Smith needs to get with the times

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
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<p>It seems like I would be a great fit for Smith - I'm a lesbian feminist liberal with excellent test scores who belongs to the Dostoevsky book club. I thought that Smith, with its spirit of tolerance, would be an accepting place for me. That's why I applied.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, Smith is not accepting of people like me after all. I have a disability, and Smith apparently doesn't like that. </p>

<p>Six days ago, I began calling all of the colleges I applied to to ask about student life and disability services. I finally got ahold of Smith yesterday morning and spoke to people in both the dean's office and the admissions office. </p>

<p>The responses that I received were strange and discouraging; I was told right out that Smith was not a great environment for women with disabilities, that the administration was confounded by my particular disability ("more and more girls are coming in with this diagnosis...we find it confusing and difficult to accommodate"), and that women with my particular disability had a tendency to flunk out. These comments were downright regressive compared with the tactful, enthusiastic responses I got from places like Beloit, Lawrence, and Wooster, lower-ranked schools without Smith's reputation for "tolerance". </p>

<p>If Smith was truly an accepting, liberal school, it would get with the times and start working to accommodate talented students with disabilities. Accommodating talented students with disabilities would make Smith part of a movement that would diversify the workforce and change the world for the better. </p>

<p>As of now, however, Smith has lost itself a student.</p>

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<p>I’m sorry you had a bad experience, though I’m a little confused as to why you did not call the disability services office at Smith, since they are the ones who would be actually making the accommodations. I’m not sure if the admissions office is familiar enough with on campus procedures to give you a good idea of how disability services works in practice. </p>

<p>And while I understand you must be upset, confused, and hurt right now, I also think it’s churlish to say that “Smith doesn’t like that.” There’s a difference between not liking something and not being able to accommodate something (and without knowing more details, it’s hard for me to say which is which). There’s a difference between the responses you may have gotten from the Dean’s or admissions offices, and how the school is as a whole. There’s a difference between not being equipped to handle certain conditions and not being tolerant of those conditions or being generally tolerant. Coming onto an internet forum to anonymously trash an entire institution while presenting very few details paints the poster as vindictive rather than putting the school in a bad light. </p>

<p>You didn’t specify your particular disability (and that is your right completely to maintain your privacy on that), so I don’t know if its an learning, mental, behavioral, or physical disability. But since I can really only speak to how having a physical disability could affect a student at Smith, I will go over that. If this does not apply to your particular need then I apologize and hope you will ignore or read anyway as you like. </p>

<p>The honest truth is that if you have a physical disability, Smith is a possible, but difficult place to get around. It complies with the ADA, all of the common buildings, dining halls, academic buildings, and administrative buildings are handicap accessible. There’s a van that transports injured students and students with disabilities long distances (such as Quad to gym). However, the houses are old, and most of them pre-date the ADA. Only a few have elevators, and even if you don’t have a wheelchair, navigating narrow, winding staircases with limited mobility can be difficult. In many cases you could not change these features without significantly altering the architectural integrity of the houses. As more and more of the houses undergo needed renovations however, they are becoming more accessible. Ramps, handicap accessible restrooms, railings, wider doorways, first floor bedrooms in houses without elevators, all of these are being implemented slowly but surely. It’s not an instantaneous process, and it’s not an inexpensive one either, but it is one that is being pursued. </p>

<p>My parents work with people with disabilities so I’ve grown up my whole life around people with special needs of all varieties. I’ve lead tours at Smith with special needs students, and I have often wished for those that have physical difficulties that the old 19th century buildings which I love were more friendly to people who couldn’t easily climb stairs. But Smith did not choose to have buildings or a campus designed in this style specifically to inconvenience students with physical disabilities. In fact, it’s done a a lot to make the campus as accessible as possible, both for students and parents with these challenges (and grandparents). I do still think there is work to be done, but I also think there are more sides to this story then are being currently presented. </p>

<p>If you don’t think Smith is a place where you can thrive considering your special needs, then it is wise to choose another school, even a lesser ranked one, that is better equipped and better able to accommodate you. But it doesn’t mean you need to go around “avenging” yourself by spitting on the reputation of other schools. It’s not honest and it’s not becoming.</p>

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<p>I thought she was just relating her experience–I didn’t read it as a rant or ‘trashing’–just saying the response she got. Just my take on it.</p>

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<p>MissPickwickian, I am surprised and sorry you had not contacted before now all the schools you applied to, given that you have a disability. What prompted you to call at this point? I encourage you to call the disabilities office at Smith. I would think they would have the experience, knowledge, resources and readiness to answer your questions thoroughly; that’s their purpose.</p>

