For students with physical or mental disabilities, Kansas University offers a wide range of services.

But Mary Ann Rasnak, director of the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, said one of the main services KU provides was teaching students how to support themselves.

“One of our jobs is to help students learn how to become self-advocates,” Rasnak said. “College is really the bridge to the next step.”

She said in high school, students with disabilities usually have a team of support, often including parents, teachers and administrators.

In college, the students must be more independent, documenting their medical needs and functional limitations.

The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities provides assistance to approximately 550 students.

For deaf or hard-of-hearing students, the office provides amplified headsets and remote captioning, where a captionist listens to a lecture live via the Internet, and sends the transcriptions to the student’s laptop. The student can read the lecture almost as it is occurring.

For blind students, the office sets up oral examinations and audio tapes.

And for students requiring wheelchairs or crutches, the office will help set up point-to-point transportation. The office also makes sure buildings are accessible.

But Rasnak said most of the students she dealt with required alternative accommodations because of learning disabilities or pyschiatric conditions.

For instance, a student with attention deficit disorder may need more time to complete an examination or a private room to take the test.

“Our culture, in general, understands that accommodating a disability is a matter of leveling the playing field,” she said. “If it takes an individual twice as long to read the questions, and they still know the answer, they shouldn’t be penalized.”

She said through the years, faculty have become more aware of students’ needs.

The goal is to help students succeed in school, she said.

Rasnak said she suspected students with disabilities stay in school at the same rate or at a higher rate than the rest of the student body, but because of computer challenges, the office has not been able to track the situation.

But, she said, that is about to change.

“After the grades are in this spring, we are going to start tracking,” she said.

The office also is committed to ensuring that a student’s confidentiality is protected. Services for Students with Disabilities will not disclose a students’ relationship with the office nor information in the student-client file.