patricia.tesar@gallaudet.edu / jeffrey.shaumeyer@gallaudet.edu Equity of Access to Higher Education for Deaf Students with Multiple Disabilities 40th Conference of the Association on Higher Education And Disability 17—22 July 2017 Dr. Patricia Tesar & Dr. Jeffrey Shaumeyer Office for Students with Disabilities Gallaudet University, Washington, DC patricia.tesar@gallaudet.edu / jeffrey.shaumeyer@gallaudet.edu

Gallaudet’s Mission Statement Gallaudet University, federally chartered in 1864, is a bilingual, diverse, multicultural institution of higher education that ensures the intellectual and professional advancement of deaf and hard of hearing individuals through American Sign Language and English. 

Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education (all US) Approximately 11% had some kind of disability; of those, roughly half have more than one disability Most common disabilities reported: “Specific learning disabilities” (36% of those with disabilities) “ADD or ADHD” (26% of those with disabilities) “Mental Illness/psychological or psychiatric condition” (13% of those with disabilities) “Health impairment/condition, including chronic conditions (11% of those with disabilities) SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Postsecondary Education Quick Information System (PEQIS), “Students With Disabilities at Postsecondary Education Institutions,” 2009.

Comparison of Students with Disabilities College Students Nationwide Gallaudet Students 11% reported a disability (in 2011—2012) Of those, 4% reported “hearing impairment” as a major disability OSWD serves 17% of the student body in 2016-17 (307 of 1800) 92% are Deaf or Hard of Hearing SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007-08 and 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08 and NPSAS:12).

OSWD 9-Year Study Purposes: Go beyond opinions Develop OSWD student profile Explore retention and graduation rates Does OSWD “level the playing field”? Extend previous 7-year study to obtain graduation rates Make objective measurements of OSWD effectiveness with factual data 602 OSWD students from academic years 2007-08 through 2015-16

OSWD Students : 2001—2017 OSWD Percentage of All Gallaudet Students OSWD numbers: 147 (2000-01); 307 (2016-17), an increase of 108% Nationwide, 11% of university undergraduates (5.3% of graduates) in 2011-12 had a disability (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007-08 and 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, NPSAS:08 and NPSAS:12); about 2% served by DSS offices

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Hearing-Status Distribution

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Hearing-Status by Gender

Deaf / Hearing Students Served by OSWD, by Semester

Compare OSWD with Gallaudet by Student Gender 2007—2016 80%

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Ethnic Distribution (Ugrad & Grad)

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Disability Breakdown by Type

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Disability as Percent of Gender

OSWD Students : 2007—2016 Changes in Disability Types Number of Students

Multiple Disabilities Composition over 1-year period 2013-2014

Students with 2 or more Disabilities Over a 1-Year Period: 2013-2014

Students with Two Disabilities (2013-2014), Pairing

Accommodating Multiple Disabilities means Multiple Tactics (I) Video as a classroom adjunct, and in distant learning Not immediately available to Deaf-Blind or Low Vision students Captioning sometimes of questionable quality Captioning for Deaf / hard of hearing an active issue at Gallaudet What strategy for Deaf-Blind students?

Accommodating Multiple Disabilities means Multiple Tactics (II) Alternative Print conflicts Low Vision/Blind variously needs Braille, large print, low-contrast print, high-contrast print, computer-based readers Deaf/Hard of Hearing precludes recorded books, computer-based readers

Accommodating Multiple Disabilities means Multiple Tactics (III) Testing Accommodations must address Mobility challenges Low Vision / Blind Deaf / Hard of Hearing Attention-deficit disorders Multiple disabilities

Accommodating Multiple Disabilities means Multiple Tactics (IV) Gallaudet education is officially bilingual, ASL and English, nevertheless Deaf-Blind students will require tactile interpretation At other institutions, ASL interpretation for Deaf/hard of hearing, spoken interpretation for Low Vision, and tactile interpretation for Deaf-Blind may all be called upon at times

OSWD Retention, 9-Year Average

OSWD Retention by Year

OSWD vs. Gallaudet Retention

OSWD 6-Year Graduation Rate 2007 – 2016 (7 cohorts) Rate for 2009 cohort was 59% for all 4-year universities (red arrow) (Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2015–16.)

Expenditures / Student How much does it cost to provide accommodations to students with disabilities?

OSWD Cost Estimate for some individual services $400 / student: intake processing $473 / student: note taking, for one, 3-credit hour course each semester $46: each extended-time test given

Expenditures / Student, 2001—2017 (actual figures) $5,404 $2,114

Expenditures / Student, 2001—2017, constant 2016 dollars $2,114 $7,324 Inflation-adjusted decline of 71%