Disability

The Office of Disability Services (ODS), under Director Susan Quinby, serves students with visual, mobility, and hearing impairments as well as those with invisible disabilities such as chronic medical conditions, learning disabilities including attention deficit disorder, psychiatric disabilities, and substance use and/or recovery. The newest initiative, in support of students with food allergies, is a joint effort between ODS and Barnard’s Dining Services.

It’s an impressive list, but one fact may surprise those who think only in terms of visible disabilities: More than 90 percent of the students registered with the office have disabilities that are totally invisible, says Quinby, who describes disability as another aspect of diversity, and adds, “Disability is one minority group that anyone of us can become a member of at anytime.” There are also those with temporary disabilities: ODS has served four transplant recipients, including liver, pancreas, and two kidney recipients.

Quinby and her staff maintain an informal “user-friendly” office with a convivial atmosphere and plentiful information about services and resources. Students are encouraged to self-identify and register with the ODS when they are admitted as students. If a prospective student self-identifies during the college-application process, she’ll speak first with an admissions representative or BAAR (Barnard Alumnae Admissions Representative), then have an information session with Quinby where support issues can be explored. Often, an E-mentor, a current student with a similar disability, is selected to speak with the potential student. Self-identification is always voluntary, and such information is kept strictly confidential. A student can register at any time during her years at Barnard.

After registering with ODS, Quinby strongly recommends that students self-identify to their instructors and advisors, as there are disability-related support services available—volunteer notetakers, extra time allowed during exams, even quiet places for exam-taking, and use of laptops, if necessary.

With a bachelor’s in child development from Connecticut College and a master’s in special education from Teachers College, Quinby became associate director of the program in 1981. She became its director in 1990 after the death of Julie Marsteller ’66, a role model for disabled students who was the first chair of Barnard’s committee to implement the changes mandated by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Her legacy remains vital through the Marsteller Internship Program, which supports students with disabilities in summer or semester-long internships, and is administered by ODS and the Office of Career Development.

Quinby also works with faculty, student offices, and administrators to assist students in participating in college activities, securing financial aid, arranging class schedules and exams, and planning careers. One principal goal is to enable students to become self-sufficient in managing their own accomodations and to reinforce the notion that a person’s disability is not their only identity. Another goal is to help the parents of disabled students let go. Quinby adds, “As one parent said to me, ‘It is a great comfort to us to know that [our daughter] can and does rely on your help and guidance.’”

-by Annette Kahn, illustration by Stephanie Hilgarth

For more information, please go to barnard.edu/ods