By KAITLIN UNDERWOOD
Amarillo College’s DisAbility Services is now located in suite 700 of the new Enrollment Center on the Washington Street Campus.
Students who seek accommodations and are approved from DisAbility Services are then provided with a number of options such as extended test time, preferential seating, note takers and readers for tests.
Jerri Peacock-Najera, coordinator of Disability Services, said that there are 400-600 students who are registered with their department. “Of those students, approximately 200-400 students actively receive accommodations.
There are typically more DisAbility Services students registered for classes in the Fall than in the Spring terms. The number of students utilizing services is steadily increasing with each year,” she said.
To ensure student’s accommodations are respected, the DisAbility Services has steps in place to absolve any problems that may arise between instructors and the student’s accommodations.
“We encourage students to communicate with their instructors first to clear up any mistakes or misunderstandings, if they are comfortable doing so. The next step is for students to reach out to DisAbility Services so that we can reach out to that instructor. Many times, there are simple human
errors that we are able to remedy quickly with education and support,” Peacock-Najera said. “We also encourage faculty and staff to reach out to us anytime they need assistance in implementing a student’s accommodations, or if they have questions about our accommodations and services. We are here
to support all members of the AC community.”
Genevieve Presley, a mass media major, said she would recommend the DisAbility Services to any disabled student. “Every student deserves to have access to all the resources that they need to be successful and DisAbility Services can do that for them and more,” she said.
Neil Mayhew, a film production major, said he doesn’t use the services even though he is a student with a disability. “Since I lost my left eye it turns out that I got lucky and that was actually my bad eye, so my right eye has actually got perfect vision,” he said. “I have adapted and figured out the little tricks that I need to get by. I leave the services open to anybody that actually could use those services.”
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