Advocate for students with disabilities transitioning to college and the workforce

Thanks to the Westchester Women's Bar Association's presentation for parents, special needs attorneys and advocates on understanding the Americans with Disabilities Act and discussing strategies for educating parents and students on advocating in college and the workplace.

Once a special needs child enters college, the accommodations they can receive in college are completely different. The child, since they are now 18, must advocate for themselves by contacting the college's disabilities office and follow the college's procedures. The procedures to gain reasonable accommodations change from college to college. Services their parents did not pay for in K-12, may incur additional expenses. Consider researching prospective college or universities breadth of services they offer for special needs students or disabled students as part of your college admission journey. Many colleges have the reasonable accommodations requests procedures on their websites. If they do not, call the admissions department to ask to speak to a representative of their disabilities office.

When the young adult goes into the workforce, they may seek accommodations (under Title I of the ADA), at any time during the hiring and interview process. Any qualified individual can seek reasonable accommodations for their disability. Timing of asking for the accommodation is a personal decision and many factors should be weighed.

Please contact me if you are a parent or advocate for a young person entering college in need of accommodations, I can help!

Recent ADA Accommodation News by Donna Drumm Certified ADA Advocate

Recent ADA accommodations work

Workplace accommodations - working with client on obtaining work place accommodations for visible and invisible disabilities.

Warrant accommodations - worked with client to receive accommodation to appear by telephone.

Divorce - work with client to receive accommodations for hearing on child custody matters.

Presentations - On April 20th at Mercy College I will be presenting: "Accessibility in the Workplace" to graduating students and staff. This is being sponsored by the Office of ACCESSibility, an innovative service offered to students with disabilities.

The focus of the presentatiion is to empower students to advocate for ADA Accomodations in the work place during interviews and the initial hiring process.

The presentation will be held Wednesday, April 20th from 2:30-3:30 PM at the Dobbs Ferry campus.

Interviews - Greenwich radio station WGBH interviewed Paul Anderson Winchell, Executive Director of LiftingUp Westcheseter and me about LUW's upcoming Gala, volunteerism and our mission.

Dr. Karin Huffer, my mentor and founder of Equal Access Advocates, interviewed me for her ADA Advocacy class at John Jay College in Manhattan. The interview will be part of the class work beginning in Sept. 2016.

Volunteer "Judge" for Pace Law School's Moot Court Competition - I joined attorneys and professional judges in observing first year law students present arguments on jurisdiction. It's hard to be a judge when the finalists are all so excellent. Nicely done students!!!