Disability Resource Center Student Success Programs

Annual Report 2022-23

Mission Statement

The Disability Resource Center (DRC) provides leadership, guidance, and facilitation of equal access for disabled students resulting in their full participation in curricular and co-curricular offerings. The DRC contributes to the design of inclusive environments for all campus participants through education and collaboration with students, faculty, staff, and community partners.

Vision Statement

The DRC will be a global leader in developing environments that promote full inclusion for all participants in curricular and co-curricular offerings. The DRC’s vision for Purdueis that all offerings are developed through the lens of “inclusion by design.”

Program Elements

The DRC offers a comprehensive and coordinated approach in meeting a diverse set of needs across the Purdue campus. Program elements include:

  • Individual meetings with students via an interactive process that captures environmental barriers to access and results in individual solutions on a per-student basis.
  • Developing alternative formatted course learning materials that are useable by students.
  • Consultation with faculty/instructors on the implementation of course-related accommodations without fundamentally altering the course.
  • Referral and liaison interactions with campus and community people, programs and resources that can benefit student development.
  • Participation in campus recruitment events and outreach to students and families considering enrollment at Purdue.
  • Consultation with instructors, staff on Purdue’s Innovative Learning team, and Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) on concepts of inclusive design of instruction.
  • Assisting Purdue Testing Services (PTS) in providing accommodated testing support to faculty.
  • Consulting with physical plant and new building initiatives to inform and encourage designing for useable and inclusive physical spaces.
  • Class presentations centered on Disability Awareness, Inclusive Design, and Disability Culture.
  • Staff/Instructional presentations that clarify the role and scope of the DRC.
  • Regular ongoing interactions with University Residences and Dining and Catering regarding housing and dining accommodations.
  • Consulting with Office of Legal Counsel on an as-needed basis during the academic year.
  • Development and sponsorship of a Peer Mentor program for disabled students.
  • Representation of disability on a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives and committees across campus to advance the campus understanding of how environmental design barriers affect the full participation and equitable use for all.
  • Consultation with other campus-supported offerings to assure these offerings are accessible by design.
  • Serve as resource to the broad campus community on re-thinking the disability paradigm.

Program Outcomes

The DRC supports an environment focused on reducing student burden to have equal access to curricular and co-curricular activities. As a result of their interactions with the DRC, students will:

  • Gain an improved understanding of their rights to equal access related to all elements of the University environment.
  • Learn more about the ways the DRC can support their access (e.g., educational programming, course accessibility letters, accommodated testing, collaboration with faculty, etc.).
  • Better understand the role of the DRC in facilitating the implementation of accommodations through engagement with the DRC versus direct negotiation with instructors.
  • Succeed and persist at rates similar to or better than their nondisabled peers

Notable Changes From 2022-23 Academic Year

  • The DRC continues to see increased growth of registered students. The DRC is serving an additional 473 students compared to the previous year. This is a 0.7% growth.
  • Effective May 2023, the Disability Resource Center (DRC) Testing Center and the Purdue Testing Center have merged to form a new unit –Purdue Testing Services (PTS). PTS will be a “one stop shop” for testing services at Purdue and is no longer housed underthe DRC.
  • The Usable Materials Center (UMC) was fully operational and completed 5,860 document remediations. 27 Faculty members chose to send materials for 25 courses and 18 Staff members utilized the UMC service. The UMC did 6 presentations on how to create accessible documents.
  • The DRC continues to make modifications to the case management software called Accessible Information Management(AIM). As processes are refined, the features of AIM are modified to suit the unique needs of the DRC.
  • The DRC Peer Mentor Program (PMP) continues to see record participation. Participation by students set new records of 57-mentees and 34-mentors. Students have taken a larger responsibility for planning and organizing events which was conducted by eight senior mentors. The DRC hosted a total of 11 social events, 8 educational workshops, and 14 outreach/tabling events. There was an 87% participation rate of students attending 6 events a semester.
  • The DRC, in conjunction with the Teaching and Learning leadership, developed and launched a Faculty Advisory committee during Spring 2022. This group developed curriculum designed to educate instructors on “Neurodiversity in the College Classroom: Improving Educator and Peer Support.” They also developed and launched a DRC Student Survey (Spring 2023).
  • The DRC conducted an Accessibility Audit of a makerspace for the Purdue Library (Knowledge Lab). The point of the project was to do an assessment of the usability of that space for diverse users. A report and recommendations were provided to increase the usability of that space.
  • Parking accommodations were rated the most unsatisfactory for student experience on the 2023 DRC Student Survey. To address these concerns, a liaison relationship was created between Purdue University Parking and the DRC. University Parking and the DRC developed a more streamlined process for accessing parking accommodations. University Parking opened more spaces for students with disabilities and made the pass type and price more equitable.
  • The DRC onboarded and trained 7 new staff members. There was a significant investment in time and resources with recruiting, onboarding, and training staff.
  • Mandie Greiwe started as the new DRC director in November of 2023.
  • We have begun planning for the implementation of Purdue Indy. The DRC plans to have two staff members on site. One starting in January 2024 and one starting in July 2024.

University Residences and Office of Legal Counsel

DRC staff met on a regular basis throughout the academic year with housing and dining services in the provision of disability related accommodations in those environments.

The Office of Legal Counsel was consulted on an as needed basis during the academic year.

Program Assessment

A review of the 2022-2023 cohort retention of DRC registered students shows that those students who requested their course accommodations were retained at a higher level than those students who chose not to request course accommodations. However, their retention rates were lower than the general population.

The DRC is in the early stages of developing an internal self-study that will evolve into an external review of program elements. This is part of a larger initiative by the Provost Office with the DRC being an early adopter. It is anticipated this will continue into the next academic year

A long-term goal is to gain an understanding of the reasons why students with disabilities in general have poorer outcomes than all other students and what actions can be taken to mitigate barriers to success.

Fostering Belonging and Campus Culture of Inclusive Excellence

The DRC program includes several initiatives to foster a sense of belonging and promote a campus culture of inclusive excellence. First, the DRC developed a stronger liaison relationship with Purdue Horizons and Purdue Promise. Both programs seek to ensure equal educational opportunities regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic circumstance for Purdue students. Secondly, the DRC did numerous programs across student organizations and academic programs to educate on how disability is a form of diversity and to promote inclusivity. Finally, the DRC Peer Mentor program directly programs to address belonging for students with disabilities. Every month, students in the Peer Mentor program had access to a social event and an educational workshop. There was an 87% participation rate for the Peer Mentor program.

Our Data

For a full picture of our data from the 2022-23 academic year, please view or download our Full Annual Report by clicking the button below.

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