Think College Letter

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Hello! Staff of Think College at the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass-Boston are writing a book about the transition to college for people with disabilities, and would like to include student and family perspectives. The chapters of the book will address a range of topics including building college expectations, applying for college, and preparing for success. This book will focus on students with all types of disabilities, including learning disabilities, intellectual disability, mental health/emotional disabilities, autism, ADHD, chronic medical conditions, and students who are blind/low vision and deaf/hard of hearing. If you are a current or former college student with disabilities or a parent of a college student with disabilities and you would be interested in sharing your experiences, please review the guidelines and sample questions below. Or, if you know someone who may be interested in sharing their experiences, please forward this email on to them! We appreciate your time, and greatly value your help in making this a useful and relevant book. Questions you can use to guide your submission (you do not need to respond to each question to send in a submission) FOR STUDENTS • • • • • •

What messages did you hear from your teachers, family, and friends about your potential to go to college? How did your disability impact conversations about going to college? How did your disability impact how you selected, applied for, and planned for college? What was the hardest hurdle to overcome in getting in to or being successful in college? What was the best experience or resource that helped you with getting in to or being successful in college? If you were to give advice to another student about having conversations about going to college, what would you say? If you were to give advice to teachers and other people who worked with you in school about going to college, what would that be?

FOR PARENTS • • • • •

What messages did you hear from teachers and other professionals about your child’s potential to go to college? How did your child’s disability impact the conversations you had about college and the college selection, admissions, and planning process? What was the hardest hurdle to overcome in your child getting in to or being successful in college? What was the best experience or resource you found to support your child in getting in to or being successful in college? If you were to give advice to educators or other school professionals about students with disabilities going to college, what would that be?

As all content will be subject to editing, you should be aware that not all submissions will be published. Additionally, the editors reserve the right to edit for grammar and spelling and in some cases for length. Editors may also ask you to expand upon certain aspects of your writing, or may ask you to trim some sections. Submissions are due by September 15, 2016, and should be no more than 1200 words. You must complete the attached permission form from the publisher in order for us to use your submission; if we do not receive it, we will not be able to use your submission. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, and thank you again for your assistance with this project! Rebecca Lazo Knowledge Translation Associate Think College Website: www.thinkcollege.net Institute for Community Inclusion University of Massachusetts-Boston 857-309-8324