Disabled students find a friend in CCSN

By Christina Littlefield

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

Movement has always been difficult for Las Vegas resident Brenda Allen.

But that's not stopping her from moving up in life.

The 33-year-old Community College of Southern Nevada student was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that makes normally simple tasks such as taking notes in class or working on a computer difficult. Allen also struggles with a cognitive learning disability that causes her to need more time on tests and extra tutoring.

Her mind is able to do the coursework, she just needs a little extra help, Allen said.

That help has come from CCSN's Disability Resource Center, an ever-expanding student services division at the college that has accommodated more than 1,900 students this school year.

CCSN currently serves more disabled students per year than all of the state's other higher education institutions combined, a survey of the other six teaching institutions showed, at a cost of about $800,000 a year. By comparison, UNR serves just under 900 students a year at a cost of $434,000, UNLV serves about 350 students with a budget of $506,000, and Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno serves about 341 students with $186,000.

CCSN has provided Allen with note takers, a lab assistant in some of her computer courses and test accommodations such as more time and a quiet room that make it easier for Allen to concentrate. The center has also helped serve as an adviser and advocate for Allen, helping her with everything from registering for her classes to catching the CAT bus.

"I wouldn't even be here if those services weren't here," Allen said.

The services are mandated by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, but officials at CCSN say the accommodations are a vital, albeit costly, part of the college's mission.

"It's absolutely essential to have these services in place for these students," Traci McGee, disability specialist for the Cheyenne campus, said. "They have every right to an education like anyone else. "

McGee said she understands the struggles of the students because of her own hearing disability, and because she benefited from disability resource services when she was a student at CCSN and at UNLV. McGee is deaf in her right ear and has lost 80 percent of her hearing in her left.

Without the help of note takers to allow her to concentrate on what the professors were saying, McGee said she "would have been totally lost." But with a little bit of extra help, she was able to earn an associate's degree, then a bachelor's and is now pursuing a master's degree in counseling.

CCSN's Disability Resource Center, with offices at the Charleston, Cheyenne and Henderson campuses, makes whatever accommodations it can to help students with disabilities "gain equal access" to higher education, Cipriano Chavez, executive director of the student services center at the Cheyenne campus, said.

That includes providing specialized computers and equipment like tape recorders, books on tape or books in Braille, sign language interpreters, note takers, lab assistants or other aides -- whatever a student needs based on their disability, Chavez said.

Deaf or hard of hearing students often need an interpreter and a note taker to keep up with their classes. Other students may just need a special chair to accommodate a back injury or a quiet testing area to take an exam.

"You have to look at the situation," Catherine Anne Rojas, coordinator of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services at CCSN, said. "There is no blanket recipe for what a student gets."

Many of those services, however, come at a high cost, and while college officials said they don't "begrudge" those costs, they said it is a struggle to meet the students' needs on limited state budget. The money set aside for disabled students in the state formula funding only covers a portion of the actual cost and federal grant money only covers about $134,000 of the $800,000 budget, officials said.

"We are in a negative cash factor for these students," President Richard Carpenter said. "But we want to have there here, we are proud to have them here."

The current budget is also a "moving target," Patricia Charlton, vice president of finance and administration, said, and must be constantly adjusted. It's tough to get a clear picture of what costs the college will incur until the end of each semester.

"Even if you have an idea of the number of students it all depends on the type of accommodations they require," Charlton said.

The college spends about $316,000 annually on salary and benefits for six full-time staff, including three disability specialists, an interpreter coordinator, a full-time interpreter and an administrative aide. The bulk of the costs goes toward paying part-time interpreters, captioning services, note takers and other aides.

A shortage of sign language interpreters nationwide has driven up costs, as the college has been unable to hire enough full-time staff, Rojas said. CCSN is budgeted for six full-time interpreters but has only had two for the last several months. That forces the college to go to outside agencies to meet the need for an interpreter, at a cost of as much as $55 an hour.

Interpreters can demand high pay because they are in high demand, Rojas said, especially since the federal government instituted the video-relay system a few years ago to help deaf individuals make phone calls. The federal government can pay those interpreters much more than state institutions.

"The shortage has gone from crisis to more than crisis," Rojas said. On some rare occasions, CCSN has had to video tape a class because an interpreter wasn't available in time or canceled.

Both the interpreter and a captioning device or at least a note taker are essential to being able to communicate in the classroom, 19-year-old deaf student Ryan Giorlando said. Speaking through an interpreter, Giorlando said he needs to be able to keep his eyes on the interpreter in the classroom, making it impossible to take notes at the same time and keep up with what's going on.

Described as "exceptionally bright" by Rojas, Giorlando is seeking a degree in automotive technology.

Real time captioning for deaf or hard of hearing services costs costs $20 to $80 an hour, again depending on whether the college has to hire someone from an agency, Chavez said. TypeWell, a transcription device similar to captioning but not as intense, costs upward of $40 an hour.

Note takers, lab assistants and other aides are typically student workers and make about $7 to $8 an hour, Chavez said.

Students have to document their disability, and the college follows ADA guidelines in determining what that student needs. The challenge is to make sure the students have equal access, without "given them an edge over a non-disabled student," Rojas said.

The goal of the community college, however, it to meet the needs of the community, officials said. "These students need assistance and the community college is the place they turn too," Carpenter said.

For students like Allen, attending the community college has helped her gain independence, and she hopes it will eventually help her get off all forms of public assistance.

Welfare, Allen said, is supposed to be a "hand up, not a hand out."

"College is part of me getting my hand up."

Over the course of the last 15 years, with time off to work when she was able, Allen has completed 84 credits at CCSN and plans to transfer soon to Nevada State College or UNLV to complete a degree in psychology.

Allen said her eventual goal is to be a spiritual health counselor, because her belief in God helped her in dealing with her disability.

"When you grow up in a world where you cannot control your physical environment, you tend to internalize a lot," Allen said.

Todd Butterworth, bureau chief for the Nevada Office of Disability Services, said the accommodations offered by CCSN and other institutions in the state help disabled individuals become productive members of society by giving them a "level playing field during their time in school."

"Disabled student services plays a key role in the transformation of students with disabilities, from being net users of societal resources -- through Social Security, Medicaid, and other services -- into being significant contributors to those resources as working taxpayers."