Staff NEWS

 

May 17, 2007

"Visiting With"......Disability Services

Our innovations or successes:

  • We have worked with Facilities Services to improve campus accessibility by completion of a campus accessibility survey and providing recommendations for needed improvements. Projects to improve accessibility are currently in progress.

  • We have worked with Parking and Transportation to provide a golf cart shuttle service to mitigate the impact of parking lot closures on people with limited mobility.

  • We developed our own captioning service for students with hearing impairments who do not use sign language interpreters. Most of our part-time captionists are UTSA students.

  • We have improved access to text in alternative formats by using high-speed scanners and electronic text to replace an outdated system of reading books on tape.

  • We developed a guide for faculty with information about working more effectively with students with disabilities. The guide is available on our website. 

  • Our greatest successes are our graduates! Twenty-three students registered with us graduated last December.

Longest serving staff member: Virginia Garcia, our administrative associate, has served in her position since 1991. At that time we served 35 students and MS-DOS was the latest in computer technology!

 

Newest staff member: Our newest staff member, interpreter Amber Gann, is also a newlywed! Amber joined our staff in January and got married in March.

 

You may not know that:

  • Most of the students we serve do not have a visible disability. The majority have a learning disability or Attention Deficit Disorder.

  • The number of students registered with our office has increased by 77% since 2000.

  • Patrick Slonaker, assistant director for the downtown campus, began his career in our office as a work-study!

How you can reach us:

1604 campus:  MS 2.03.18 Extension: 4157- Downtown campus: BV 1.302, Extension: 4980

web site – www.utsa.edu/disability

Photo Gallery

Beatrice Amaro-Chavez and Amber Gann

Emily Arriaga and Roselena Balderas

Amabel Zacarias and Iris Rodriguez

Jane Markland