Senior Sarah Finkelstein's application to Duke featured her top-three class ranking at Columbia Preparatory School in New York City, a love for the law-and a diagnosis of dyslexia.
Since she arrived on campus three years ago, Finkelstein has faced the reality of having a learning disability at Duke.
Prior to attending the University, she received accommodations under "lenient regulations" at her high school, she said.
Finkelstein found few details on the University's policy regarding students with learning disabilities before she began her freshman year.
"I figured they that if they didn't have much information, receiving accommodations [at Duke] wouldn't be a major issue," she said. "But I soon learned I couldn't be accommodated under Duke's strict interpretation of the ADA."
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires institutions receiving federal funding to accommodate students with disabilities that cause "a substantial limitation in relation to the average person in the general population." The law places the responsibility of securing accommodations on college students' shoulders, said Emma Swain, director of the Student Access Office-the first point of contact for students with disabilities.
Students applying for special arrangements through the SAO are evaluated using relevant tests, history of accommodations and interviews to discuss the impact of disabilities, Swain said. Arrangements through SAO include extended testing times, altered testing formats and audio books. They can even extend to increased financial aid.
But the structure of the University's disability network for undergraduates leaves many students' initial requests unfulfilled, Finkelstein said.
At Duke, unlike at many other colleges, the SAO evaluates students' abilities in relation to the general population, rather than to their peers at the school, she explained. "They're testing you at a level that wouldn't even get you into Duke," Finkelstein said. "The ADA requirements are the bottom line a college can't cross."
She said other top colleges tend to compare learning disabled individuals to the student body, a practice she called "more enlightened to the mind."
Finkelstein started Individuals with Disabilities in Education Association last fall to counter stigmas linked to learning disabilities and to encourage students to explore available resources.
Swain said Duke's policy regarding primary accommodations through her office reflects the issue of fairness.
"Testing weeds out those students not able to function at a reasonable level," she said. "If the law is designed to level the playing field, is it fair to people with learning disabilities and don't know it?"
If a student's request is not approved by the SAO, they are encouraged to use the resources available through the Academic Resource Center. Finkelstein, however, said many students are left discouraged by the initial rejection.
Junior Mary Reid Ervin, who wrote her college admissions essay about her struggles with dyslexia, said she was shocked when she was denied accommodations by SAO.
"Extended testing helped me to overcome a struggle with academic evaluations my whole life," she said.
Ervin-who did not request extended testing through ARC until her second semester-said she is confused by the set-up of disability services for undergraduates.
Donna Hall, director of ARC, said her office has successfully worked with both students and professors to administer academic interventions for students.
"We really look at the student's performance in this area in the context of Duke," said John Blackshear, clinical director of ARC and a psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services.
He emphasized that special accommodations should be regarded as a last resort. Instead, Blackshear recommended that students use the ARC to learn strategies that will help "compensate" for their disabilities.
"Just because a student has a diagnosis doesn't mean they'll get support," he said.
Swain said disability liaison networks have worked to standardize the process for granting accommodations at different schools within the University in response to recommendations from the Department of Justice.
Finkelstein-who has worked with professors using the ARC's recommendations for the past two years-said she applauds changes that have been made in support of students with learning disabilities.
"But more improvements could definitely be made," she added.
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