DisAbility Services offers equal opportunities

acob McGee, a criminal justice major, spends time between classes having a few laughs with friends. He receives help from DisAbility Services.

Amarillo College provides countless services that help students through their college careers. DisAbility Services is a place where help is provided to students with special needs.The department offers assistance to create equal access to all programs and services at AC. Students are provided with assistance in classrooms such as extra time on tests, preferential seating and sign language interpreters, to name a few.“We work with individual students to develop needed accommodations for classroom and testing services,” said Brenda Rossnagel, DisAbility Services coordinator.“Those are developed with each student every semester.”Students who want to apply for assistance must have a documented disability in order to receive services in compliance with federal and state laws.“We will ask students to provide some documentation for their disability,” Rossnagel said. Without proper documentation, they will not be able to continue with the process. DisAbility Services helps students with disabilities such as autism, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorders and mobility impairment. Students with disabilities are provided with help in every way possible.“I was born with Spina bifida, which put me in a wheelchair, so I have to have a table put in every class that I’m in as well as extra time on tests because it takes me a while to process information,” said Jacob McGee, a criminal justice major. “The DisAbility Services have been great. They go the extra mile for each student.”DisAbility Services serves 400 students on average each semester. More than half of those students request some type of accommodation. “There is a lot of variety in the students we serve, and therefore the services are really very individualized to what a particular student might need,” Rossnagel said.Students who are having difficulty are welcome to visit with DisAbility Services employees.“We try to make individuals feel as comfortable as possible and encourage students to be proactive and take an active role in their learning and apply for DisAbility Services if indeed that’s something that’s appropriate for them,” Rossnagel said. DisAbility Services is starting a new student group called Because We Can for students with disabilities as well as students going into a field where they might encounter a person with a disability. The first meeting was Aug. 28 in the Louise Daniel Private Dining Room in the College Union Building.DisAbility Services is located in the Student Service Center on the Washington Street Campus. For more information, call 806-345-5639.

acob McGee, a criminal justice major, spends time between classes having a few laughs with friends. He receives help from DisAbility Services.

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