Campus Life

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COURTNEY WILLIAMS, HOST: From KVMR and in partnership with FREED, this is Disability Rap.

GUS ALBERTSEN: I knew I wanted to go to a college away from home, but I also knew I did not want to go to a University of California because of the quarter system.

WILLIAMS: Today, a conversation about college life for students with disabilities.

JESSICA ROECKL-NAVAZIO: The biggest thing I have put into practice is to ask for accommodations before the semester starts.

WILLIAMS: That's all coming up on Disability Rap. Stay tuned.

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WILLIAMS: Welcome to Disability Rap. I'm Courtney Williams.

As we begin the new year, many high school seniors are receiving college acceptance letters. For many people with disabilities, especially significant physical disabilities, selecting a college and then attending college comes with added complexities. They're often faced with having to advocate for themselves and their access needs in a whole new way, while also discovering what their needs are as disabled young adults, and all this while going to classes and having the college experience.

For more on this, we're joined by two guests. Jessica Roeckl-Navazio is a senior at Sacramento State University studying sociology. Gus Albertsen attended Santa Barbara City College and California State University at Monterey Bay, majoring in environmental science. He graduated in 2023. Disability Wrap's co-hosts, Carl Sigmond and Alexa Guerrero, spoke to Jessica and Gus last week. Please note that everyone on today's show has a speech disability. Carl and Alexa will have their synthesized voices repeating what they say, and Jessica and Gus will have their assistants revoicing what they say during the interview.

CARL SIGMOND, HOST: Well, Jessica and Gus, welcome to Disability Rap. It's great to have both of you with us. Jessica, I want to begin with you. You are in college. Are you still on winter break? How has the college experience been for you so far?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: Yes, I am still on winter break. I go back at the end of January. The college experience has been challenging, but along with it, I've had a lot of fun studying different subjects.

SIGMOND: What have been some of the challenges?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: The first one has been a major that actually interests me. When I first got to Sac State, I went as a child development major, and I quickly realized that was not for me.

SIGMOND: How did you end up choosing sociology?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: I ended up choosing sociology because I wanted to find something that once I was finished with my degree, I could easily find a job, given my limitations.

ALEXA GUERRERO, HOST: Gus, my first question is for you. How did you know that going away to college was the right choice for you? As a person with a disability, what obstacles did you have to overcome during that transition?

ALBERTSEN: I knew I wanted to go to a college away from home, but I also knew I did not want to go to a University of California because of the quarter system. I wanted a much more forgiving semester system, and also at Monterey, it has a great SDR program.

SIGMOND: And SDR stands for?

ALBERTSEN: Student Disability Resources, but I think it goes by a different name now.

SIGMOND: What makes them so great at your college?

ALBERTSEN: They organized all of my accommodations, and they also organized my housing.

GUERRERO: What did your housing setup look like?

ALBERTSEN: What was really great is that it had room for my overnight, but there was only one dorm that I could be in, but it was a fully accessible room. I also lived with freshmen on campus, and that got really old.

GUERRERO: Jessica, my next question is for you. What made you decide that attending college locally was the best option for you?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: I wanted to stay close to home, and I didn't want to travel far and come home for holidays either.

GUERRERO: Could you maybe explain your living situation?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: Probably a big part of that, too. We all know how hard it is to live without help given our physical needs, so yes, a big part of that played a part in my decision.

SIGMOND: Thank you, Jess. So you live on campus. What is that like?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: I actually live in Woodland and commute to Sacramento two days a week, so that part is not too bad.

GUERRERO: I do have a follow-up question for you, Jess. What does your living situation look like?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: My parents moved, and I now live with my sister and her roommate. That is what my situation is at the moment.

GUERRERO: Thank you, Jess. My next question is for both of you. What was or what is your experience accessing accommodations in college? How did you advocate for your needs with professors and the university? Gus, you can go first.

ALBERTSEN: Luckily, it was a really small school. The classes and the office hours were like community college. It was really small and easy to talk to my professors. My classes were small, too.

