UAA Students who are Veterans

Veterans


Student Veterans and Disability The University of Alaska is welcoming increasing numbers of student veterans to our classrooms and online learning environments. The Veterans and Military Community page serves a comprehensive gateway to many important resources. Some of these students experience disability. It is important for the UAA community to appreciate complex transitions and design our offerings to be user-friendly and supportive.

Resources to Learn More Videos like the one featured above help portray individual experiences. There are some great articles that can help increase awareness as well. Consider examples such as: Veterans and the Community College: A Training Guide (2011) from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Report following discussions at the Veterans Success Jam, held in May 2010 titled:Accommodating Student Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Tips for Campus Faculty and Staff (June 2011) National Council on Disability's Invisible Wounds: Serving Service Members and Veterans with PTSD and TBI (March 2009) Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disabilit's: Special Issue on Veterans with Disabilities (2009) American Council on Education's Serving Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America’s Veterans (November 2008) Inside Higher Ed's Valuing Veterans (June 2008) NASPA Journal'sFrom Combat to Campus. Voices of Student Veterans (2008) Also Check out the DSS Lending Library. Examples of items include: Down Range: To Iraq and Back Once a Warrior: Wired for Life Healing from War Webcast: Psychological Needs of Returning Veterans Video: Hidden Wounds (57 minutes) Student Veterans and Disablity Disability Support Services works with many student veterans who have acquired disability and many times, the ways in which these individuals are impacted are not immediately obvious. Students with disabilities use the accommodation process to achieve equal access – disclosing disability then working with UAA to identify reasonable adjustments to put in place Student veterans with hidden disabilities can be less likely to disclose disability and request accommodation Universal Design reduces barriers and minimizes the need for accommodation - benefits wide range of individuals not just those with disabilities (DSS offers workshops on UD) Help UAA Become More Student Veteran Friendly Clear - Processes and language should be clear. (websites, forms, brochures, handouts, and other materials should be simple and intuitive to navigate) Available - Departments and individuals should provide different ways for contact to occur (office hours as well as email or live chat, online forms as well as paper based forms) Accessible - Everyone should become more aware of how online information can be used with assistive technologies (UAA provides workshops regularly) No Run Around - We should strive to be student centered (go beyond the minimum effort to ensure that questions are answered and students don't get the runaround) User Friendly - Think about nontraditional students when designing programs (types of events, times, days, locations, advertising methods) Aware - Educate yourself (check out items from the DSS lending library, invite a facilitator for a staff meeting devoted to ideas for supporting student veterans in your particular area) Collaborative - Partner with Organizations - VA, American Legion, Student Veterans group, etc Responsive - Seek and Provide feedback (ask those you serve if you are meeting their needs or if there are areas in which you can improve and provide feedback to others)