Championing access

Ellen Cecil-Lemkin and Rosie. Courtesy photo.

Ellen Cecil-Lemkin’s life at Florida State University is all about accessibility: creating accessibility in her classroom, advocating to make education accessible to all students, and asserting herself for the accessibility she needs to live with a disability.

If you’ve been on campus lately, you may have seen the doctoral candidate and Rosie, her Great Pyrenees, walking to an English class. Or you may have seen her out championing FSU’s Student Disability Resource Center.

Ambassador for access

The SDRC works with more than 5,000 FSU students a year to make necessary adjustments to housing, food, transportation and classroom experiences that allow students with documented disabilities to succeed. Some common academic

accommodations may include extending testing time, having a peer take notes, and using assistive technology such as digital recorders.

Cecil-Lemkin is one of SDRC’s inaugural student ambassadors, who work to increase awareness of the center through outreach to the FSU community.

“By identifying yourself as an ambassador you’re signaling that you’re a safe person to talk to ... [about] how to register with the SDRC, and what kind of accommodations might be available to you,” she said.

The center’s mission is one Cecil-Lemkin believes in: She might have withdrawn from school had a chance encounter with another student not alerted her to the SDRC’s existence. The accommodations arranged were critical for Cecil-Lemkin’s preliminary exam — a 14-hour test on her field of study she had to complete in order to officially be considered for doctoral candidacy and begin work on her dissertation.

“If I hadn’t registered with SDRC and gotten accommodations for that exam, I know I wouldn’t have been able to pass,” she said.

Insight on invisibility

As she prepares to finish her doctorate in rhetoric and composition in 2020, Cecil-Lemkin’s effort to make the academic experience more accessible extends beyond her work with the center. She is also seeking to destigmatize psychiatric and “invisible” disabilities, like depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, through her research.

While at Miami University in Ohio for her master’s, Cecil-Lemkin fell in love with researching people through surveys, interviews and observations. It was there she discovered that little research existed on disabled students’ experiences with collaborative writing, a big part of the general education curriculum at any university.

“This is problematic because rough estimates suggest that at least one in 10 students in higher education have a disability,” she said.

For part of her doctoral research, funded by the Phil Gates Award for Excellence in Written Communication, Cecil-Lemkin is surveying and interviewing students with disabilities about their experiences with collaborative writing. The results will hopefully lead to insight on how instructors can better support student success.

“I imagine that while these suggestions will be specifically focused on assisting disabled students, implementing them widely will mean assignments, overall, are more accessible to all students,” Cecil-Lemkin said.

Her dissertation adviser, associate professor and director of the Rhetoric and Composition Program, Michael Neal, is Cecil-Lemkin’s co-author for a forthcoming piece on how online classes accommodate neuro-diverse students. In addition to her professionalism as a researcher, Cecil-Lemkin’s ability to enjoy the moment helps make her a standout classroom leader, he said.

An equal chance

When teaching college writing, Cecil-Lemkin likes to start each class by querying students on their favorite places on campus or which Hogwarts house they belong to as a way of de-stressing the environment. Neal also noted Cecil-Lemkin spends significant time meeting students in their own different processing and learning styles.

FSU English and Humanities alumna Cassidy Camp was among Cecil-Lemkin’s students. As someone who discloses the impact mental health disorders had on her own academic experience, Camp connected with her instructor’s research and teaching approach.

“Ellen makes her classroom accessible by making herself accessible. Rosie’s presence helps students feel comfortable asking for accommodations because they know she understands,” Camp said.

Neal commended Cecil-Lemkin’s ability to patiently explain Rosie’s role to those who misunderstand or ignore the “working dog” vest, helping even colleagues see invisible disabilities.

While Cecil-Lemkin did well in classes where she received no accommodations, attempting to pass as nondisabled took its toll. She uses these experiences to reassure students they can succeed and to design classes in such a way as to not require accommodation.

“I will always build my classes so that they’re accessible to a wide range of students,” she said, because everyone should have an equal chance at success.

Leah Fleurimond graduated from FSU in December, earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Editing, Writing and Media.