CSI's Office of Disability Services fully
committed to serving the disabled
Staten Island Advance - Sunday, March 19,
2006
In response to recent commentary in the Advance
regarding the College of Staten Island's services to persons with
disabilities, I would like to detail, as director of CSI's Office of
Disability Services, what we do.
Our mission is to support educational access for CSI
students with disabilities. This includes making accommodations to
all facilities, educational materials, audio-visuals, aids, Web
pages, software, hardware and classroom and laboratory activities.
This ensures that CSI is in full compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Disability Services has also introduced many
innovative ways to promote our students' learning and academic
success. For instance, counseling for academic, career and life
skills is available, as are accessible technology, alternative
testing formats, reader services and tutoring, American Sign
Language interpreters and real-time captioning.
For the work that we do with students who have
hearing impairments, the Office of Disability Services and the vice
president for technology systems, Dr. Michael Kress, recently
received the Dean Michael Ribaudo Award for Innovation in Technology
from the City University if New York.
CSI additionally serves the disabilities community
through its programs that prepare professionals in special
education, social work and physical therapy (now a doctoral
program). Our office of Continuing Education offers two programs.
Lifeskills and creative exchange, to adults with
developmental disabilities. Our scientists, in collaboration with
their counterparts from the Institute for Basic Research, examine
the neurological underpinnings of developmental disabilities at the
Center for Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental
Disabilities.
Finally, we house the Willowbrook Archives, which
will allow future generations of researchers to study the history
and the landmark closing of the Willowbrook State School.
Our record of achievement is in important
demonstration of CSI's on-going commitment to serving people with
disabilities, a record that we stand proudly behind.
Margaret Venditti, Willowbrook
The writer is director of CSI's
Office of Disability Services
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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