Students Helping Students

A deliberate “rebranding” of a program or department is always a big undertaking, but sometimes it’s warranted. That was the case in 2019, when the Office of Disabilities Services at Barnard became the Center for Accessibility Resources and Disability Services (CARDS), says current director Rebecca Sime Nagasawa, who learned that prior to her tenure, there had been “some less-than-stellar student experiences, so the College became very intentional about our response.”

Barnard began the transformation by forming a working group to address accessibility and improve resources. “We added two accommodations coordinators, expanded our capability for accommodated exam proctoring, and partnered with other campus offices to create a pipeline of support,” says Sime Nagasawa. “Logistically, we worked with the resident life offices to ensure the dorms and dining facilities are accessible to students.”
 
CARDS has also worked hard to provide academic coaching and bolster students’ executive functioning skills like planning and meeting goals and focusing in the midst of distraction. In another show of support, CARDS founded a peer mentoring program in 2019. “This matches [juniors and seniors] with new students with similar diagnoses,” explains Sime Nagasawa. “The [first-years] benefit from their mentors in learning how to navigate specific issues, whether physically or academically.”

A different peer support group, formed as the pandemic began, has proven its staying power, too. Initially strictly remote, the group of students registered with CARDS met monthly online to provide camaraderie throughout the pandemic. An unexpected benefit: It taught CARDS how to better meet the needs of students with various disabilities in a remote environment. “Students who have hearing disabilities are often proficient in lip reading, but over Zoom, that gets tougher,” says Sime Nagasawa. “Even wearing a mask in person can create a host of issues.”

As students transitioned back onto campus for live instruction, CARDS turned its focus to helping an entire class of students who had only experienced remote learning. “They needed resources to figure out how to integrate into campus life,” Sime Nagasawa says. “The peer mentoring and individual class year coordinators became essential.”

CARDS considers the postgraduation experience as well. Some of the peer mentors remain active even after entering the workforce, helping the disabled undergraduate population as they prepare to enter the world outside campus. Members from the Class of 2021 took part in these efforts by posting advice to students who are registered with CARDS on social media and, later, participating in a panel discussion in which they “shared strategies they used to successfully persevere to graduation as well as land positions in the workforce or graduate school,” says Sime Nagasawa.

This is an especially helpful piece of CARDS, says Sime Nagasawa, because while disabled students can find a comfortable, flexible experience at Barnard, they must eventually transition to life after graduation. “Our goal is to deliver efficient services in support of building a strong student and alumnae community.”

Check out our slideshow below for the other parts of our “Breaking Norms” feature story.