Stephanie Wyatt, sophomore creative writing and Spanish major, was nervous before she moved into Noyer Complex for her freshman year. Coming to Ball State was a bigger step of independence for her than for freshmen without disabilities.
Wyatt said the added responsibility for herself was a big change.
"It is just different because I'm used to my parents helping me with everything," she said. "Once everything slows down and once you get in the groove of things ... it will all work out so [you just have to] give it some time."
Wyatt is one of about 600 students at Ball State who use Disabled Student Development services for classes. DSD features include student note takers, shuttle buses that pick students up at the front door of their residence halls and card readers to open doors automatically for students with physical disabilities using their IDs.
"Many freshman [with disabilities] don't have a hard time adjusting, but others take more time because they were very dependant of people who cared for them in high school," director of DSD Larry Markle said.
Freshman computer science major Colin McIntire said he already feels at home.
"[I was nervous about] meeting new people I guess," he said. "I'm not adjusting too much now. I'm pretty used to campus and everything already."
New students with disabilities attend meetings through DSD at the beginning of the year. Meetings are divided into four categories: students with visual impairments, mobility impairments, hearing impairments and non-physical (learning) disabilities.
Through these meetings, DSD assesses what features each student will be utilizing throughout the school year.
Ball State has allured students such as McIntire with power soccer, a team for students with power wheel chairs.
Senior telecommunications major Brandon Scott said DSD has made him feel at home since he transferred from Purdue.
"Between everything they do at DSD and then having adaptive sports such as power soccer on campus, it becomes like a community type deal," he said.
Markle said these activities make a better college experience.
"Research tells us that students who are engaged on campus ... do better at college than those that aren't," he said. "I think it is important that the university makes some efforts to engage students with disabilities as well."
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