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<p>Carolyn B, your response strikes me as blaming any possible shortcomings of the colleges on the OP. She IS asking how her disability might be accommodated, now, a couple months before she has to make a final decision. There are so many factors in choosing a college. She sounds like she chose colleges where she would find a welcoming, like-minded community with great academics. Now she’s making sure her disability will be accommodated. She’s not assuming all schools will be equally accommodating–she’s thinking ahead.</p>

<p>ADA states that people with disabilities must be accommodated; how well they are varies widely. (And Miss P, forgive me, for all I know you’ve investigated this quite a bit already, prior to this post).</p>

<p>She’s doing what all students do, making sure what she chooses will be a good fit. </p>

<p>MissP: I wish you the best at whatever college you choose!</p>

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<p>Paperplane, I am not blaming MissPickwickian. Applying to college is a very complicated process with many factors, some more important than others. I don’t know what her disability is. Perhaps it wasn’t an issue at first but may be more so now, as the reality of the complexity of college life looms large. Perhaps if she calls the people who are really able to answer her questions, the disabilities office, she’ll get the appropriate answers for her to determine what college is best able to accommodate her needs. It’s too bad the dean’s office and the admissions office didn’t point her in the direction of the disabilities office, but she has the opportunity to call the right office, if she wants, and they might be helpful. </p>

<p>[Smith</a> College: Disability Services](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/ods/]Smith”>Smith College | Disability Services)
[Smith</a> College: Disability Services](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/ods/prospectivestudents.php]Smith”>http://www.smith.edu/ods/prospectivestudents.php)</p>

<p>I wish MissPickwickian well in her choice, wherever she goes.</p>

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<p>MP, I saw your ‘autism-friendly’ wish list on the CC College Admissions forum; kudos to you for being so clear headed…if only you shared that list here you would find that Smith accommodates most everything on that list. </p>

<p>Dining hall food is pretty healthy (low fat/sugar) from what I hear, no need for a car, pharmacy and health services within walking distances, no co-ed bathrooms, etc. It shouldn’t be that hard, with modern technology, to capture lectures in a form that would help you learn. Exams are often self scheduled and the honor system should take the pressure off. </p>

<p>Good luck with everything and as CarolynB says, talk to Disability Services rather than Admissions. If you are admitted, be sure to visit before deciding not to accept.</p>

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<p>I do have to second Upbeat, especially as someone who has a similar disability to yours. While I don’t have accomodations with Disability Services nor have any accomodations/regularly interact with Health Services, perhaps I can reassure you a bit. Even if the decision is ultimately up to you. I also suggest, as others have, that speaking with Disability Services would be much more appropriate aka where your call should’ve
been directed, anyway. Most importantly, I would suggest asking to be put in contact with students who are receiving accomodations through Disability Services & would be willing to speak to you if that’s possible. I think they would be quite honest & objective.</p>

<p>That being said, I attempted to answer some of your questions here from the list of the ones who asked posted on another forum. I hope you don’t mind.</p>

<hr>

<ul>
<li><p>Is there a pharmacy within walking distance of campus?
Yes, there is a CVS with a pharmacy downtown. It’s a 5-10 min. walk depending on where you live on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Does your college have a clinic or health services department where I can get treatment for frequent ear infections?
We have a Health Services building complex on campus & I assume they would be able to treat ear infections. You can always call them with more information/your questions as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Will I be able to get nutritious, low-sugar food in the cafeteria, even if I’m on financial aid?
Your room & board would be one combined flat fee, so you wouldn’t have less access to food than anyone else on the meal plan. There’s one dining hall with healthy options & another that’s vegetarian/vegan & there’s a variety of food served on campus during meals in different dining halls. This would be a good question for Dining Services to elaborate on: I know they assist folks with dietary restrictions & allergies & the like, but I’m not actually one of them.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Academic Services:

  • If I present the proper documentation, can I get a note-taker or a tape recorder for lectures?
    I’m assuming yes, you could do so through Disability Services. Again, I have a disability but don’t request any accomodations.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If I present the proper documentation, can I get extra time on exams?
See above.</p></li>
<li><p>Does your college offer tutoring services in math and foreign language?
Yes. We have the Quantitive Learning Center (QLC) which has Master Tutors for different math & science-based subjects & students are hired to be tutors at the QLC for specific classes. For example, my roommate last semester was the tutor for the Introduction to Macroeconomics class & held scheduled open hours at the QLC. The Jacobson Center has student tutors in different foreign languages & I’ve gotten a lot of good writing feedback from the Spanish tutors. Though the Jacobson Center is admitely focused on writing, even though I’m sure the foreign language tutors would be more than happy to assist you with grammar & whatnot. Professors often alert students to who the QLC or Jacobson Center tutors are for the class/subject & their hours. And remember professors have scheduled office hours specifically for you to come & ask questions if you need to as well!</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Counseling Services:

