Students with disabilities struggle to excel in their classes, serve as mentors to other students, and join clubs, sororities and fraternities, and athletic teams.
Zach Diamond has a hearing and comprehension disability that makes it hard for him to connect words with their meanings.
Diabetic Macular Degeneration
Josh Martins of Cranston, who lost his sight six years ago to diabetic macular degeneration, was one of nine students who assumed this teaching role as the result of a $1.16 million federal grant awarded to change campus attitudes toward students with disabilities at URI and seven other Rhode Island colleges. Martins helped train 90 URI disability resource mentors from among 310 faculty and staff members from all of the various institutions. URI has nearly 700 students with documented disabilities.
After completing his student teaching in Cranston during the spring semester, Martins graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and history.
Working with Disability Services, Martins helped improve technology for disabled students at URI. When he came to Kingston, the only assistive technology for students with impaired sight was books on tape. “Now we are up to date with technology because Pamela Rohland, assistant director of Disability Services, and her staff involved students and asked questions about what would provide the greatest benefit,” Martins said.
A self-proclaimed nerd, Martins was a bundle of energy when he talked about his alma mater and his student teaching. “When I first came here, everyone I approached said I could do the work, but I had to become more cognizant of what I needed so I could be successful,” said Martins, who rode a RIDE bus to campus and to his student teaching.
Despite having gone through 18 eye surgeries before starting college and a double-organ transplant (pancreas and kidney) in 2004, the student representative to Disability Services maintained a 3.3 grade point average. Martins also served as a panel member for the periodic four-day disability mentor training sessions. Convincing faculty members of the need for accommodations, especially when the disabilities weren’t obvious, was one of the frequent topics discussed by student speakers. Student panels were held at all of the participating schools.
“The student panel-ists provided an experience for the seminar participants that was possibly the most substantial and most highly rated aspect of the seminar,” Rohland said.
Insidious Lyme Disease
South Kingstown’s Elisabeth Gilbert, a nursing major with a 3.7 grade point average who is entering her senior year, said she ran into some roadblocks in her early years at URI. “Some instructors told me I didn’t need accommodations because I was smart,” she said.
A Centennial Scholar who has chronic Lyme disease, Gilbert struggles with fatigue and memory issues and must maintain a rigorous medication regime. She has accommodations for taking extra time on exams and flexibility on attendance.
Initially diagnosed when she was 5 years old, she was treated with a short course of antibiotics. As a junior in high school, she became very sick again and has continued to fight the illness throughout her college years.
In the spring semester, Gilbert had to take intravenous drips of antibiotics each night, which normally took about two hours. She had gone through such a routine for an entire year as a sophomore at URI.
“If I had one bit of advice for students and parents, I would say contact Pamela right away if you have a disability. I didn’t seek help early because I didn’t think I had a disability, but by the second semester of my freshman year, I was drowning. I don’t need physical assistance, so I didn’t see what Pamela could offer me. But once I went to see her, she helped me get a week off so I could recover,” Gilbert said.
A mentor for younger nursing students, she has done clinical rotations at Butler and Women and Infants hospitals. She said nursing faculty have been supportive: “They are interested in me succeeding as a student, but they are also interested in my illness from a clinical standpoint. They view it as an opportunity to learn.”
Invisible Disabilities
Lauren Cohen, a Merrick, Long Island, resident who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, and Zach Diamond of Bethlehem, Pa., also have invisible disabilities.
Cohen, who is pursuing a master’s degree in elementary and special education at Touro College in New York, was a sorority sister in Delta Zeta where she was co-director of her sisters’ Greek Sing effort in the spring. In eighth grade, she was diagnosed with test anxiety. At URI, she was allowed to take tests outside the classroom and given extra time.
“From the moment I got here, I made it a point to go see the faculty members,” Cohen said. “They have been so supportive. Some even accommodated me without me ever having to ask.”
Diamond, who is entering his junior year in business administration with a 3.3 grade point average, has a documented hearing and comprehension disability that makes it hard for him to connect words with their meanings.
“URI is everything I hoped it would be,” said Diamond, who hopes to open a surf shop in Hawaii after graduation. “Disability Services staff members are there to help students who have disabilities stay on the right track. Disability Services staff takes a lot of the pain away of having a disability.”
Educating Peers Saves Her Life
Katie Weiss of New City, N.Y., who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, is glad she was open about her epilepsy. In December 2002, Weiss stopped breathing while suffering a seizure in Hutchinson Hall. Fellow students swung into action, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and calling rescue personnel and her parents. She was hospitalized in a coma for two days.
“I am indebted to my friends,” said Weiss, who was a member of the University’s student-run Emergency Medical Services. “It helped that I talked about my epilepsy, because my friends knew what to do.”
A member of the campus Outing Club and the Student Judicial Board, she completed an internship with the Natural Resource Conservation Service and Trout Unlimited. She was also a panelist with the disability training program.
“I talked about my epilepsy, but it was so much more,” said Weiss, who had accommodations for extended time on exams, a note taker, and flexibility on attendance because of fatigue. “I learned so much more about the challenges other students face with their disabilities. It was eye-opening.”
By Dave Lavallee ’79, M.P.A. ’87
Photo by Nora Lewis
