Most students seeking extra time during tests, priority seating in class, a note-taker or other accommodations to help them cope with their disabilities go to the Disability Support Services office in 155 Marano Campus Center.

However, not many students realize how much more the DSS office does in the office, around campus and behind the scenes.

The DSS office provides accommodations for students with disabilities of all kinds, whether psychological, physical, learning or temporary.

The DSS office works with the dining halls to accommodate students with food allergies, the counseling center to help students with social anxiety and the tutoring center to get tutoring for those who need extra help with classes.

Last April, the American Sign Language club was able to bring in ASL comedian Keith Wann with the help of the DSS office.

The office also does a lot of outreach to ensure that the campus community is informed about the office and what it does, including presenting to the student senate, RAs over the summer, deans and other faculty, tabling in the campus center and training with University Police.

During orientation, students are also given information about the office, including how to register with the office and get in contact with them.

Next week, the office will be presenting to a human development class.

Students wishing to receive accommodations must register with the office every semester to ensure that they are receiving exactly what they need based on their new schedules. Starr Wheeler, the head coordinator for the Disability Support Services office, and Patrick Devendorf, the assistant coordinator, meet with each student individually to keep track of what students need each semester, as well as to document of diagnoses. Even if a student does not have the documentation they need, as long as they have a history that supports them needing documentation, the office is willing to work with them until they can get that documentation.

In the case that students might be too shy or embarrassed to reach out to the office themselves, instructors and RAs can bring students in so they do not have to go alone and people from the office also go out to meet with students.

“Sometimes that’s the most difficult, taking that first step and walking through that door,” Wheeler said. “If the student can walk through the door for the first time, that’s good. We have an inviting and welcoming office because we want students to feel invited coming in here.”

Last semester, 353 students registered with the office and more than 2,000 students came into the office for one reason or another, according to Wheeler.

In the past, students have received services based on their unique situations. One semester, a student in a wheelchair reported to the office that they were unable to access one of the Blue Route bus stops, so the office contacted Auxiliary Services, which oversees the bus schedule for the Blue Route, and arranged for that student to be picked up on the route at an alternate location for the semester.

Another special case involved a blind student who could not tell apart the cereal boxes in the dining halls, which lead the dining halls to put Braille on the cereals.

For another student, a special food tray was made for them because their physical disability prevented them from properly holding a tray normally.

Such accommodations are done individually, based on what each student needs in their life in order to continue being successful socially and academically.

“We try to connect in any way we can,” Wheeler said.

Devendorf said the DSS office also does core substitution, which involves classes that a student may have been exempt from in high school, but are not exempt from in college, or were unable to take due to a disability that affects them in that subject. The office works with them to find a replacement for the courses they are missing or unable to take.

The office helps students with priority registration as well. A student may have epilepsy that can be triggered by having a long and stressful day and thus they will be given an earlier class registration date to prevent an epilepsy episode, Devendorf said.

The DSS office has also worked with the counseling center, in particular on a group program that helps students who deal with social anxiety or are on the autism spectrum who struggle with the social aspect of college. These groups meet weekly to help students with these issues and will even go to dining halls together to make things more comfortable for them. This program is currently on its second semester.

Currently working in the office are two graduate assistants and about 14 student workers who do tasks such as reaching out to professors, delivering tests to and from alternate testing locations, getting in contact with notetakers and greeting students who come into the office.

The office opens at 8 a.m. and closes at various times throughout the week, though Wheeler and Devendorf are willing to meet with students at 7 p.m. if that is what works best for the student. If they are unable to help, they redirect students to where they can get help, though they are usually able to help.

“What we want students to understand is that if they have a question or concern or a friend who needs help, come on down,” Devendorf said.