  • Is there a student counseling center?
    There’s a counseling center that offers individual & group therapy.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If so, are the services that it offers geared more towards crisis care or long-term therapy by appointment?
I’m not sure. Another questions Health Services can probably answer for you.</p></li>
<li><p>If I need/want long-term therapy by appointment, will I have to find a professional outside the college?
Again, not sure, but probably yes. However, I there are several therapists (which type, I’m not sure) who have offices downtown within walking distance from campus who will accept the college insurance plan if you choose to enroll if I’m remembering correctly. Whether they accept a private insurance plan (aka one besides Smith’s) will probably depend on the individual.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Housing, Student Life, and Self-Care:

  • Can I make it four years at your college without a car?
    Yes, I don’t drive & can attest to this. You can walk into town within 5-10 mins., there’s the PVTA which goes to the other Five College schools & I’m sure you’ll have friends & housemates with cars.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Would you consider the campus quiet?
Overall yes. Not a whole lot of noise from outside overall (like cars honking 24/7) & areas of campus such as Green Street which suit folks looking for quieter residences well & are great places to live.</p></li>
<li><p>Can I get a single dorm room?
Yes, but you will want to register with Disability Services to make suire this happens. Incoming students who have done so are placed first. Everyone I know who needed a single for health reasons & followed the process received one.</p></li>
<li><p>If not, is there a compatability-based roommate selection process?
Yes, there’s a form to fill out about your different habits & whatnot. </p></li>
<li><p>Do the dorms have coed bathrooms?
It’s an historically all-women’s college, so they’re single-sex. I mean, you might see a male visiting someone in the house who’s using the bathroom once in awhile, but that’s about it.</p></li>
<li><p>Do the dorms have caretakers or “dorm parents”?
There are two students who are employed by Residence Life, a House Community Advisors & a Head Resident (like an RA at other schools) who live in each house.</p></li>
</ul>

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<p>I’m a current Smithie who is actually registered with disability services and has interacted with them multiple times. They’re wonderful and very accommodating. I was given a single with very minimal paperwork. I also receive long-term therapy through the school’s health services, including regularly seeing a psychiatrist. I also have friends who have note-takers, and they had no problems getting that accommodated. Additionally, extra time or alternative testing options seem easy to get if you need them.</p>

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<p>Ah, okay, now I have a better idea of what the specific needs and challenges might be. I’m surprised that someone in the admissions office would say that autism spectrum students have a tendency to drop out, especially because it’s not true. Though I’m sure that it is true that they are seeing more and more autistic students on campus, and that not everyone in the administration or the faculty understands what that means or what special accommodations are required. But I wouldn’t say that reflects the attitude of the college as a whole, there are lots of people in the world who misunderstand or have no understanding of what autism really is. Some of them are apparently employed at Smith and you had the unfortunate luck to talk to them. I would talk to people from Disability Services, who will actually know what you’re saying when you say “autism”</p>

<p>But MeredithBelle has done a good job of truthfully answering your questions regarding your wishlist. And just to clarify a point in her post - Yes, it is very easy to get notetakers and extra exam time. Disability services frequently arranges this for students with dyslexia that I know of, so they must do the same for autistic students. They will also help you if you need to change houses because your house is too noisy or need to change rooms (like to a single), or give you special dispensations if you need equipment or appliances installed (even including air conditioners) due to a medical necessity. </p>

<p>Dining services will prepare special meals for people with allergies, but you won’t need special meals prepared to eat healthfully. There are always vegan/veggie options available, and always a well stocked salad bar as well, so even if the main course is not to your liking you’ll find other things to eat. A lot of it will be on you though to make good choices about your food. </p>

<p>As for counseling services, it’s mostly geared toward long-term therapy by appointment though they will do crisis counseling if you really need it, especially if you are a regular long-term patient. However, you will need to purchase the Smith College Health Insurance plan if you know you’re going to need long term counseling and you want it on campus. People not on the insurance plan get only a certain number of visits to the on campus counselors. However (again) there are many qualified therapists in the Northampton area, so if you decide not to or cannot purchase the Smith plan but have insurance through your parents, you may still be able to find a good therapist within walking distance of the campus. A quick google search or a search through your insurance company’s website should tell you who is nearby.</p>

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<p>This week’s Sophian has an article entitled “Dis/Ability” that introduces a new student focus group on campus. The writer is a first year who has autism …looks like a conversation has begun!
[Dis/Ability:</a> An Introduction - Opinions](<a href=“http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2010/02/11/Opinions/Disability.An.Introduction-3868940.shtml]Dis/Ability:”>http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2010/02/11/Opinions/Disability.An.Introduction-3868940.shtml)</p>

