Caption: [Medical School Accommodations]
Tim is shown walking in a hall with his guide-dog, sitting in front
of library bookshelves, working on his computer, and talking at the
camera.
Tim: “My personal responsibility is to ask for what I think I
need that will allow me to learn what the other students learn, and
to show that I know what the other students know, and to perform what
they perform.”
Tim’s hands are shown feeling raised drawings on paper. He is
also shown having a discussion with a professor.
Tim: “My contacts with professors have been very positive. Either
one on one or working through some disability service offices, we’ve
been able to reach agreements on, you know, how to test, how to teach,
and that kind of thing. They’ve been very accommodating when I’ve
let them know what I need, and we’ve been able to work things
out.”
Caption: [Tim Cordes Medical Student University of Wisconsin, Madison]
Tim: “One of the major accommodations I use is, the university
provides my class materials, all the handouts that the other students
receive on paper, they give them to me in electronic format, so I’m
able to read them with my computer, which uses speech synthesis to actually
read the material out loud to me.”
Tim is shown flipping through a binder filled with raised line drawings
of brain cross sections. He uses his hands to feel the drawings. His
professor is sitting next to him while explaining some of them.
Tim: “Another accommodation is the use of raised line drawings,
which can represent things such as cross sections through the brain,
or what another student might see on a microscopic slide. And this helps
me understand the same material that the other students might pick up
visually.”
One of Tim’s professors, John, is sitting in front of library
bookshelves.
John (Tim’s featured professor): “Working with students
with disabilities, so far, in the 25 years I’ve been here, I haven’t
compromised at all. I haven’t had to compromise at all. And I
wouldn’t. I might work a little harder to give a student an extra
way of learning something, but you don’t have to compromise at
all in your standards. All the students will benefit in the long run,
because I’m always learning, always working, to try to figure
out better ways of getting points across.”
Tim is shown walking on campus with his guide-dog. Other students are
shown navigating campus and in office meetings.
Tim: “I guess what my story has taught me so far is that, when
it comes to accommodations, some patience, and some creativity, and
an open dialogue with faculty and disability services can help to figure
out a way around just about every challenge there is.”
[Used with permission from:
DO-IT
University of Washington
206-685-DOIT (Voice/TTY)
206-221-4171 (FAX)
[http://www.washington.edu/doit]
[doit@u.washington.edu]
Director: Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.
These clips are from “Building the Team: Faculty, Staff and Students
Working Together.”Copyrighted 2000]
