internship cds

8/14/2019 Internship CDS

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1

Highlights of My Internship at the

Center for Disability Services, University of Utah

Part I: Understanding Accommodation Process

Getting to know my coworkers at the Center for Disability Services was a highlight of my internship.

Organizational Chart 2009-10

Scott McAward

Director

Suzanne Eastmond

Administrative Assistant

Sid Davis

Assistant Director

Stephanie Piani

Disabilities Advisor

Chris Burningham

Disabilities Advisor

Carol MacNicholl

Coordinator of Deaf Services

Work Study

Student Office Staff

Classroom Assistants

Geoffrey Skousen

Technology Specialist

Interpreting and

Captioning Staff

Jack Karapetyan

Technology Assistant

Reader/Scribes

Proctors

Geoffrey Skousen

Technology SpecialistNotetaking

Program



2

Process for Students Requesting ADA Accommodations

Process (based on the CDS handout “Process for

Students Requesting ADA Accommodations”)How I Learned This Step of the Process

1. Arrange an intake appointment with an advisor at

the Center for Disability Services.I was able to observe some new student intakes.

2. Complete paperwork during intake appointments – application form, release form, etc.

At the intakes that I observed, these forms were fil ledout by the students.

3. Read Center for Disability Services student

handbook.

This was one of the first assignments that my supervisor

asked me to do – to read the online handbook.

4. Obtain and provide documentation to your advisor

in CDS.

I have read some of the documentation on disabilities

provided by qualified professionals such as psychiatrists

and audiologists.

5. Documentation review by the University case

management team

I have sat in many case management meetings as cases

were reviewed.

6. Decision made regarding eligibility and specific

accommodations• Approved – meet with your advisor to set up

accommodations

• Not approved – contact your advisor for more

information

I have attended some case management meetings

where the requests for accommodation were denied.Most cases were due to lack of proper documentation

or that more recent documentation was needed. The

cases would then be reviewed when information was

supplied.

Accommodation Resources

An understanding of the accommodation process involves knowing what accommodation resources are

available to students with disabilities.

I had the opportunity to try this Pulse SmartPen by Livescribe company. This pen has a microphone that records

what users hear as they write. It works only with special dot papers. To play what is recorded at any point, all that

the users need to do is to point the pen at that place where they wrote. This pen is useful for people who need

note taking accommodations.



3

This high speed scanner allows users to scan pages

of a whole text book into an electronic format. This

is done in conjunction with the Kurzweil 3000

software which enables the electronic text to be

read to the user. After the pages are scanned, a

Center lab technician can help users rebound the

book with a coil binding.

This lab housed within CDS is an ideal quiet place for

students with disabilities to use the computer

software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a speech

recognition program. This software can “turn your

voice into text three times faster than most people

type with up to 99% accuracy” (source:

http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/product

s/default.asp)

This poster in the lab at CDS shows what ADA

software are listed. The main programs are DragonNaturallySpeaking, Jaws, Kurzweil 3000 and

ZoomText.

This poster tells students with disabilities where

computer labs exclusively for them are located on

campus.

Reflection:

“I have come to appreciate my colleagues in the roles that they assumed, meaning their role as advisors to students

with disabilities, as well as their role as my trainers. They might not know it, but indirectly they have been training

me as I observed the ways they handled cases on accommodation requests.”

Excerpts from my journal, November 17, 2009

http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/default.asp





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