Return to Emory Report home pageProspective students with disabilities who are considering attending Emory tend to research their collegiate options more thoroughly than most students, according to Deborah Hyde, coordinator of disability services for students in Disability Services and Compliance.
"We have had students, a year or two before they even apply to Emory, who have called the office to ask what services we have and how to get them," said Hyde. "They're really thinking ahead. They have to plan ahead a little more than most students, because they have to make sure they pick a school that's going to provide them with the accommodations they need."
Providing those accommodations to students with disabilities is precisely what Hyde came to Emory to do three months ago. In this new position, Hyde is responsible for making sure that students with disabilities "are accommodated in a reasonable fashion and given what they need to succeed."
In a marketplace that has become increasingly competitive for the nation's top students, colleges and universities also are placing increased emphasis on helping highly qualified students with disabilities succeed academically at Emory, according to Hyde.
Because of legislation mandating equality of educational opportunity for students with disabilities, Hyde said, today's prospective college students have come to expect the kinds of accommodations her office provides.
"Now that these students are receiving services in elementary, middle and high school," Hyde continued, "they understand that its perfectly reasonable to expect that some students with disabilities are going to go to college, just like the general population. They feel more comfortable saying that they feel they are college material. And students with that background come to Emory and expect to have those services, because they happen to know the law, too."
What most people don't realize, Hyde said, is that most of the students at Emory with disabilities do not have physical disabilities. Rather, they have some form of learning disability.
"There is a whole gamut of learning disabilities," Hyde said. "And people tend, if they are not educated about learning disabilities, to think that the person is stupid or slow. But their only problem is in processing information. The brain works just fine."
Hyde cited the example of a student with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). In a regular environment, with movement, noise and light, an ADD student will have difficulty focusing on exam questions. But in a distraction-free environment, their test scores increase significantly. Other common accommodations for learning-disabled students include granting additional test time and providing course information to students in the format in which they can best process it, whether that format is visual or auditory.
Educating faculty about the needs of learning-disabled and other students with disabilities will be a top priority for Hyde. "I would like to do faculty and staff training and awareness seminars," Hyde said, "to answer their questions about reasonable accommodations, what to do when a student asks for double time on an exam, those kinds of issues. We need to let the faculty know that they need to call our office in those situations, that we are the ones responsible for checking the documentation. That not only takes a load off the professors, but also makes sure that there's an even playing field for everyone."
In addition to her expertise in learning disabilities, Hyde, who holds a Ph.D. in architecture from Georgia Tech, also has an extensive background in ensuring accessibility to physical facilities. Bob Ethridge, associate vice president for Equal Opportunity Programs, who oversees Disability Services and Compliance, said Hyde's half-time position was moved from Campus Life to Disability Services and Compliance because "it made sense to put the entire operation together."
Ethridge cited Hyde's skills in dealing with both physical barriers to accessibility as well as learning disabilities. "Deborah knows both facets of this field extremely well," Ethridge said. "She is an architect, which is an important plus for making the campus more accessible for students. But she will also be able to provide outstanding services to help students with hidden disabilities succeed academically."
Hyde reports to and works closely with Rosemary Watkins, who came to Emory last year as the University's first director of Disability Services and Compliance. Watkins is responsible for providing services to employees with disabilities.
--Dan Treadaway
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