Clearing the disability hurdle: Disability services coordinators advocate for students

On any given day, Randy Borst finds himself acting as a crisis counselor, an academic advisor, a diplomat and an equipment specialist for students with disabilities at SUNY Buffalo.

Borst, a UUPer who is also legally blind, knows first-hand the frustrations these students face. His own biggest frustration in working with them as their liaison to the faculty and administration is knowing he can never completely meet their needs. As the only disability services coordinator on a campus that has nearly 400 students with disabilities this academic year, Borst faces an overwhelming task.

“Statewide, SUNYwide, the disability movement has not caught on,” Borst said. “The campuses are not doing their jobs. Half of them, at least, do not have ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance plans. We have a very difficult time getting together the academic aids and services the students need, like books on tape.”

That, in turn, makes it difficult for the faculty working with these students in the classroom, Borst noted.

Federal law does not specifically mandate the position of the disability services coordinator at SUNY or other higher education institutions. However, Section 504 of the 1973 federal Rehabilitation Act requires colleges and universities to provide access to materials, programs and buildings to students with disabilities. As a result, disability services coordinators have become commonplace, said UUPer David Du Bois, an associate professor at SUNY’s Empire State College and co-chair of UUP’s Disability Rights and Concerns Committee.

Every SUNY campus now has at least one disability services coordinator. In theory, that evokes an image of campuses meeting the spirit, as well as the letter, of federal law, with disability services coordinators and administrators striving to improve the circumstances of students with disabilities.

In practice, disability services coordinators say they are often stretched to the limit, juggling an overwhelming number of tasks, and struggling to make administrators understand and support their role on campus. Some are working almost unassisted, without even full-time clerical or support staff in their offices.

Others find themselves fielding calls and questions from faculty and even parents, leaving little time for the development of specialized programs.

Given the demands placed on the coordinators, students with disabilities may end up feeling like they have to fend for themselves. Faculty members find themselves struggling to meet the needs of these students, often without guidance. Caught in between are the disability services coordinators.

“I think they’re unsung heroes,” Du Bois said. “They’re kind of on everybody’s firing line — administration, faculty and students.”

A SUNY spokesman did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

A few SUNY campuses have achieved the ideal of administrators working cooperatively with the disability services coordinator, but that ideal is rare.

“I feel I’m one of the very, very lucky ones,” said UUPer Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, who is starting her third year as the first full-time disability services coordinator at SUNY Geneseo. “My administration is extremely supportive, and pushed me to be even louder about it, to be out and about on the campus looking for problems, looking for things that need to be fixed. I have 120 students — that’s manageable. Another coordinator who I talked to, it’s her and a half-time secretary and 380 students. She’s going under.”

Borst and Buggie-Hunt say that, based on their experiences and the comments of their colleagues, the following changes would help disability services coordinators at SUNY: n Placing disability services coordinators under the academic division on their campus, not the student life office or health services office. Their focus is on academics, and placement under other departments detracts from that focus.

• Making sure that each disability services coordinator has adequate support staff, including at least one staff person trained and experienced as a disability services professional who can assist the coordinator in developing programs and services.
• Creating an atmosphere of appreciation for disability services on campus, and fostering the understanding that properly administered services for students with disabilities benefits both students and the faculty teaching them.

— Darryl McGrath