. Be aware of a person's capabilities in a wheelchair. Some are able to move about quickly in the wheelchair, and other individuals can walk with assistance.

11. Do not classify persons who use wheelchairs as sick. Wheelchairs are used for a variety of disabilities.

12. Do not assume that using a wheelchair is in itself a tragedy. It is a means of freedom that allows the user to move about independently.

13. For students with limited hand or arm movement, volunteers may be used to write exams and assignments, or arrangements can be made for extended time for test taking and assignments.

14. Limited use of hands and arms may require some students to record lectures or to make carbon copies of classmates notes.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES OF SPEECH

— How to React When Speaking With Someone Who Stutters

1. Refrain from making remarks like: Slow down, Take a breath, or Relax. Such simplistic advise can be felt as demeaning and is not helpful.

2. You will be very tempted to finish sentences or fill in words. Try not to do this.

3. Maintain natural eye contact and try not to look embarrassed. Just wait patiently and naturally until the person is finished.

4. Use a relatively slow, relaxed rate in your own conversational speech, but not so slow as to sound unnatural.

5. Let the person know by your manner and actions that you are listening to what he or she says, not how they say it.

6. Be aware that those who stutter usually have more trouble controlling their speech on the telephone. Please be extra patient in this situation. If you pick up the phone and hear nothing, be sure it is not a person who stutters (trying to initiate a conversation) before you hang up.

Source: Stuttering Foundation of America Brochure. P.O. Box 11749, Memphis, TN 38111-0749

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

A student with a learning disability (LD) and/or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) usually has no physical indication of their disability and often will do everything they can to avoid exposing it. The areas of disability may include one or more of the following:

• Attention
• Short-term and/or long-term memory retrieval
• Processing speed
• Auditory processing
• Visual processing
• Mathematical skills
• Reading vocabulary and/or comprehension skills
• Written language skills
• Social skills

These students may learn differently, but this does not mean they cannot learn or that they should expect to have class standards lowered for them. Students with any of these invisible disabilities can cope with and possibly overcome the concerns in similar ways as any other person with a physical disability. Federal law requires reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities (to assist them towards mastery of course content) and allows LD/ADD students to use appropriate alternative methods to demonstrate their knowledge. These accommodations do not give the LD/ADD students an extra advantage but allows them an equal opportunity to express what they have learned.

If you are working with a student who may have a disability, please encourage him or her to contact the University Accessibility Center office for evaluation and assistance.