Voicemail (July 12, 2007)

Thank  you, Knoxville Voice, for the story on the UT Office of Disability Services. I feel the student’s pain in the story. I am a UT alumni and I had to ask for an accommodation from the office once. My experience with Ms. Hughes was one of an endless stream of unanswered e-mails, phone calls and faxes and a run-around from the office in general. That she was lacking the credentials she said she had explains some of it.  Shouldn’t colleges check on those things? Another problem is the seeming lack of protocol for quick action the office had in dealing with people who learn differently and have unexpected problems in their educational experience.

There is a serious problem for people who have college-level skills in some areas, but real trouble in other required areas. For some it is math, for others it is foreign language, like the man in the story, etc. From recent stories in the local news, the area high schools do not seem to have improved on their ability to handle it  from 20 years ago. You still hear about Tennessee students being unprepared for college and being overly drugged for ADHD. Then once the students make it to college there are significant issues with what to do with students who learn differently or have issues with certain subjects. It does not seem fair that math or a foreign language or the Office of Disability Services would hold someone back from a degree and a career the person would otherwise be successful in.

I don’t have the answers, but I think its great the Knoxville Voice brought up the questions. Maybe this can be part of the discussion on education besides just the venerable BEP formula.

I find it interesting that you can find a few people with complaints against an office that has helped thousands achieve their goals in higher education and write a completely derogatory and questionably factual column about them. I have dealt with the wonderful people at ODS at UTK and I have no complaints. The complaints I do have are now against the Knoxville Voice and you can be assured that myself or any friends that I may have will never read and will discourage others from reading whatever you may have to offer.

I just read the article about the ODS online. Let me first say that I am always sympathetic to those fighting the powers that be.

I thought that the article had a very thorough investigation of, for example, Ms. Hughes and the other ‘defendants.’ (Ms. Hughes initially served my case at the ODS when I first was approved for services.) The article, however, lacked an as-complete investigation into Willard and other parties to the story, and that left me suspect.

But it is true that the culture at the top pervades and seeps into every UT office below it.

I propose that a majority of these problems (in your KV article) would have been avoided if the ODS were ever properly and appropriately funded and staffed. But, it sure seems like the big money always goes to the big money departments at universities (football anyone?) and the other departments at UTK are the ‘runts’ of the litter and must suckle at UT’s resources when and in what feeble manner they can. That UT’s ODS perhaps could be perceived to ‘cut-corners’ in the administration of a properly running ODS is symptomatic of what I am sure is a declining ration of program funding in relation to the per capita growth of the disabled student population requesting services.

I am truly sorry for anyone at a university here in the United States that is unjustly denied appropriate accommodations. This is the only country in the world (in my experience) that so goes out of its way to accommodate and ‘level-the-playing-field’ for persons with disabilities. That Trotta, Allen and Chris were hassled and indelibly impacted in their efforts to receive services, I think, is more indicative of the primacy of capitalistic dogma and cultural neglect for the pervasiveness of invisible disability issues. You should look at how much money is allocated per capita to student athletes for support, and how much less is allocated for other ‘less-blessed’ students seeking supportive accommodations from UT’s under-funded, poorly compensated staff at the ODS.

Your article seems to me to possibly be barking up the wrong tree. I found myself agreeing with Mr. Kahler (also interviewed for the article).Sure, ODS has its scandals and inefficiencies, but look at the bigger picture of how neglected the ODS is in terms of support from within the UT system. There is a “matrix of oppression” against which people with disabilities, and service providers, must always struggle.

“UT’s Office of Disability Services: Six Years of Allegations,” I would like to make a few comments regarding some of the statements that were made regarding the ongoing, well documented practice of discrimination at the University of Tennessee.

In Allen’s and my complaint, we asserted that Shannon Crabtree does not meet a single one of the university’s published qualifications for the position she was hired to fill. Not one.

If Ms. Crabtree had read the “diatribe,” she would have known that I was on the adjunct faculty in the university graduate program for Certified Rehabilitation Counselors and taught a class specifically on 504 /ADA in the area of diagnosis, eligibility, and accommodations for individuals with ADHD and LD in post secondary education and training. I also provided the in-service training to Vocational Rehabilitation counselors and case managers state wide for several years on the same subjects. As a recognized expert in this area, I believe I am well qualified to diagnose and determine eligibility and appropriate accommodations for individuals with these disabilities in post-secondary education.

In considering Mr. Kahler’s outrageous and irresponsible statements one must “consider the source.” He doesn’t even know that Vocational Rehabilitation does not certify anyone.

The ODS statement to Elisha Sauers dated June 20, 2007 states, “(OED) ... investigated the allegations and found that ODS offered reasonable accommodations and therefore did not discriminate against the student.” The statement was not signed by a person, only “staff.” What are they afraid of?

In an e-mail to Allen, dated July 29, 2006, Marva Rudolph, Director of OED states, “-since we have already met with Mr. Willard and he has provided us written documentation ... we will use that information as part of any investigation we might conduct on your allegations.”

At a meeting on December 1, 2006, Jennifer Richter stated that they did not and would not investigate anything contained in the written documentation I provided them. The accommodations offered violate two university policies and are irrational. I certainly hope that none of these administrators become disabled.  They would have a very difficult time dealing with people like themselves. Anyone who allows this situation to continue is as guilty as those perpetuating it. Aren’t these administrators fine examples of ethics and morality that everyone would want their child to admire and attain?

John Petersen and the Board of Trustees have consistently supported this discrimination.