Academic Advisors and Students with Disabilities: A National Survey of Advisors' Experiences and Needs
During the last 25 years, the number of students with disabilities seeking higher education has tripled. However, these students may not readily identify their disability to those responsible for coordinating disability services. Consequently, academic advisors may be among the first campus employees to become aware of an individual's disability. We investigated the responses of collegiate academic advisors (N ≈ 1,500) regarding their training, experience, comfort level, and knowledge of working with students with disabilities. While 83% of advisors reported advising students with disabilities, only 44% had taken a college course dealing with disabilities, and 47% have had no training on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many advisors also reported student disclosures of thoughts about suicide and self-harm.
Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory
Contributor Notes
Julie Preece is an associate clinical professor and licensed psychologist in the BYU Counseling and Career Center. She previously worked for nearly 6 years in the Disability Office at BYU.
Norm Roberts is the administrator of the Academic Support Office at BYU. He has worked in secondary education, rehabilitation counseling for the deaf, university disability services administration, personal counseling and academic advisement, and as dean of student development. He has worked in both a university and community college setting. As an adjunct to his full-time responsibilities at BYU, he is the temporary administrator of the American Sign Language courses.
Mark Beecher is an associate clinical professor and licensed psychologist in the BYU Counseling and Career Center. He has worked for over six years in the BYU Services for Students with Disabilities office/University Accessibility Center.
Phillip Rash is an academic advisor and licensed psychologist at Brigham Young University (BYU).
David Shwalb is obtaining his master's degree in psychology at BYU and will be pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia in Fall 2007.
Edward Martinelli is a licensed psychologist and the Coordinator of Psychodiagnostic Services at the BYU Accessibility Center.
