The Future of AUBG's Disability Support Services

“The word disability is stigmatizing in itself or is not if you interpret it in the proper context,” says Sabina Wien, AUBG’s Dean of Students and Student Disability Support Coordinator. She added that the term may be used not only for people with physical or mental impairments but for everyone "because we all have a disability in certain areas." 

 

Nevertheless, the stigma surrounding the word still exists, and that is why the AUBG administration has decided to take action. The program will be renamed to AUBG Accessibility and Inclusion Support and, at the time of writing, the search for its coordinator is ongoing. 

 

The AUBG website features a page that presents brief information about Disability Support Services.

 

The backstory behind the exploration for the program’s designated coordinator goes back to Margaret Ensign’s first days as AUBG President. She specifically asked Dean Wien how the university supports students with disabilities, and, after receiving an answer, decided a new position should be introduced for this purpose.

 

Enrollment in the program “is about self-identification and self-declaration,” Dean Wien said. She is not capable of reaching out to a student and informing them that they may have an impairment, which does not allow them to study at their full potential.

 

According to Dean Wien, “During AY 2023 the 6 (in Fall ’23) and 5 (in Spring ’24) students enrolled in the disability accommodation program required an average of 3 proctored exams per person, some with extended submission time or other service needs.”

 

One of the necessities created by the Student Disability Program is faculty volunteers to proctor exams for participants in the initiative. This could become even more time-consuming for the lecturers as, according to Dean Wien, there may be an extension of assessment duration for students supported by the program.

 

The Dean took the opportunity to thank the Student Affairs Department and Faculty staff for their assistance in supporting participants in the initiative.

 

When asked about the feedback received regarding the initiative so far, Dean Wien said there have been two ways of collecting it. The first was when students and professors came to the Dean of Students office and thanked her for the accommodations, while the second was through GPA comparisons from before and after a student received support. 

 

Last semester, AUBG was not able to support two students who wanted to participate in the program because of an assessment they had to do in their native language.

 

Since June of this year, AUBG has had a Presidential Fellow focusing on Accessibility & Inclusion Support Initiatives. She is currently conducting research about similar programs in other universities and makes recommendations to the Administration on how to create better policies and procedures.

 

This Presidential Fellow, Maria Alexandrova from the Class of ‘24, shared that her strategic priority in the aforementioned position is to improve the currently existing program. She is making sure that AUBG transfers other universities' best practices in their Accessibility and Inclusion initiatives to its own one.

 

 

A former participant in the project herself, Maria stated that “the most appropriate example of how the program assisted was exam proctoring.” She added that she was not enrolled in the initiative during her first three years of study at AUBG and thus, received no support. 

 

“I understand some people’s impulse to stay hidden and appear normal; there is no shame in admitting that you need help,” Maria said.