My name is Laraine Amoia-Watters and I created this blog to bring

awareness and understanding to the need for equity in our classrooms

in post secondary education. I have been a full time instructor at a
small catholic university in a baccalaureate-nursing program for the
past two years. Prior to that, I worked as an adjunct professor for the
same university and the local community college for more than eleven
years teaching both in the classroom and the clinical hospital setting.
During my short time as a full time instructor, I have seen
ignorance among fellow professors when dealing with students with
disabilities. Often, I am witness to more seasoned personnel
commenting on students lack of ability as nothing more than a ploy to
get extra time for testing. Additional comments are always made
relating the same student to the clinical setting. The worry being that if
a student must be read to for test taking, or needs double time to read
the questions, how will they face emergent situations where orders
must be read and action taken expeditiously? These veteran professors
are not all together wrong in their worry.
As I entered this full time role, I found myself a champion for
those with disabilities so that their can be equity in the classroom. Not
one person at our conference table had ever heard of an Individual
Educational Plan (IEP). When I mentioned the abbreviation, I was asked
more than once to repeat it. Additionally, the staff was not aware that
the IEP fell under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
which is a federal law. An IEP is a plan developed by the teachers, staff,
and family and focuses on the specific needs of that student to ensure
their greatest chance at success. An IEP is not for any student that
needs extra help, but for those who were tested and found to have
some type of learning disability. This IEP offers the student the best
chance of success (Stanberry, 2014).
But does an IEP follow the student into college? The answer is no.
If these services were made available all throughout their primary and
secondary classrooms, what type of success will they have in college
without the same support?
Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Section 504 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and Title II of the

Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (Title II), which
prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. Practically every
school district and postsecondary school in the United States is
subject to one or both
of these laws (U.S. Department of
Education, 2011, para. 3).

The IEP does not follow a student in college, but a 504 can aid the
student in getting the necessary help. The student must play an active
role in garnering the support needed for success and be their own
voice.
These issues concern me for two reasons. Firstly, my son is
currently a freshman in high school and has had an IEP since the 2 nd
grade. He is fully integrated into regular education classrooms, with
minimal aid. He has been to his IEP meetings and we are striving for
him to be his own advocate keeping in mind that college is looming
and I cannot be involved as I am now.
My second reason for concern is that I feel that my current and
future students well-being is at stake. With older professors being
unaware that IEPs exist, potential subsists that students with
disabilities will have no one in their corner. I would like to bridge that
gap and be an advocate for students who have learning needs. Even
though the university houses services for these students, little is done
to explain to faculty what services are provided, or what it means to
have a learning disability.
Education is needed at the post secondary level to foster
awareness of the diverse learning population and their needs to the
faculty that is there to serve.
Stanberry, K (2014). Understanding individualized educational
programs. Understood. Retrieved from
https://www.understood.org/en/schoollearning/specialservices/ieps/understanding-individualized-educationprograms#item8
U.S. Department of Education (2011). Students with disabilities
preparing for
postsecondary education: Know your rights and
responsibilities. Retrieved from
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transition.html