The Accessibility Resource Office at Saint Mary’s College helps students succeed in their education by providing individualized accommodations to those who need them. It partners with a variety of campus organizations to make sure students have what they need to succeed. Particularly, the ARO works with the Health and Counseling Center to help students get the appropriate diagnoses and access any potential mental health accommodations.
Kate Barron is a clinical social worker and assistant director of the Health and Counseling Center. She explained that not every student who uses the ARO needs access to the counseling resources that the Center provides. The ARO connects students with mental health resources from a larger circle of locations off campus, including offices in South Bend and the surrounding area and groups from a student’s hometown.
The Center functions as an intermediary, helping students get the proper documentation to apply for resources. Erich Wagenfeld, director of the ARO, said that his office will send students to Health and Counseling if needed, and the Center will direct students to the ARO as well. Ultimately, the goal of the process is to make sure students can meet the expected documentation guidelines required to request proper accommodations.
“And, basically, once we get the information that we need, which is the student writing, what they believe their issues are, what accommodations they’re requesting and then the documentation, presuming that the documentation is sufficient, we would, you know, go through and determine what accommodations are appropriate based on that documentation,” Wagenfeld said.
Expected documentation includes both a student’s argument for accommodations and documentation representing a clinical diagnosis attesting to their needs. The Health and Counseling Center can provide clinical documentation that allows those who need it to access accommodations.
Not everyone is able to access accommodations from the ARO. Wagenfeld explained that legally, eligibility for an accommodation rests on a fundamental need for one and that an accommodation cannot interfere with the rigor or style of a class.
“So what the law says is that there has to be a fundamental need, and that fundamental need for accommodation cannot intervene, or interfere with course pedagogy, program pedagogy or college rules. And so, you know, there are situations where we might deny an accommodation, and generally, you know, the documentation is sufficient, and they, we, deem that the, you know, requests are reasonable, then they’re approved,” Wagenfeld said.
Barron noted that accommodations are ultimately to create equitable circumstances for everyone in college.
“You know, accommodations do not give someone an advantage over someone else; it just helps bring up a student to be at a level opportunity to others, to be able to do their work,” she said.
The Health and Counseling Center does not have the power to assign a person accommodations; it can only attest to a student's need. From there, it is up to the ARO to determine the best resources that will benefit a student and lead them to success.
“Accommodations are determined by many, many different factors, and not each student will have the same accommodations for the same reasons,” Barron said. “Starting with the ARO office is the best place to start. They can point you towards, you know, if you need a specialist to weigh in on your situation, your medical issue, which includes mental health issues for which you need an accommodation. They are good at telling you where you need to go.”
For students, receiving accommodations can be difficult, and the accommodations given don’t always align with their expectations. Kitriana Gonzales is a sophomore and a social work major at Saint Mary’s College. Her testing accommodations did not take long to get, but were not as extensive as those she had in high school.
“It didn’t take that long to get them, but some of the ones I had had at my previous school — I was a lot happier,” Gonzales said. She still finds the ARO to be successful in getting students what they need. “I think they do, like, providing the accommodations and getting them done at that place pretty quickly, pretty well.”
Not every student that applies is granted accommodations. But Barron said that accommodations, when they are awarded, are very successful.
“I have met a lot of students who benefit from accommodations of various types, and they had no idea that the accommodations even existed. And maybe they were struggling, and just assumed that that was their, that was how life would be. There would just be a continued struggle. It’s been rewarding to help students be able to do their best,” she said.
