Disability care ‘wish list’ comes true

The challenge was adapting both educational and emergency services for students with disabilities at Buffalo State. Important issues were at stake: how to inform faculty and staff what to do in case of disaster or emergency evacuations; and how to accommodate people with disabilities at events.

The solution came in the form of a $69,000 grant from the New York State/UUP Joint Labor/Management Committee on Health and Safety. The programs and protocol developed out of that grant have been so successful that they resulted in an unexpected $335,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education on how to develop model programs for educating persons with disabilities in higher education.

With both grants, Buffalo State’s program has become a model that has led other campuses to its door.

“We’re doing cooperative work across the country with other major university centers,” said Marianne Savino, a UUP member and coordinator of services for people with disabilities at Buffalo State. “It all came from this little grant. It was a pilot project.”

The first prong of the UUP grant was to develop and host a statewide conference on how to accommodate the health, safety and education of people with disabilities. It drew 172 people from 24 colleges, and videos of the sessions were sent to each campus. Information ranged from what to do if a disruptive student is someone who did not take medication for a mental disability, to how to evacuate a wheelchair-bound person from upper floors of a campus building.

After the attack on the World Trade Center, people can now see that’s a real issue, said Savino, who has been working with campus disability issues since 1989.

The grant also helped with the establishment of a resource center for voice-activated software, print readers, print enlargement equipment and computer software designed for people with disabilities. A Web page and a campus brochure were designed to notify the campus community where disability resources are located.

Training sessions for administrators and personnel in student support areas were also held. Now, at events like graduation, shuttles are provided; families are asked ahead of time if anyone needs an interpreter; a lift is available for people in wheelchairs to get up on stage. Campus renovations are made with people with disabilities in mind.

“There were times this was just a wish list and now it’s coming true,” Savino said.

— Liza Frenette