Community College Adults

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People with disabilities are increasingly turning to higher education to achieve their career and professional goals. As they arrive, community college personnel need to welcome these students to their campuses while constantly searching for additional curricular, pedagogical, and technical approaches to support these learners in achieving their goals. More professional development, focusing on recognizing a student with a disability and making appropriate teaching and learning modifications, needs to be designed for community college faculty and staff. If college personnel continue to develop the attitudes of inclusion and acceptance that have shaped the disability programs described here, students with disabilities are likely to continue choosing community colleges as the avenue for fulfilling their academic aspirations.

One commonality among the four programs highlighted here is an understanding and acceptance of the support needs of students with disabilities. Staff members in the programs described have been educated in disability issues and how they might be addressed in a community college. Unfortunately, most educators have not had the benefit of such training. As Treloar (1999) stated, "Few teachers in community colleges have any significant prior exposure to disability. As a result, disabled persons may feel misunderstood in educational settings and negatively affected by teacher perceptions about disability" (p. 31).

Some suggestions on instructing students with visual disabilities.

Students with visual disabilities may need preferential seating. Your student should be seated near the front of the class to hear clearly what is being ...