Services for Students with Disabilities AKA “the SSD Office” Deborah Smith, MS Michael Brown, MSW

SSD’s Mission  Legal Compliance  Student Development  Social Justice

The ADA is Civil Rights legislation  Every student is entitled to full ACCESS of the physical, curricular and co-curricular environments.  GTAs assist the University in meeting the students’ civil rights under ADA.

The ADA is Civil Rights legislation  Curriculum design can inadvertently create barriers which prevent some students from accessing the learning environment.  Accommodations are designed to level the playing field, reducing barriers to learning in any format, and to enable individuals to demonstrate their knowledge.

SSD Serves: SSD welcomes the opportunity to meet with students individually to problem-solve personal and environmental issues that may interfere with full access to academics and/or hinder academic performance. (That’s you, too!)

SSD Serves:  Blacksburg and extended campuses  Undergraduate, graduate, and VetMed students  Distance and online learners  International students  Student veterans  Students with temporary medical conditions

Disability Examples  Attention deficit disorders  Autism spectrum disorders  Chronic illness  Deaf and hard of hearing  Learning disabilities  Medical/physical disabilities  Mobility impairments  Psychological disorders  Speech disorders  Traumatic brain injury  Vision impairments

Access to equal opportunity for learning  Faculty and GTAs meet the University’s obligations under the ADA to provide equal opportunity to the academic environment.  The most common classroom accommodations:  Note-takers  Double-time on quizzes, tests.  Quiet room for quizzes, tests.

New this year:  Proactive enforcement by DOJ and OCR of the law for user-friendly access to electronic media for students who are blind or deaf.  The University is developing a plan to address meeting the standards for full access of all current electronic media.

SSD Fact 50% of students registered with SSD did not know they had a disability upon arrival at Virginia Tech. They began receiving services as upper classmen or graduate students after they recognized that their academic performance did not reflect their aptitude and effort.

What Should I do?  Don’t wait! Refer a student, or yourself, at any time.  When in doubt, consult with SSD first.  SSD has an individualized, confidential Intake process.  SSD creates a plan and identify the Next Steps for each student during an Intake.  Accommodations and services are determined on an individual basis with a disability services counselor.

Inclusion By Design: What to do right now…  Review the SSD website ( – especially the tab entitled, “Faculty, GTAs and Departments.”  Learn how to use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.  Learn how to create documents in accessible PDF format.

Inclusion By Design: What to do right now…  Contact the Assistive Technology department for assistance with video captioning  DO NOT RELY on poor quality automated video-captioning, like YouTube productions.  Check with your guest speakers in advance to verify the accessibility of their materials.

Contact SSD  Located in Lavery Hall, Suite 310 (above Turner Place Dining Center)  Phone:  Web: ssd.vt.edu 