Carol Toppel, 408-855-5215
Target population:
Students with disabilities
Goals:
The goal is to support students with learning, physical, or mental
disabilities to successfully enter campus life, its programs and
activities. The program emphasizes growth and individual
achievement. Reasonable accommodations are provided to minimize the
effects of a disability and maximize potential for success.
Description:
The DISC center is a program that supports the students with
disabilities through a multitude of services including:
Priority registration,
Pre-registration advising,
Registration assistance
Note-takers, readers/scribes and tutors,
Test-taking arrangements,
Sign language interpreters, real-time captioners
Providing referrals to and acting as a liaison with faculty the
campus, and community
Specialized Equipment to meet the needs of students who are
physically disabled such as tape recorders. TV magnifiers, assistive
listening devices, Screen Readers, Large Print Displays, Scan and
Read Programs, Speech Recognition, Braille Translator/Embosser, Word
Prediction with Speech, Adaptive Keyboard Access, and Mouse
Alternatives.
Special Classes or workshops including learning strategies and
self-advocacy
Staffing:
The staffing at the DISC consists of a director, four faculty, two
full-time and one half-time staff assistants.
Facilities, equipment, materials:
The DISC computer activities are
held in a classroom that has twenty-five computers. In order to
maximize space, the computers have two hard-drives, one for the DISC
students and one for mainstream students. The entire campus is set
up with many adaptive capabilities so that students with
disabilities can enroll in classes in all areas, and the faculty and
staff can assist the students. The college maintains a complete
library of adaptive technologies including: JAWS, Tactile Imager,
and Kurzweil 1000 and 3000 to scan and read texts (this program is
on all library computers).
Costs, funding source:
The State funds the DISC based upon the number of students with
disabilities and the definition of their disability or disabilities.
Currently, the funding level is approximately $300,000 annually.
Outreach and marketing:
Marketing of the program includes interaction with area high schools
in an effort to increase the number of high school graduates who
take part in postsecondary education or training. Additional
marketing efforts include community outreach, working with college
counselors and faculty, as well as insuring that all staff and
faculty are familiar with the services offered.
Evidence of effectiveness:
Student learning outcomes and concrete measures of effectiveness are
being developed. Currently, the number of students who avail
themselves of the services the DISC offers, as well as the retention
of students who are learning or physically disabled, are looked at
via the core indicator reports completed annually.