Contributed by Christopher Sherman Read, Accessible Technology Specialist, University of Virginia<\/em><\/p>\n Preface<\/strong><\/p>\n Utter disbelief. That\u2019s the initial reaction some people have when they hear that a Deaf student is attending the medical school program at the University of Virginia. The underlying sentiment is \u2013 How is that possible<\/b>?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Call me jaded, but after nine years of serving people with disabilities, I\u2019m not very surprised by what the human spirit desires and can achieve. I know of Braille-reading students who have majored in music and Chinese and a Deaf student who majored in Spanish. That\u2019s downright crazy, to most people. But if I\u2019ve learned anything from this line of work\u2026Possibility is ultimately defined by an individual; whereas, limitations are often defined by society.<\/p>\n As a service provider and tech solution coordinator, my role is a matter of finding and offering tools that will ensure equal access to the education.<\/p>\n Certainly every Deaf medical student will have distinct accommodation needs and preferences, but the point of writing this report is to provide a template for those who may be facing a similar task of accommodating a Deaf medical student for the first time.<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s been 19 weeks. You may ask. How\u2019s it going so far?<\/p>\n We\u2019re not out of the woods by any means. We haven\u2019t even cleared the first of four years. We expect the changing nature of the curriculum (such as the clerkship) to throw us more curveballs.<\/p>\n Except for a few minor hiccups though, I\u2019d say it\u2019s going pretty damn well.<\/p>\n The student says the combination of accommodations is working well and he\u2019s doing well on exams. He\u2019s so easy-going and amiable that it makes our job that much easier. The DHH team prepared to get all the elements in place on time. Overall we\u2019re very pleased with the quality and timeliness of service, but we still have to be vigilant and ready to respond to anything that drops.<\/p>\n The core DHH service team consisted of a Service Coordinator, University Interpreter and myself \u2013 the AT Specialist. We heard about the student\u2019s acceptance to the program in June and hustled for two months to prepare for Orientation, August 1st. Our plan was to essentially provide numerous accommodation options to start, then pare back as needed after learning what was working best for the student.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nThe Preparation<\/h1>\n
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Stay tuned next week (1\/13\/14)\u00a0for Part Two, including what has worked well, what hasn’t worked well, and more.<\/h2>\n