Reflections Magazine Issue #77 - Fall 2012 | Page 10

Campus Feature

Overcoming the

SHU Disabled Students Don’t Let Physical
Obstacles Get in the Way of Success

By Austin Harper ’13—Student Writer

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Reflections Fall ’12

T

here are currently anywhere from
25–75 disabled students at Siena Heights
University. Learning and mobile disabilities,
visual, hearing and cognitive impairments
and autism, all of these and more are challenges among some of SHU’s most
promising students.
There may be the assumption that trials
such as these greatly hinder these students;
that they struggle day in and day out, barely
passing classes. There may even be the perception that they may never even be able
enter into the workforce.

Odds . . .
According to Bob Ritz (left, middle), SHU’s
learning specialist/ADA coordinator, this could
not be further from reality. He said these students are given every opportunity to succeed.
First, they must have documentation of their
disability and they must ask for the help. As
long as they do this, he and SHU will provide
any assistance the students require.
“Enlarged textbooks, taped lectures,
extended test times, I provide all of these accommodations,” Ritz said. “A student with ADD
may be distracted by a pencil being tapped on
a desk or a page being turned. They can take
their test in my office, free of distractions, to
level the playing field.”
Though these students are given assistance, he said they do not have it easy. Leaving
counselors and constant parent support during high school, college is an extremely different experience.
“They have to do a lot on their own,”
Ritz said.
Students with documented disabilities
usually meet with Ritz for only their first year,
but he has had some students who have
been in contact with him all four years
until graduation.
“These students graduate because of their
hard work and perseverance,” Ritz said. “They
are not afraid to get help and they make it.
I find them outstanding.”

Blind Ambition
A prime example of one of these outstanding students is Tiffany Swoish.
Swoish, a junior criminal justice major,
has ocular albinism, an inherited condition in
which the eyes lack melanin pigment, resulting in low vision. Her vision is 20/80, and she
is considered legally blind.
“I was born with it, so I didn’t really have
to get used to anything,” she said. “I take notes
by listening instead of reading the board. I also
have enlarged textbooks.”