During the first week of campus closure, computer science student Richard Sequeira was facing difficulty meeting his deadline for an assignment. He was occupied getting groceries to prep for the period of self-isolation, which already took two days of the entire week of school. Some of his professors were not accommodating with deadlines at this period, and he had to explain to them that students, like professors, need time to prepare for self-isolation and remote instruction. What Sequeira experienced, however, is merely one of the …
PCC lacks vital services for disabled students
Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSP&S) provides programs and accommodations intended to create an accessible learning environment for students with disabilities, but they have left at least one student to fend for himself.
Popular program demystifies communication disorders
Anyone who frequents Pasadena City College has definitely walked by the Center for the Arts building located right in the middle of campus. But past the rose garden and down the hall, in a small, dark hallway at the end of the top floor of the building, lies a small office that can be near impossible to find, if not for the one dozen arrows that point in the room’s direction.
New tech breaks barriers for disabled students
Hosted by Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSP&S) and the Veterans Resource Center, students gathered within the D-building in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) last Thursday morning to spread awareness of helpful digital accommodations for disabled students. Students who were a part of DSP&S, including some members of Students Unlimited, a club that specializes in giving support to those with disabilities, gathered to learn through presentations about the many technologies that exist to aid them throughout their time at PCC. The focus of …
Forgotten voices of PCC’s marginalized communities
A single mother, a military veteran, and a first-year student can be found seated inside the same classroom, engaging in the typical school conundrums: taking a copious amount of notes while listening to the professor’s rudimentary lectures. Some compose themselves in a more relaxed setting, closing their eyes and daydreaming as time slowly shifts by. Others discreetly use their phones, listening to the rhythmic pop tunes while head-bopping to the beat. In each classroom setting, new students enter and leave, following the roundabouts and sticking …
Left behind: Is PCC prepared to evacuate disabled students?
In light of the recent school shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, disability advocates have voiced concerns over emergency procedures in schools across the country that do little to consider the needs of disabled students. Although PCC’s emergency guidelines include considerations for students with mobility and sensory disabilities, questions remain as to whether more can be done to ensure the safety of disabled students during emergencies. Much of the recent concern is linked to a standard emergency procedure called “shelter in place,” which …
When will braille signs improve? Here’s the schedule
Some of the braille signs that allow the visually impaired students to move around campus have been fixed, while others are still waiting to be either repaired or simply enhanced. Two previous articles (one in October 2016 and one in Febraury 2016) discussed the opportunity to label in braille not only the room number but also what the room is used for, and although it has been done for the bathrooms in the C building, now showing in braille not only the room number but …
Debate’s priceless push to Nationals
PCC’s award-winning Speech and Debate (Forensics) members’ second home is the basement level of the C building. The hallway holds a collage of old and new successful forensics members and a case crowded with trophies, and behind the doors are forensics members either laughing, crying, or advocating for social change.
PCC putting disabled students first
The Disabled Students Programs and Services office (DSP&S) at Pasadena City College has recently partnered with AbilityFirst, an organization that aids in assisting students with special needs in order to help disabled students on campus achieve their goals both in and out of the classroom.
Seeing a better future for visually impaired students
Students have been putting up with antiquated and inaccurate braille signs throughout the older buildings on campus for years and now campus clubs and the administration are finally coming together to build a stronger, more accessible campus for current and incoming disabled students.