\u201cIt is important to me to ensure that people have that opportunity to advance through education, and that starts with an opportunity to participate in an equitable way,\u201d Axelrod said. \u201cSo, ensuring all people have access to education and ensuring that people\u2019s educational rights in those environments are provided, that\u2019s really an important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Disability Resource Specialist graduate certificate<\/a>, launched in fall 2020, allows students to specialize in the high-demand occupation of providing disability resources oversight for institutions. NAU\u2019s certificate program is one of few such training opportunities available in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Axelrod points out the value of the certificate: \u201cMost people don\u2019t get much of a grounding in the legal aspects of the work that we do\u2014how access is achieved in a post-secondary environment for students with disabilities. Oftentimes, the people actually hiring for these positions have no idea what the office does, how it does it, or why. So, they are looking for candidates able to demonstrate they have a credential, or they have a certain level of training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students can complete program coursework\u2014typically three online, asynchronous courses at three credits each and one three-credit practicum\u2014in one year. The in-depth curriculum covers the rewarding work involved in providing access for students with disabilities. Through the practicum, students apply the theory, knowledge, and skills required of disability resource office leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI talked to my colleagues in California, and they have a very difficult time finding qualified people to fill the open positions they have,\u201d Axelrod said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t come with any foundation in the work that we do. So, the idea was, how do we create a graduate-level program that can at least give people a foundational basis to hit the ground running when they get into the field?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople with disabilities have the ability to live and function and engage in all kinds of activities, albeit they might need to do it differently,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when we design an environment that doesn\u2019t take into consideration the different types of people who might come with different skills and abilities, what happens is we erect barriers needlessly. It\u2019s the intersection of that impairment with the environment that the person is trying to engage with that was designed in a way that doesn\u2019t allow them full access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Axelrod believes the field is richly rewarding. Specialists collaborate with students with various disabilities to provide the accommodations they need to earn degrees that are vital to their advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without the proper access, people with disabilities are not going to become decision-makers for our society\u2014they won\u2019t become legislators, attorneys, doctors, or teachers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to have that shared disability experience throughout society\u2014and the voices of people with disabilities being reflected in society\u2014if people can\u2019t earn a degree that gets them into those fields,\u201d said Axelrod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eligible students for the graduate certificate for Disabilities Resource Specialist will have completed an undergraduate degree with a GPA of 3.00 and will submit a letter of application, transcripts, and a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 or curriculum vitae. For more information, please contact us.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NAU launches a graduate certificate in disability resources for in-demand career positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":2346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[95,97,96],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2342"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2778,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342\/revisions\/2778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2021\/08\/Axelrod2-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJob prospects for certified specialists are excellent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n