A new system called the AIM Portal has been released by Disability Support Services to help the accommodation process for disabled individuals.
UW claims that AIM will improve from their previous system by allowing for faculty to review active student accommodations for each of their courses, while also being able to review exam requests for students with alternative testing accommodations.
The University’s ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Coordinator, Paula Whaley, believes that AIM “will increase the ease of communication between students and their assigned coordinators, as well as allowing the coordinators to communicate with the professors and the campus community.”
Additionally, the university is in the process of increasing website accessibility. They then plan on improving mobile application accessibility within the next two years.
As ADA Coordinator, Paula Whaley is responsible for the University of Wyoming compliance. Her position is to maintain a higher level view to provide accommodations. With almost one thousand students receiving academic accommodations each year, Whaley said that “many students on campus may have a disability, but do not seek accommodations.”
The process for a student to receive accommodations begins with Disability Support Services (DSS). Staff will review the students documentation and medical information to determine if a student qualifies for additional accommodations. Then, there is input from university departments or professors to assess what accommodations would be reasonable.
Beyond help in the classroom, there are many accessibility resources on campus to aid with transportation. The University offers the Paratransit service that operates beyond campus to transport students.
“If you do work through Disability Support Services, accommodations can be made through the academic process to assist individuals who have difficulty with getting to certain buildings or crossing campus for their courses or programs,” Whaley said.
There are various entities on campus, such as the UW Police Department, DSS, and Human Resources, that collaborate and problem solve to ensure each student receives what is necessary for their success.
UW’s ADA Coordinator says that UW does an excellent job at working with each other and communicating.
“Having a close-knit community is what helps [faculty and staff] to facilitate those communications and work together as a team,” Paula Whaley said.
