When students with physical or emotional disabilities begin their college years, they're thrown into a world without the support system to which they've become accustomed. Tufts, however, strives to provide a diverse array of services that can make the transition less challenging.
Tufts' Health Service is one of the first places students turn when they need extra support or help, and many meet with Medical Director of Health Service Margaret Higham.
"I sort of serve as an advisor to students if they're first coming into the university and they want to know how to handle things," she said.
Higham helps students assess their options and points out the university's resources that best address their needs. She will direct them to the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) if they need to have their rooms modified or cannot climb stairs or to the Academic Resource Center (ARC) for the majority of mental health issues.
However, Health Service does not evaluate students for disabilities. Instead, they request documentation. According to Higham, the definition of a "disability" — physical or otherwise — is a blurry one at best. The only consensus is that a "disability" causes a student some sort of difficulty. By taking a holistic approach, incorporating multiple factors into how they aid a student, Health Service employees can ensure that students can get help if they need it, regardless of their specific circumstances.
"We want someone who has an issue to be in conversation about that," Higham said. "There's not a system where everybody gets the same things."
Aside from temporary physical challenges, the most common physical disabilities on campus are found in immunocompromised students with diseases such as lupus, Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis. For students with these health issues, mobility is typically not the main problem.
However, Higham acknowledged that physically challenged students still face an assortment of challenges when navigating a hilly campus like Tufts'.
"A lot of the buildings just don't have access. These buildings are 100 years old," she said. "The university was built before accommodations were on anybody's radar."
Still, she noted that Tufts has recently made the campus much more wheelchair accessible.
"There has been an increase in handicapped bathrooms [and] access to dorms … I see a real commitment to that in the upper levels of the university. I think that's terrific," Higham said.
When it comes to students with learning disabilities, which are handled primarily by the ARC, Tufts takes a multifaceted approach similar to the one that Health Service uses when dealing with students' physical disabilities.
Assistant Director of the ARC Linda Sullivan estimated that between three and five percent of students on campus have some sort of learning disability. Disabilities on the ADD spectrum are the most common, along with specific disabilities that relate to reading, writing, or the expression of ideas.
Sullivan noted that students tend to approach the treatment of their learning disabilities based on how they handled the disability in high school. Those who received assistance tend to register their disabilities and their requests for needed aid with Tufts early on, while other students sometimes hesitate before coming into the ARC, particularly if they are diagnosed with ADHD while in college.
Registering their disabilities with the school can provide students with more options and support than if they handle their medication on their own, as the school can accommodate students based on their changing needs over time. The ARC works in conjunction with students' deans and advisors to identify students' best options.
The ARC also addresses students' ability to complete certain aspects of the Tufts curriculum, such as the language requirement. Sullivan explained that it is crucial to fully understand each student's situation before trying to effect a change in his or her coursework. This specialized approach may account for the fact that disabled students typically graduate on time.
The ARC also works with Health Service to help students cope with physical disabilities — temporary or permanent — that hamper learning in a classroom environment. For example, a scribe, note taker or Communication Access Realtime Translation reporter might assist a student with audio or visual impairment.
Counseling and Mental Health Services (CMHS) offers help for students in handling short and long−term emotional challenges. Each year, about 20 percent of Tufts students take advantage of the counseling services they provide.
Though students make associates for a wide variety of reasons, Julie Jampel, Supervising Clinician and Training Director of CMHS, said students most frequently seek help for depression, anxiety, difficult relationships and academic or personal goals. Just having the opportunity to voice their troubles can be extremely beneficial, according to Jampel.
"Counseling helps students by talking through conflicts and difficulties, as well as by identifying resources and strategies that students can use to relax or focus," she said. "[It] can be a very important part of adjusting to college when students enter with issues or concerns that they have struggled with previously."