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<p>MissPickwickian, </p>

<p>It seems like we both applied to Smith for a lot of the same reasons: it’s diverse, tolerant, progressive, intellectual, etc. etc. The people in the dean’s office and admissions definitely shouldn’t have been so negative regarding your disability (especially the garbage about flunking!). A lot of what they said, though, sounded more like the panic, fear, and confusion of the specific people you contacted rather than an official college policy on autism. “More and more girls are coming in with this diagnosis” seems to indicate (to me, anyway) that the people in the Dean’s office might not be 100% understanding of your disability, but there are already other people on campus who 1) live with your disability and 2) have a lot of experience with Disability Services and with navigating the college policies on these issues. When you do get in contact with someone from Disability Services (if you haven’t already), quote the negative and ableist BS you’ve heard already and judge Smith’s autism-related policies and supports based on the response you get back (not based solely on the responses you’ve received at this point.) Ask them how other students on campus with your disability have fared. They’re a lot more likely to have experience working with people who are autism-spectrum, so you’re not going to get such bewildered-sounding and faulty “information”. </p>

<p>Smith, as much as I’d like to believe it as a prospective, isn’t perfect. There are misinformed people everywhere, and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should any potential student be told she is more likely to drop out just because she is in a certain demographic category. Problematic incidents are just as likely to occur in Northampton as anywhere else, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Smith “doesn’t like” students with disabilities, that they’re not accepting, or that the school in general will not support you. Homophobic and racist incidents have happened there, too (even at Smith–that’s why they started Celebration or whatever it’s called), but that doesn’t make it “a homophobic place”. It just made everyone work a little harder at NOT being one. </p>

<p>@upbeat: Awesome! I was wondering why Smith didn’t already have an organization like that.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Very true. Smith still struggles, like many places, to be more welcoming to people of different faiths and ethnicities, sexual orientations, people with special needs, people of different classes. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t. What I did like about attending Smith though was that we would acknowledge these things and talk about them. We’d form support groups and hold vigils and the President would call a fireside chat or whatever and we’d try to unpack what went wrong and how we can stop it from happening again. It’s not the achievement of perfection, so much as the striving to always be better than we were before, more tolerant, more accepting, more open, that I think defines Smith’s character.</p>

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<p>I was at Smith in 2004-2005. I’m deaf. I had NO problem at all with the Disabilities Services. My friends were only too happy to take notes for me and make copies (of course getting paid to take notes in a class doesn’t hurt). I did ask DS to give me some names of students whom I could contact just to talk and how to survive. They became wonderful mentors while I was there. Professors are extremely understanding. I loved the writing center. I don’t know if they still do it but back in my day (gasp and this is only 5 years ago!) English professors used to offer writing help and set up appointments. So I was always over there for writing help. I got my choice of houses and they put me in a room with accommodation. I didn’t really like it because it was too far from all of my housemates (on the first floor). So I asked to switch rooms and they were more than happy to install the strobe light system (whereas in my next school I had to fight like hell). </p>

<p>Just register yourself with the office, find out exactly what you’re entitled to and tell them what you received in high school, and you’re all set. You may need to compromise a bit but as long your basic needs are covered, you should be happy.</p>

<p>Believe me, there are other schools where students with disabilities have bigger problems with the office and University administration.</p>

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<p>I’m impressed with all the thoughtful and helpful responses to MissPickwickian’s post. I hope she has email alerts enabled so she knows that all of you have answered.</p>

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<p>Just read on another thread (one of the 3.0 - 3.3 threads in the Parents Forum) that OP has w/d her Smith app.</p>

<p>(Actually, it looks like she w/d just a couple of days after starting this thread.)</p>

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<p>THat’s too bad. I would have enjoyed attending Smith with a place like her</p>

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<p>It’s unfortunate that it appears that MissP withdrew her Smith application. I’m sorry she decided not to respond to all the helpful, supportive and empowering information on this thread about disabilities at Smith. I’m also sorry that she cut short the application process because she was interested enough in Smith to apply in the first place. However, while I’m sorry about the situation that initiated this thread, I am glad there’s been a positive, informative discussion about how Smith accommodates to students with disabilities in various ways. This has been a wonderful opening of a topic that generally is under the radar.</p>

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<p>Im sorry you feel let down. </p>

<p>Smith is one of the top choices. I have a learning disability as well. They are correct in saying that people are being dignosed with IEP’s at a higher rate than in the past and it is frustrating to hear that as a LD student. However, I have found that Smith does provide enough resources, at least for me. I have learned to work with my learning disability (phonical dyslexia). Smith does not have a ‘focus’ on IEP students. For such schools, look at West Field State or Curry. Smith does provide resources that are just as useful.
As a student with a learning disability, you must have come to the conclusion that learning doesnt come easy. I personally, had to fight for my education and to be considered for such schools as Smith. I asked my interviewer about resources surrounding my major (biology) and she said the resources at Smith are good to excellent, depending your field or interest and how you take advantage of it. </p>

<p>I understand your frustration. But no resource is successful unless you search it out and use it 100%. That goes for schools with basic learning centers or schools specializing in IEPs</p>