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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Cook College student Lori Fetter, who is
visually impaired, learned self-advocacy
in high school. Her can-do attitude
allows her to negotiate a large
institution like Rutgers and ask for the
accommodations that she is entitled to
by law. Fetter will speak about her
experiences April 28 at a Rutgers
conference, “Transition From High School
to College: The First Steps for Students
with Disabilities,” at the Cook Campus
Center. Fetter will research bovine
behavior next year with an animal
science faculty member.
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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Leonora Augustin has struggled with
ulcerative colitis, fibromyalgia and
extreme anxiety. A Douglass graduate
pursuing a master’s degree in social
work, she has been successful finding
resources at Rutgers, including a
handicapped parking sticker and extended
time for exams. “The university will
guide you, not baby you,” she says.
Augustin is pictured with her sons Shawn
Stidem, a Mason Gross student, and
9-year-old Reuben Cathcart.
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For Lori Fetter, a first-year student at Cook College who is visually impaired and walks with a limp due to cerebral palsy, the transition from high school to college meant asserting herself in new ways to ensure her academic success.
In high school, Fetter’s teachers automatically provided large-print copies of textbooks as well as handouts detailing any notes written on the blackboard.
Now, the 19-year-old asks professors for hand-outs and to arrange other academic adjustments she’s entitled to by law, such as extended time for exams and large-print exams. It’s also her responsibility to order audio versions of her textbooks.
Because laws regarding disability and education have different requirements in high school and college, students with disabilities at the university level need to play a more active role in their education. Yet these students with specific needs can find ample assistance in a large institution like Rutgers.
Fetter has negotiated this new terrain gracefully. Her advice to fellow students with disabilities who are starting college:
Be proactive.
“What you think you may be entitled to may not necessarily be the case – be an advocate for yourself,” said Fetter, who is double-majoring in animal science and French. “I have to communicate with my professors. I like for them to get to know me and me them. I don’t like to be passive about my disability. I thought coming from a high school of 800 to a university of 30,000 would be tough, but they know me by my name, even in a class of 400. That's important in getting the accommodations that I need.”
On April 28 Fetter will share her experiences with high school students with disabilities, their parents and high school administrators at a Rutgers conference, “Transition From High School to College: The First Steps for Students With Disabilities (studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/transition),” at the Cook Campus Center. The student panel also comprises students from the University of Pennsylvania and Middlesex County College. Speakers at the event include Jeanne Kincaid, a renowned disability lawyer, and Stan Shaw, co-director of the University of Connecticut’s Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability.
Sponsors for the conference include Rutgers’ Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Learning Centers, the Graduate School of Education and the Office of Disability Services, as well as the Educational Testing Service, the Alliance for Disabled in Action, the University of Pennsylvania and Middlesex County College. Nearly 300
people are expected to attend.
Rutgers developed the conference in response to the confusion that many students with disabilities and their parents face when students begin college, said Brian Rose, associate vice president for student affairs. “For legal reasons, the nature of services for students with disabilities in the postsecondary school environment is different from the high school environment,” Rose said. “When students and parents expect to be handled the same way, it’s frustrating for them. People feel their expectations have been dashed.”
Rutgers is bound by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which states that no “otherwise qualified handicapped individual” should be excluded from programs or activities receiving federal or financial assistance.
While both laws apply to elementary, secondary and postsecondary schools, the K-12 schools are also subject to the highly specific Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). As a result, many of the requirements that apply through high school are different from those that apply in college, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. For example, school districts must provide a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability, which means that the school district must identify a child's educational needs and provide any special educational services to meet those needs.
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