Exemplary instruction gives disabled students a fighting chance

By the Chronicle Editorial Board

It is tough as it is to have a disability that prevents mobility, use of hands or feet, and causes speech, vision or hearing dif­ficulties or impairment that can truly devastate what a person is able to do on a day to day basis.

More than 18 percent of Americans have some type of dis­ability that precludes them from the smallest activities that many of us out there take for granted every day, and more than 12 percent have a severe debilitat­ing impairment that limits these people’s activities and at times their quality of life, according to ctb.ku.edu.

So, it is extremely reas­suring to see that instructors at CNM are taking disabled stu­dents into consideration when it comes to these instructors’ classes, curriculum, the way they teach students, and how they can help students with dis­abilities to learn and succeed at this school, such as in the front page article ‘Chemistry instruc­tor makes new tools for disabled students to learn too.’

Science classes and labs can be challenging as it is, but could be almost impossible to learn from when a student has a disability that prevents them from learning the curriculum in a class.

It is commendable that Carol Martinez and the Disability Resource Center saw that there is a need for special­ized curriculum and created new tools for disabled students to be able to learn with hands on mate­rials, instead of having to opt out because of their inaccessibility.

All students deserve the same quality of instruction when paying the same amount to get their educations, including dis­abled students, and sometimes they are left out in the wind when there is no means or outlet for them to learn from, espe­cially in math and sciences.

Disabled people are forced to wait much longer to become employed, and are sometimes treated as if they are a burden, but most importantly people do not take the time to consider what disabled individuals must go through just to finish out the day, and it is truly admirable that this instructor and department took the time to consider what some disabled students need to get by or learn, and helped at least one student so far to suc­ceed in doing so here at CNM.