Centre for Continuing Education helps students with disabilities meet academic, professional goals

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/CCE.jpg” caption=”Marla Moore, seated, has successfully completed several CCE courses thanks to the assistance from an intepreter. Also pictured is web design and development instructor Derek Allard.”]For part-time students juggling work, home and courses can be an overwhelming load. Imagine the challenge part-time students with all of the above responsibilities and a disability face.

The Centre for Continuing Education is dedicated to helping part-time students with disabilities meet their academic and professional goals.

Marla Moore, who is a full-time McMaster employee as well as a part-time student in the Web Design and Development program at the Centre for Continuing Education has to meet the challenge of learning with an audio impairment.

With the help of an interpreter provided by the Centre for Student Development, Moore has successfully completed several CCE courses, which is not an easy achievement considering her attention is divided between instructor, interpreter and computer monitor.

Realizing the difficulties that students like Moore face, Nancy Buschert, program manager states, “the Centre for Continuing Education will continue working toward making the facility accessible by referring students with disabilities to the Centre for Student Development and by utilizing our professional staff members' creative problem solving abilities'.”

This was the case when Alan Barr, a client service analyst, modified a projector to project the instructor's screen closer to a student with a visual impairment. “We want to ensure that all of our students have a comfortable environment so that learning is a positive experience,” Buschert says.