Postsecondary Students Who Have a Learning Disability: Student Perspectives on Accommodations Access and Obstacles.

Students with Learning Disabilities (SLD) face unique challenges when entering postsecondary education after high school. A successful navigation of postsecondary context requires knowledge of one’s own disability and needs as well as access to what resources may be available at the institution. The purpose of this study was to gather SLD perspectives on accommodations use and obstacles they faced in gaining access to services. A total of 110 undergraduate students at a selective, four-year public University completed an online survey as part of a research subject pool requirement. The study collected information about the following areas: (a) accommodations use, (b) opportunities/barriers faced during transition, (c) knowledge students had regarding their disability and available services, and (d) self-advocacy strategies. Results indicated that this student population might not have used the University resources to the extent that they were available, pointing towards a potential need for greater awareness of campus resources. However, it was also true that students generally knew the implications of their disability and were utilizing many of the same resources that they did in high school. The article concludes with implications for education professionals who serve SLD. Students with learning disabilities (SLD) comprise a small but growing proportion of the college-bound student population. In 2002, SLD comprised 9% of the national population of students attending college in the United States (Kurth & Mellard, 2006). Students with Learning Disabilities (SLD) face unique challenges when entering postsecondary education after high school. One of the largest challenges is ensuring that they obtain the necessary disability services needed to be successful in their postsecondary program. The effectiveness of high school transition teams in preparing SLD for college has been examined from the viewpoints of both secondary and postsecondary special education personnel (Janiga & Costenbader, 2002; Milsom & Hartley, 2005). Special education students’ views are an essential component of ensuring a successful postsecondary preparation and implementation of the transition process. The purpose of this study is to explore SLD perspectives on levels of access to accommodations and resources at a highly competitive, four-year, postsecondary institution. Legal Context There are three main legislative acts that affect how SLD access accommodations: (a) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (b) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and (c) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). Students making the transition between high school and college also make a shift between legislation that guides their eligibility and access to support services. There are significant differences between the IDEA, the law that governs special education in secondary institutions, and ADA, which applies to postsecondary institutions. Among these differences are the purpose of the law, how one is determined to be eligible for services, and to what accommodations eligible SLD are entitled. The Rehabilitation Act applies to students in both settings, but follows different principles and guidelines for receiving services. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) first originated in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA). Renamed in 1990 as Individuals Cawthon & Cole; Accommodations Access and Obstacles 113 with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it has been reauthorized about every five years, the latest in 2006 (as Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, or IDEIA). IDEA specifically lists areas in which disabilities may occur, including a learning disability. The purpose of the law is to identify eligible students and provide services to them that are educationally focused and aimed at helping the student achieve academically to the best of their ability. These services are to be given at no cost to the student or their families. Once a child is determined to have a learning disability, schools are required to provide an Individualized Education Program (IEP) plan. When a student reaches high school, the role of this IEP plan is not only to identify and document current services, but also to articulate what the student’s postsecondary goals might be. As early as age 14 and no later than age 16, the IEP team must meet with the student (and parents) and lay out a plan for the transition from high school into the student’s chosen postsecondary setting, one of which may be college or a university. Americans with Disabilities Act. When a SLD enters a postsecondary institution, or more specifically, when they attain the age of majority (18-years-old), they have the option to seek protection under ADA. Passed in 1990, the ADA is a federal civil rights law that protects all persons with disabilities from discrimination. Unlike IDEA, where the school is responsible for providing services, under ADA the student must initiate this process, and is not entitled to protection if they do not inform the school of their disability. Additionally, unlike IDEA, ADA does not provide explicit guidelines on how to determine if a person has a learning disability or who makes that determination. The ADA states that a person has a disability if the individual has a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual, the individual has a record of such an impairment; or is regarded as having such impairment” (Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990). Once a person is considered to have a learning disability under ADA they are entitled to accommodations that enable persons with disabilities to engage in activities at the same level as their peers without a disability. Unlike IDEA, ADA accommodations are not necessarily educationally focused. There is more flexibility in the kinds of services that can be obtained through ADA. Rehabilitation Act. A precedent to later legislation such as the ADA (1990), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited discrimination by federal agencies and by federally funded programs. Following the lead of reforms such as those initiated by Brown v. the Board of Education, the Rehabilitation Act was passed during the civil rights era and reflects the focus on access and inclusive participation in publicly funded institutions. Because most school districts and universities in the country receive federal aid, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act effectively covers all students in public education from discrimination or limited access to services on the basis of a disability. Section 504 has a broad definition of disability: Under this law, individuals with disabilities are defined as persons with a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities. People who have a history of, or who are regarded as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, are also covered. Major life activities include caring for one’s self, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, working, performing manual tasks, and learning. Some examples of impairments which may substantially limit major life activities, even with the help of medication or aids/devices, are: AIDS, alcoholism, blindness or visual impairment, cancer, deafness or hearing impairment, diabetes, drug addiction, heart disease, and mental illness. (United States Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.) Applied to schools, Section 504 requires schools at both the secondary and postsecondary level to provide necessary accommodations for students with disabilities. Adequate access to curriculum is the central question when a school or district is asked to provide services to a student with a disability. The Rehabilitation Act does not require that the student be designated as a special education student in order to receive these services, nor does it require the district or university to pay for these services, particularly if it would cause an undue burden on the institution. In this way, the Rehabilitation Act is a less codified legislation than other avenues for receiving accommodations in public schools. The long-term impact of the Rehabilitation Act was, in part, to put language into place that includes students with disabilities into larger educational reforms. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, Vol. 23, No. 2; 2010 114 Planning for Postsecondary Education IDEA requires that the student be an active participant in the transition process from the secondary to postsecondary setting. For example, student presence is required at all IEP transition meetings and it is preferred that students take an active role in the formation of their IEP. The intent is to provide students with critical knowledge and information that prepares them to advocate for themselves when they reach college. Knowledge of disability, knowledge of postsecondary support services, and the ability to self advocate have been identified as contributors successful high school to college transitions for SLD (Milsom & Hartley, 2005). Potential obstacles to transitions. Within the transition experience there are many potential obstacles that may hinder a successful transition from secondary to postsecondary institutions. The first obstacle can be at early stages of the transition process. The reauthorization of IDEA required that students be present and actively involved in their IEP meetings (Hammer, 2004). When students do attend their meetings parents report that they understand the meeting better and feel more comfortable expressing their opinions, while teachers are more likely to express the SLD interests, talents, and requirements. Both parents and teachers feel more optimistic about the IEP meeting with student attendance. However, a majority of