Assisting Students with Disabilities
SAS Quick Links
How can SAS help you?
Our office provides accommodations and assistance in finding the right campus resources for students registered with us.
- Learning
- Mobility
- Medical
- Psychiatric (Anxiety & Depression)
- ADHD/ADD
- Hearing
- Visual
- Temporary Injury
- Pregnancy
If you have questions about what is covered, please contact the SAS office directly.
- Accessible Housing
- Exam Accommodations
- Course Accessibility
- ASL Interpreting
- Volunteer Note-takers
- Readers
- Assistive Technology and Software
- Alternative Formats of Course Materials
- Possible Other Reasonable Accommodations
Accommodations are determined on a case by case basis to assist each student's individual needs.
Step 1: Complete our ONLINE APPLICATION.
Step 2: Submit medical documentation.
Step 3: Attend an intake appointment in person or over the phone.
Announcements
- Deaf Coffee Chat
- October 20, 7:30 pm at the USM BSU
- ***Not organized by SAS***
- A space for Deaf, HOH, and Hearing; for new or fluent signers
- Disability Awareness Week
- October 24, 11am to 1pm "Student Access for Jobs" at Union Lobby
- October 25, 1:30 to 3pm "Wheelchair Basketball Exhibition Match at Payne Center
- October 26, 2 to 5pm "SAS & E-Sports Gameday" at E-Sports Union Arena
- October 28, 1am to 1pm "Pet Away Stress" Puppy Therapy event at Spirit Park
- 2022 Wellness Festival
- Come check out our booth at Spirit Park on October 25 from 3 to 6pm. We will have a DIY fidget toy activity and mental health bingo.
Submit Feedback Today!
If you missed our end-of-the-year survey, don't worry! You can submit feedback to us directly via our online Feedback Form. The form has the option to remain anonymous if you wish.
Our next student survey will be active for the 2nd half of the Spring 2023 semester.
Spring 2022 Survey Results
Thanks to all the students that completed our Student Satisfaction Survey last Spring semester.
- Engagement
The majority of survey respondents indicated that their preferred method of engagement from our office is our newsletters. So, we will continue to send these out monthly. Additionally, we may email specific information out and post it to our social media (Facebook and Instagram).
We will not be continuing Zoom Chats due to a lack of attendance. We made an effort to connect with all of our registered students via Zoom Chats to check-in and showcase resources with speakers from other university services but there is not enough interest to continue these sessions. - Topics to Highlight
The top voted topics for us to highlight in our engagement were Student Success Skills and Campus Resources. We will be working to engage more with both these topics in the fall in our newsletter and social media. - Space
We had several specific comments about the lack of space for testing. At this time our office is unable to move, but we are looking for solutions. - Name Change
We asked for feedback on changing our name. We received several comments from the survey that were both for and against this change. There are several reasons we want to change our name.
(1) We will always be the designated office on campus to assist students with disabilities, but we do more than provide accommodations to students with disabilities. We provide accommodations to students for pregnancies under Title IX. Additionally, many students are unaware that they can receive accommodations for temporary injuries or medical issues under ADA law because they feel they do not have a traditional disability.
(2) We want "Student" in our name. There is some confusion with individuals outside of the Southern Miss community over our services. They contact us somewhat frequently believing we can assist them when we can only assist students. Our office is solely here to be of assistance to USM students - we want that to be the forefront of our image.
(3) There is another office on campus within the same building, Bond Hall, that has a very similar name. This office is the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS). IDS works with individuals on and off the campus providing community services, but is often confused with ODA.
The majority of students voted to change our office name from the Office for Disability
Accommodations (ODA) to Student Accessibility Services (SAS). Over the summer, we
will make the transition to our new name.
This change should minimally affect our current students. Our current email address
and web pages will forward to our new ones. For more information, be on the lookout
for updates from us via email and our social media.
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Current Edition: October Newsletter
Previous Editions: SAS Newsletter Archive
SAS graduation cords are available for any students graduating this semester and walking in the December Commencement ceremonies. These cords are 100% free to our students. The only requirements are (1) SAS registration, (2) graduating and walking in an upcoming commencement ceremony, and (3) completion of a request with a written reflection statement.
What do our cord colors mean? Our cords are royal blue representing seeking justice and physical disabilities, gold representing excellence, and kelly green representing mental health disabilities.
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