By Emily Bejerano
The Grand Rapids Community College Disability Support Services department has 631 students with a disability registered for the 2023 winter semester. However, of those 631 students, 320 don’t have active accommodations. Those students who choose not to disclose their accommodation letter with faculty have inactive accommodations, meaning they may not receive accommodations unless they disclose them.
Students may access the ClockWork Student Accommodation Portal to send accommodation letters, schedule tests in the DSS testing center and view upcoming tests/quizzes scheduled. To receive the appropriate and necessary accommodations, students must first register with DSS.
The GRCC admission application cannot legally inquire if applicants have a disability; however, DSS makes efforts to reach students who are applying or beginning in GRCC and may need disability support services.
“Our goal is to get that information to students as soon as they can get it… We meet with students when they do enrollment tours… We try to meet with touring groups that come in,” said Jenna Hess, DSS program director and assistant professor/counselor.
Students eligible for services are assigned a DSS counselor to determine the access accommodations needed. DSS determines eligibility on three steps that altogether support a student’s disability and the need for services.
“The first leg is a student’s history,” Hess said. “The second leg of that is any paperwork that supports that… We look for documentation that verifies a diagnosis history and that diagnosis history verification has to come from a professional who can provide that diagnosis… The third part of that documentation is an interactive conversation with one of our DSS specialists…that says ‘oh yeah we can confirm that this is a disability related concern that’s providing an access concern that needs accommodation.’”
Once students are found eligible for services and have met with a counselor, students have their accommodations in place. However, those accommodations are not granted until students disclose them to their professors.
Brittany Maclin, 37, a first-year student from Grand Rapids wrote, in an email to The Collegiate, “My professors this semester have gone above and beyond to accommodate all my needs. Having services helps me focus and stay on track.”
Without services, Maclin struggled. “I missed assignments and got behind,” she wrote. Students may decide not to disclose the need for accommodations at the beginning of a semester, but can still do otherwise at any time throughout the semester.”
