Let’s Talk Disabilities-With Isabella Smarro
By Isabella Smarro, Managing Editor
I am excited to announce that this is my new column debut! As a student at Hudson Valley who has multiple learning and health disabilities including Autism and a rare genetic growth disorder called Russell Silver Syndrome, college life has been very hard.
During my high school career, I got constant support for all my classes. I was passing each year with epic grades, my GPA was at about 3.5. To be honest I felt that college would be super easy but the moment I started my classes, everything went downhill from there.
I was so used to having support just given to me that I had no clue how to ask for help, especially during zoom. So for the first two months of the Fall 2020 semester, I was failing all my classes without even knowing.
Lucky my mother was a huge support, She helped me make up all of my late work but I needed to also find adults at HVCC to teach me how to improve my work ethic. It took time since I wasn’t familiar with their online website. After a while, I found the CAAT office.
CAAT or Center for Access and Assistive Technology is a program that helps students with disabilities. On the page, the main purpose is said- “We attempt to coordinate the students’ needs with services and resources available within our college system and to ensure accessible educational opportunities for students according to their individual needs”.
During the ending of the Fall 2020 semester, I scheduled a meeting with a member of that program via zoom. It was professional and the lady I met was kind. We spent a half-hour talking about what I felt I was struggling with. We then came up with some ideas of how to work on them including study guides and a planner.
I met with her from about November till the last day of classes, because of her help I was able to get all caught up in my classes and even passed them with As. If you want to get connected with someone from the CATT office, it’s very easy. All the information is found on the main page of the HVCC website. This is also the link. https://www.hvcc.edu/caat/index.html
During a short period, I also met with a man from the writing center. During our zoom hours, we went over my essays for classes before I handed them in. He told me what I could improve on to get the best grade. We also went over what words meant-mostly big words you don’t hear often. The writing center is found on your blackboard page. If you want more information on how to do a zoom meeting, this is the link to the page. https://www.hvcc.edu/studentservices/academic-support/learning-centers/writing-r esearch.html
HVCC has more support systems for specific issues you may face but these are the two I’ve used myself. I hope that this first column has helped you, if you have any more questions please don’t mind sending me an email at I-smarro@hvcc.edu