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Hello, I'm Wayne Akins and I manage
services for students with
disabilities here at Georgia Southern University.
Let me begin by congratulating you
on choosing us.
Georgia Southern possesses every attribute
of a major university
along with a caring and personal commitment
for individual students
found at the smallest college.
Because you have a disability
this level of care is especially important
and makes your choice of a college
even more critical.
This video is designed to give you a short
introduction to Student Disability Resource
Center and its mission.
After viewing this video
you should have all the information
you need to make decisions
about managing your disability.
Let me begin by providing you
with some insight on how we approach our job.
My staff and I share two beliefs
about your disability.
First, we know
that you will either control your disability
or it will control you.
If it's controlling you right now
chances are things are not going well;
we can help you turn that around
We also believe that our job
is to help you manage your disability for a lifetime;
whatever you are struggling with
is probably not going to go away.
If you work with us
your chances of mitigating the effects of your disability
are greatly increased.
With that foundation, let's begin.
The Student Disability Resource Center or SDRC
works with qualified students
The first way you are qualified is academically
now obviously you were qualified academically because
you had the necessary grades in high school and
the necessary grades on the SAT in order to be
accepted to Georgia Southern.
Now, along with that you must be qualified to receive accommodations
That means that your documentation must meet the requirements of the University System
which can be viewed on our website.
Some students have educational testing done in high school that meets these standards
while others do not.
If you will work with us, we will support you in getting an evaluation
to determine if you are eligible for accommodations
Let me warn you, this can be a long process.
The smart student gets this done before classes ever begin.
One of the most common mistakes a student can make
is waiting until the fall to begin this process.
Get this done before classes begin.
At this point you're maybe trying to decide if you need accommodations in college.
Let me suggest this to you,
right now you probably lack the experience to make this decision.
Our best advice is this:
follow the process for eligibility
get authorized to receive accommodations
and then make your final decision.
You can start classes with no support
but should the need arise we can put accommodations in place instantly.
If you are still struggling with this decision consider these facts.
Ten years of research tells us that your GPA will increase if you use accommodations
and tells us that you are more likely to graduate if you use accommodations.
Unfortunately, the reverse is also true,
students with a disability who decide not to use accommodations seldom graduate.
Good luck with your decision and good luck with you education.
Please let me know if I can be of service.
Thank you!