A demand for smartpens

Last Thursday, the Student Accessibility Council donated $410 to Student Accessibility Services for more Echo 2 smartpens after a semester of fundraising.  

“We are a student-based organization that’s comprised of students with disabilities [and] students without disabilities, who look to be advocates for our peers,” said Mark Olvera, vice president of and event coordinator for the Student Accessibility Council.

Olvera said the council’s mission and biggest accomplishment this semester has been making the student body aware of the accommodations that are available.

With this mission, the council asked the department what accommodations were in demand for students to achieve academic success last year. 

“We were able to get a meeting with [Program Specialist] Rey [Reyes] over from SAS,” Olvera said. “And he came in, and we were able to get a list basically, of items that are popular among students. And that was one of the most needed and most popular items, was a pen.”

Echo 2 smartpens are a product by Livescribe and are able to record audio while students take notes, according to its website. The pens come with a notebook that students can use to take notes with, and they can replay audio by tapping the specific notes they were writing during that time. The notes can also be accessed digitally. 

“One particular group that it could help is students with learning disabilities or students with ADHD,” said Belinda Rivas, the student organization’s adviser and a clinical associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Services and Counseling. “[SAS believes] that these pens would actually make a big difference in their learning experience.” 

Reyes cited recent Spring 2023 statistics about student accommodation needs. There are 244 UTRGV students who are registered with the department with a learning disorder, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum
disorder. This is 52 more students than last year. Of these students, 32
have ADHD.

With just one popcorn fundraiser last semester, the council was able to donate one smartpen to Student Accessibility Services. However, due to a policy that prohibited the council from using the fundraiser money to buy more pens themselves, they donated the check to the department so it could purchase more pens. With the help of the council, it was able to purchase 20 new pens. 

As one of the founders, Rivas explained the Student Accessibility Council started in 2008 under the name Student Disability Council. As the club evolved, members changed the name to be more progressive. Students with disabilities formed the club to advocate for students.

“You know, some [students] had issues with Student Accessibility Services in those days,” Rivas said. “So, they felt like, ‘Where do we go? What can we do?’ Well, they formed their own organization.”

The council had trouble maintaining itself through the COVID-19 pandemic, so the club started back up last semester. The council’s historian, Mark “Eric” Olvera, joined the council after his father, who is vice president of the organization, reached out to him about being a valuable asset to the council.

“I get accommodations for testing and stuff like that,” Eric Olvera said. “And, so, once we collabed with Student Accessibility Services, because they’ve helped me so much with testing and so many things, I was all hands on deck. … And that wouldn’t be able to be, to have been done, without our professor adviser, Belinda Rivas.” 

Mark Olvera said the council received feedback during its fundraisers about students who would like to take advantage of the department’s accommodations, but do not have a specific diagnosis.

“In the [Rio Grande] Valley … so our culture regarding mental health, a lot of it is kind of swept under the rug, or, like, hush-hush,” Mark Olvera said. “[Many undiagnosed people are told] just like, ‘Pórtate bien, behave.’ So, that’s how somebody may get up to college without being diagnosed. We have services on campus that can help students particularly with diagnosing. … The services are great but they’re only great for those who know they exist.”

In order to overcome this barrier, Mark Olvera is creating a pamphlet to inform students with or without a diagnosis about what accommodations are available on behalf of the council. One of the resources is the UTRGV Psychology Clinic, which offers services by students in the doctoral program who are supervised. The services include full evaluations for undiagnosed students and treatment options on a sliding scale pay rate that depends on self-reported income.

“If students have the support, if students have the resources, if they have the opportunities, they will be more successful,” Rivas said. “… If faculty aren’t informed and educated on disabilities and what they look like, not only physically but the hidden disabilities, they don’t know how to accommodate someone in the classroom. … So, part of what we want to do is educate and inform.”

To learn more about the accommodations available to students or get involved in advocacy, visit the Student Accessibility Council V Link webpage or the Student Accessibility Services webpage at utrgv.edu/accessibility.