By Julia Eisen
The COVID-19 pandemic has left many students feeling isolated and unable to do the things that they love most.
For the disability community, those feelings have only compounded as the University of Maryland approaches a full year of online learning. With sometimes little support from professors, students are finding it difficult to navigate their own accommodations in the virtual setting, according to members of the President’s Commission on Disability Issues.
Disabled students still have trouble accessing the resources and tools they need in order to receive the education that they paid for during this crisis, according to a member of the Student Advisory Committee of PCDI.
After a year of Zoom lectures, the company only announced last month the ability to enable automatic live transcripts for meetings, which will help individuals who may have issues processing information in real time.
Students have stated there has been pushback from professors who claim classes should be easier online. Some accommodations that help disabled students in the physical classroom, such as seating arrangements and lecture notes, are not provided in an online environment.
“Individuals with disabilities have those accommodations basically to get them to the same level as their peers and their counterparts,” said Adith Thummalapalli, who graduated in 2020. “Those accommodations are not intended to give them an advantage of any sort. Many students with disabilities may start at a place that is a little lower than their peers in terms of how they can access that information.”
Thummalapalli, an alumni member of PCDI, said that accessibility improves inclusion as a whole — it is not just for students with disabilities.
According to UMD spokeswoman Hafsa Siddiqi, the process for students with disabilities to receive lecture notes has “remained consistent,” She said students receive the service from instructors — if available — or from peers.
Siddiqi said the university’s Accessibility and Disability Service works with Learning Technology Design, a part of the Division of Information Technology’s Academic Technology and Innovations, to establish “appropriate accommodations.”
Ashley Hawkins, a junior bioengineering student, said that the disability community is a large one on campus that isn’t represented at all by the administration.
“I think the administration fails every day in the way that they just forget,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that there are some advocates within the administration, but their lack of initiative for basic accessibility for students with disabilities demonstrates their inability to be inclusive.
However, members of PCDI did say that UMD President Darryll Pines has met with the commission once and with the PCDI directors twice, which is three more times than former UMD President Wallace Loh ever did.
Student, faculty and staff volunteers have joined together to raise issues and awareness to the president’s office.
PCDI has supported the Student Advisory Committee in hosting students with disabilities in affinity spaces where individuals can get together through Zoom and have a moment of connection during an isolating time.
UMD does not have a department or building for students with disabilities, and having a presence online has been very helpful for students, according to Alex Peterson, the graduate assistant for PCDI.
Peterson said working towards accessibility and inclusion is a life-long process, and there is always more to learn.
“We all benefit from having people with disabilities in conversations because it opens the scope of who we are interacting with,” Peterson said.
Moving forward, many PCDI members said they want everyone in the UMD community — as well as the world — to simply listen.
Featured image courtesy of user Bgervais via Wikimedia Commons.
