转到学生故事: 布莱恩·戴维 | 劳伦·丹森 | 罗比艾维

布莱恩·戴维 says he chose to attend OU because it’s a great school and it was close to his home. But what he didn’t expect was that he would find what he describes as “a second family” on campus.

Davey指的是闭合, supportive relationships he’s developed with staff in OU’s Disability Support Services (DSS) office. He has Asperger syndrome, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, and dyscalculia. 自从来到公开大学, he’s received DSS assistance aimed at making classes and tests more comfortable for him by creating either quieter or more isolated experiences.

That’s just one example of the many specialized services DSS’ three full-time staff and many student employees provide for OU students with disabilities. DSS Director Sarah Guadalupe says other services range from note-taking to technological accommodations for students with disabilities.

“We develop an individualized accommodation plan for each student to make sure they’re provided the same access as other students,瓜达卢佩说.

Having received no support for his disabilities at the first high school he attended, Davey says he’s realized he’s “happier and I feel more okay with myself” when supportive services are available. But the DSS office itself has also provided him with a place he can feel safe and supported at school. He describes DSS administrative assistant Lori Szarama as his “school mom,” offering him support when he has “issues that I just want to talk out.”

“DSS是一个很棒的地方，”戴维说. “Everyone here is just fantastic and they make me feel like I belong somewhere. 如果没有他们，我不知道我今天会在哪里.”

Guadalupe says creating that kind of “confidence and connection” is key to DSS’ work. “我们了解我们的学生，”她说. “我们知道他们的名字. It’s about building those positive relationships to do whatever we can to help them be successful.”

Davey is set to graduate with his bachelor’s in creative writing this December. 他说他希望以写书为职业, 继续开发他成功的YouTube频道, 而且有可能在一家视频游戏公司工作.

他说:“我只是觉得去公开大学是一个正确的选择。. “在这里度过了一段美好的时光. 我不后悔来这里.”

“一个真正的成功故事” 

劳伦·丹森高中毕业的时候, her school counselor encouraged her to seek assistance in college for her learning disability.

“She told me there’s nothing wrong with seeking help when you need it,” says the St. 克莱尔·肖尔斯居民，公开大学心理学专业大三学生.

Following that advice, Denson has benefited greatly from DSS’ supportive services. Denson says she originally chose OU because of how “welcoming” it felt when she toured the campus

在她高中的最后一年. She was pleased when she began school to find ample support available for her learning disability, 哪些会影响她的写作技巧和阅读理解.

“我花了一点时间来学习，”她说. “当我走进教室时，它会让我失去注意力.”

So, 丹森每周都会去几次奥克兰的写作中心, 辅导中心, 或者向学术导师寻求帮助. She says the staff help her to understand unfamiliar words in her reading, 或者帮她校对论文. She recalls one occasion when she had a particularly important paper due, 她“想确保它真的很好.” Although she’d already asked two people to proofread it, she took it to the Writing Center as well.

结果?

“我得了90分，”她自豪地说.

Guadalupe describes Denson as “a real success story of how students use our services.” After changing majors three times, Denson has settled into her psychology major and is planning to

申请开放大学的研究生院.

“I really wanted to know how the mind works and why certain people do the certain things they do,她说。. “我想帮助人们，主要是青少年、儿童和家庭.”

“超越”

罗比·艾维出演了 谷歌的youtube频道 用他的声控宿舍.

罗比·艾维12岁的时候, 一种严重的肌肉萎缩症开始削弱他的肌肉, leaving him unable to perform simple tasks like turning on lights or changing the TV channel. 17岁时, Ivey’s life changed again for the better when retired tech worker Bill Weis helped Ivey’s family develop a voice-activated system that could accomplish those tasks and more for him.

“It’s a game-changer,” Ivey says of the system, which uses both Google Home and Alexa. “它让我能做大多数其他人能做的事情.”

But just shortly after the system restored much of Ivey’s independence in his parents’ Iron River home, 他是时候搬去上大学了. Ivey chose to attend OU in part because his sister also attends the school and could serve as his caretaker, and partly because he could pursue his dream of studying sports management. However, he needed special accommodations to make voice-activated tasks possible on campus, including a dedicated dorm room and the installation of a high-speed router.

幸运的是, Ivey says DSS and OU’s Housing and 大学 Technology Services departments made the transition “pretty much flawless.”

“The school was really accommodating to everything we needed,” he says. “Bill was able to quickly and easily set up the system in a couple of days down here.”

Ivey says OU has also gone “above and beyond” in supporting him outside his dorm room as well, including providing services that allow him to confidentially communicate test answers to a proctor.

“我需要的任何东西都在那里，”他说. “公开大学在帮助我的过程中表现得非常棒.”

Ivey is currently making his way through his general education courses and looking forward to tackling his sports management studies. 他是一个足球和棒球的狂热者，他说他梦想的工作

会成为绿湾包装工队的总经理. Although he says the prospect of going to college was at first “a little bit intimidating,“到目前为止，他的经历非常积极.

“Having family close and being able to learn the ropes so quickly, it wasn’t so bad,” he says.

因为开放大学敬业的教职员工, 适应资源, 以及专门的支持服务, 像艾维这样的学生, 丹森和戴维可以有一个充实的, 成功的大学经历.

“All students deserve to have the same access to learning and campus life,瓜达卢佩说. “奥克兰为残疾学生提供这种服务, 不管需要多少支持, 这样他们才能有成功所需的信心.”