Westchester Community College provides services for students with documented learning disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, physical disabilities, visual, hearing, and other health impairments. We encourage individuals with disabilities to contact us to learn what support services are available to meet varying needs. Current services include but are not limited to the following:

• Pre-admission counseling
• Assistance at registration
• Supportive and vocational counseling
• Referral to other campus services and appropriate community agencies
• Referral for diagnostic assessment as necessary
• Self-advocacy training
• Planning for after graduation

• Orientation and referral to tutorial services
• Assistance with developing learning strategies, coping and organizing skills
• Assistance in arranging for note takers, interpreters, readers and scribes
• Proctoring for special testing

• Arranging for classroom accommodations
• Special parking for physically disabled students
• Ramps, elevators and electronic doors

• Liaison with professors, high schools, community agencies, families
• Creating a responsive campus environment
• Supporting and assisting faculty in understanding and meeting individual needs
• Providing information about specific disabilities and related laws

• Spectrum Optelec print enlarger
• Kurzweil Omni 3000 scanning/screen reading software for learning disabled
• Kurzweil Omni 1000 scanning/screen reading software for visually impaired
• JAWS screen reader computer software
• Zoomtext onscreen magnifier
• Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software
• Duxbury Braille Translator software
• Braille printer
• Texas Instruments Interactive onscreen TI 83 graphing calculator
• Variable speed tape recorders
• Infra-red listening system

You need to know about your disability. Know the things that you do well. Know the things that are difficult for you. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Know what assistance has been helpful to you in dealing with your disability.

Coming to college means rearranging your life. Financial needs, time demands, study schedules and course work vary greatly from high school. College courses require more study time outside of the classroom. Expectations of student performance are greater, and competition may be more intense. These expectations can be met with good advance planning. Apply for financial aid early. Consider the number of hours it will be necessary for you to work. Make reliable transportation arrangements. Family and personal responsibilities and time commitments must also be considered. Set realistic goals and priorities for course work.

YOU are responsible for requesting support services. YOU need to contact the professionals responsible for assisting students with disabilities. By law we cannot contact you about your needs. Make contact each semester, as early as possible, to discuss what your needs will be. Submit current documentation about your disability before school starts, or as soon as possible. Understand that services provided in college may differ from those you received in high school.

At the start of every semester contact each of your instructors to arrange for course assistance and accommodations. Your disability must qualify you for the accommodations requested. We can help you arrange these accommodations and may have some additional ideas that can assist you in becoming a more successful student. You must make arrangements in advance (as soon as the exam is announced, not the day of the exam) for accommodations such as extra time. Remember that extra time may only help if you do the necessary preparation and attend classes regularly.

MAKE CONTACT OFTEN

Make contact with us regularly to discuss your progress and to identify your needs in each class. If you are having trouble, see the professionals who help students with disabilities. Keeping in contact with these offices will help you succeed.

Professor Marcia Kalkut
Counselor/Coordinator for Students with Disabilities
Office: CLA 4
Phone: (914) 606-6552

Professor Sharon Massey
Learning Disabilities Specialist
Office: LIBRARY, Ground Floor, G47
Phone: (914) 606-6626