Creating an accessible residential hall for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Presented by: Jason Altmann, pepnet2 Stephanie Gibbons, UWM student www.pepnet.org

Overview
Diversity within the D/HH community Communication and language preferences What does accessibility mean? Types of accommodations ASL LLC ADA- how does it apply?

Quick facts
UW-Milwaukee:
More than 30,000 students Largest D/HH program in the state ASL Studies Program and ITP

Approx. 500,000 Wisconsin residents have hearing loss. American Sign Language the third mostutilized language in the USA.

Diversity within
Deaf Hard of hearing Late deafened Deaf-blind LGBT Multi-cultural groups

Communicating
How do we figure out the students preferred communication mode? Modes of communication
American Sign Language (ASL) Signed English Cued speech Spoken English Written English Others

Accessibility
What does accessibility mean to you? Deaf video clip: http://deaftv.com/film/Amateur-Deaf-Chef-MangoSalsa/ PEPNet2 video clip: http://www.pepnet.org/resources/faq16 Universal design:
If you design your hall using UD principles, your hall will be accessible to ALL students (Burgstahler, 2009). UD principles to note: equitable use and flexibility in use.

Accommodations
Captioning service

Sign language interpreting

Accommodations
Assistive listening device

Videophones and Cap-Tel

Accommodations
Closed captioning

Alarm with strobe light

Other accommodations?

Discussion time
What can residential hall staff do to effectively coordinate accommodations for D/HH residents? What are the potential barriers a D/HH resident could encounter? What are the possible solutions?

ASL Living Learning Community

The purpose of the ASL-LLC:
Establish a community for students who know or are learning American Sign Language (ASL). ASL-LLC residents will develop a network of peers in an environment that fosters common language, ASL, and a community that will gain understanding and respect for ASL, Deaf history, and Deaf culture.
http://www4.uwm.edu/soe/departments/ex_ed/advising/asl-llc.cfm

ASL LLC is.

A community for:
deaf and hard of hearing students students learning ASL where deaf and hard of hearing students can communicate with peers where students have a network of peers, where they can use their second language acquisition skills understands and respects ASL and Deaf culture

Having fun at ASL LLC

Shared identity and interests

When students chose to live in a community with other individuals who have similar characteristics and interests as them, it facilitates the formation of student peer groups and results in an overall positive experience for the individual students. (Hughes, 1973) Can develop productive interrelations between students who are deaf and hearing.

Experiences at ASL LLC

Take course work together ASL courses Deaf Culture and Deaf History courses Activities ASL Bowling and game nights Outing at the Milwaukee Zoo Study session nights Event, Talk to the Hands to educate peers in residence hall

ASL LLC Blog

ASL LLC students experiences recorded:
http://uwmllc.blogspot.com/search/label/ASL%20 LLC A great way to connect with students that have a similar interest!

What was accessible for me?

Accommodations
Alarm with strobe light Doorbell with light flash Alarm clock with bed shaker High speed internet for videophone (VP) Provide interpreters if needed.

Comparison
1st year without ASL LLC Didnt make much friends in residential hall Less socialization Didnt know the RA that well Joined only one student organization Uncomfortable with UWM and Milwaukee Isolation 2nd year with ASL LLC Met a lot of people Worked with RA to set up events, etc More socialization Joined several student organizations Became more familiar and comfortable with UWM and Milwaukee

Student testimonial
Heidi, a Deaf freshman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rezEPJhr5 Ys Deaf college freshmens social satisfaction was directly linked to persistence: likelihood of staying in school. (Stinson, Scherer, & Walter, 1987)

ADA and Residential Hall

How does ADA apply to us? Can the university cluster D/HH students to a specific floor to offset financial cost?
Can offer theme houses to enable D/HH students to live with other D/HH students. But this must be by student choice; the college cannot require students to live in this community. (Kincaid and Rawlinson, 1999)

D/HH students are more likely than other students to have favorable judgments by the OCR. (McMenamin and Zirkel,
2003)

Out of 36 OCR rulings, D/HH students prevailed in 50% of the rulings.

Who is responsible?
Academic Related Requests: SAC is responsible
Ex.: meeting with instructors or academic advisors

Non-Academic Related Requests: Campus Dept/Office is responsible

Ex. Event in residence halls

Coordinating interpreting service

UWMs three ways to hire interpreters:
SAC interpreters Calling agencies directly Requesting interpreter training program students (for social activities only)

Recommendations for DSS

Reach out and respect your D/HH students preferences. Educate yourselves and your colleagues on best practices of residential hall accessibility and Universal Design. Contact residential hall staff and discuss accessibility and Universal Design. Embrace diversity.
(Miller, 2008)

References
Burgstahler, S. (2009). Universal design of instruction (UDI): Definition, principles, guidelines, and examples. Seattle: DO-IT University of Washington. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED506547.pdf Hughes, S.G. (1973). Student residence hall life: A review of literature, research, and experience pertinent to planning residence-based programs for post-secondary deaf and hearing students. National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, NY. Kincaid, J.M., & Rawlinson, S.J.(1999). Americans with disabilities act: Responsibilities for postsecondary institutions serving deaf and hard of hearing students. In Questions and Answers (2nd ed). McMenamin, M.M. & Zirkel, P.A. (2003). OCR Rulings under section 504 and the Americans with disabilities act: Higher education student cases. Journal on Postsecondary Education and Disability, 16, (2), 55-62.

References
Miller, E.K. (2008). Supporting d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students: Considerations for student affairs practitioners. Vermont Connection: The Student Affairs Journal of the University of Vermont, 29, 15-25. Porter, J., Camerlengo, R., DePuye, M., & Sommer, M. (1999). Campus life and the development of postsecondary deaf and hard of hearing students: Principles and practices. A Report of the National Task Force on Quality of Services in the Postsecondary Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. Rochester, NY: Northeast Technical Assistance Center, Rochester Institution of Technology. Stinson, M. S., Scherer, M. J., & Walter, G. G. (1987). Factors affecting persistence of deaf college students. Research in Higher Education, 27(3), 244-258.

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