GUERRERO: What were some of your accommodations during class? Was it easy to get your needs met?

ALBERTSEN: My aides would read from my laptop, and my teachers would do the same. I would type my answers to questions. Another thing, I only had 5 or 10 tests, and there was a group project. Projects were made easier with his accommodation, and there were a couple of times when they would change rooms just for me.

GUERRERO: Do you mean your whole class, like where they held the class?

ALBERTSEN: Yes.

GUERRERO: That is super cool. Jess, what was your experience accessing accommodations in college? How did you advocate for your needs with professors and the university?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: The biggest thing I have put into practice is to ask for accommodations before the semester starts because if you don't, you're kind of screwed. I've done a pretty good job communicating with my professors if I need more time or something like that.

GUERRERO: Cool. Do you go into a room so you can dictate? How does that work?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: Normally, I just go outside the room if I need to dictate something, so I can have help with it, so I'm not disturbing the whole class.

GUERRERO: I do have a follow-up question for both of you guys. When requesting accommodations, do you ever experience any pushback from the university? Jess, you can go first.

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: No, but like I said, if I don't do it early, I'm kind of screwed.

GUERRERO: Thank you. Jess. How about you, Gus?

ALBERTSEN: Like Jess, I always explained, requested my accommodations at the beginning. One of my requirements for the major was GIS. It's mapping on a computer, and as you can imagine, it's really hard. It was really impossible with my eye gaze. They offered me to replace a class, but it was too late to replace it.

GUERRERO: How did you get around that obstacle?

ALBERTSEN: My aide worked the mouse, and I told them how to do it.

SIGMOND: Did that work for you?

ALBERTSEN: It was tiring, but yes.

SIGMOND: Got it. Thank you both. I actually have a question about funding of access support in college. Where was the line drawn in each of your cases between the institution's responsibility and/or the state's responsibility as far as access support? Jessica, we'll begin with you.

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: When I got to college, it was different than high school because they didn't have people to go to classes with me. Not only do I have to look for support for my personal needs, they also have to come to classes with me. As you can imagine, that was pretty rough.

SIGMOND: Did the university fund your assistance in the classroom or no?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: Not really. They had testing accommodations, but that was it.

SIGMOND: Did you ever ask for someone to repeat what you said or take dictation as a university-funded accommodation?

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: I started my college career at Woodland Community, so they didn't have much in terms of accommodations, but like I said before, now I'm at Sac State. I can now have scribes in my classes. Unless they are requested before the semester starts, I don't have much luck getting one. It's rather annoying.

SIGMOND: Gus, I'll pose the same question to you about university-funded accommodations versus your own.

ALBERTSEN: Like Jess, I needed my own aide 24/7. Tri Counties Regional Center, TCRC, funded that for me.

GUERRERO: Okay, guys, this last question is for both of you. Looking back, what is one thing you would change about your college experience? What is your favorite or most meaningful memory from college? Let's start with Gus.

ALBERTSEN: I liked living on my own, and hanging out with friends, and going to college events, parties. Gus typed events and parties. College events allow for special accommodations, which was awesome.

ROECKL-NAVAZIO: My most memorable college experience was actually applying to Sac State and actually getting in. At that moment, I realized, even though I have severe physical needs, I can still enjoy the college experience. I'm so proud to be working towards graduating in the near future. Going to college as a person with a disability comes with challenges, but it's the most rewarding experience.

WILLIAMS: That was Jessica Roeckl-Navazio, a senior at Sacramento State University. We also heard from Gus Albertsen, who graduated from California State University at Monterey Bay in 2023.

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WILLIAMS: And that does it for the show. Disability Rap is produced and edited by Carl Sigmond and me, Courtney Williams. You can go to our website, disabilityrap.org, to listen to past shows, read transcripts, and subscribe to the Disability Rap podcast. You can also subscribe to our podcast by searching Disability Rap on any of the major podcast platforms. We're brought to you by KVMR in partnership with FREED, and we're distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. For Carl Sigmond and Alexa Guerrero, I'm Courtney Williams with another edition of Disability Rap.