OSU Student Disability Services office active on many fronts
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Mentoring, tutoring, group study and other amenities of scholar support systems once
organized by students themselves have become standard offerings of academic success
centers in most OSU colleges to address social and institutional impediments to undergraduate
retention and graduation rates. One service unit at the state’s university exists
to counter more perceptible barriers to academic achievement that most students never
have to confront.
“The purpose of our office is to serve student with disabilities with regard to classroom
and academic access,” said Michael Shuttic, director OSU Student Disability Services.
“Mobility, vision and hearing impairments, heart ailments, fatigue, post traumatic
stress disorder, learning disabilities. . . we are here for students with any type
of disability.”
The office’s effort to ensure accommodations for students with disabilities includes
a wide range of activities.
“We have a deaf/hard of hearing specialist, Sandie Busby, who’s also a sign language
interpreter, and although she does the bulk of classroom interpreting, she also contracts
additional interpreters or real-time captionists when we need them,” Shuttic said.
“But we can also assist students who need extended exam time, note taking services,
access to lecture materials and accessible formats of textbooks such as large print
and on tape or compact disc.”
“We also work with Information Technology to provide across campus assistive technology
hardware and software such as screen readers and magnification devices and voice activated
software,” he said.
Much like other academic service offerings, the Student Disability Services office
can only be effective if sought out by those who require assistance.
“We have no way to identify people with needs so we get information out on the website
and in publications such as class syllabi so that as students become aware of what
we do and how we do it, will self-identify with us,” Shuttic said. “Before we provide
any kind of accommodations service, however, we must collect documentation about the
disability, its diagnosis and, more importantly, the functional impact of that diagnosis.”
While the primary goal of Shuttic’s office is to mitigate barriers to academic achievement,
as the university’s coordinator of Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, he
collaborates with many other units to address any problems on campus facing disabled
individuals.
“The kinds of things people stop in and tell us about range from doorknobs needing
to be replaced with lever handles and elevators being down to broken sidewalks,” Shuttic
said. “I then go to the people able to make decisions about what to do, be they from
Parking and Transit Services, Athletics or Physical Plant Services, and work with
them to get it done.”
Critical areas of concern Shuttic said he has been working to address include the
Boone Pickens Stadium renovation, accessibility to Cowboy Mall, parking on campus
and the public transit system.
“Parking is an ongoing situation I’ve been working on with OSU Parking and Transit
Services for the past five years, but we’ve had a really good relationship,” Shuttic
said. “Another issue we hear a lot about is the transit system.”
“The buses are equipped with lifts, and the drivers are well-trained, but the biggest
difficulty is getting to bus stops due to lack of sidewalks, curb cuts and a hard-surface,
accessible pad where you can wait,” he said. “OSU provides the system, but most of
these kinds of stops where a sign has been put up in the grass next to a street are
out in the city so they’re a concern.”
The OSU Student Disability Service office is located in 315 Student Union and is
open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. It may be reached by phone at 405-744-7116 v/t.