DIsabled Student Services at CSULB Provides Students with disabilities a helping hand.

Disabled Student Services at the University of California State Long Beach assists students with disabilities as they secure their university degrees. 

 The student program's mission "is to assist students with disabilities as they secure their university degrees at California State University, Long Beach."

 Currently DSS serves 1,300 students each semester which range from students who utilize wheelchairs to people who are blind in one eye. 

 The programs at DSS  provide support services for in classroom activities, career development resources, use of and training on adaptive computer equipment and access devices, disability related counseling, and academic advisement.

 In order to qualify to be a DSS student medical proof of the disability has to be submitted to the DSS office and reviewed. 

Once you are a part of the DSS you can have the honor of getting to know the staff: Dave Sanfilippo is the Director, Pam Muilenberg serves as the Office Manger, Valerie Iapello is the Front Office

Coordinator, Rachelle Ang is the Case Manager.

 Over 3,000 students with disabilities have graduated from California State University, Long Beach with support from the DSS program.

For more information on DSS visithttp://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/dss/

Left-Out at CSULB

President Obama, Da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Manroe and Kermit the Frog all face a common challenge with an approximate ten percent of California State Long Beach students, left-handedness!!!! 

Being  left-handed is a challenge? Definitely yes!!! Especially when technically our world primarily caters to people who are right-handed.

For about 3,341 students at CSULB being a lefty means often having to deal with a shortage of left-handed seats in the classroom. Left-handed students at CSULB complain about feeling irritated, uncomfrotable in desks, to students being unwilling to "give up the table for left-handed people,” says Alene Spindel.

Studies show that 10-15 percent of the population is left-handed. If you ask me that is a whole bunch of people that definately deserve to be catered to.

 At CSULB  you dont have to be left-handed  to knotice that the placement of chairs is definatley being neglected.  Marine biology major, Kristiana Marczeski (who is not a lefty) said, “The left handed chairs are always at the back in the dungiest area of the room like being at the back of the bus.”

So if you are still skeptical that left-handed seating is not an isuue, then you should stop an question why so many student are aware of such a "minimal thing like as chairs, and chair placement."

 CSULB Coordinator of Support Services and Advising Disabled Student Services Peter Perbix stated,
“The only thing a school has to really worry about is public safety not whether a lefty has a desk that works for them.” According to Peter, professors are not obligated to request left-handed tables for students. 

 A reasonable statement from Perbix, but most students in fact have no clue about how to make proper chair request.

(Photographer: Alex Voge)

Sue Brown, Director of Physical and Construction Management is in charge of providing reasonable accommodation in classrooms at California State Long Beach. Students who wish to request a left-handed table are asked to contact the Physical Planning and Facilities Management to explore options for accommodation. 

The department has recently ordered 754 new tablet armchairs to replace broken chairs in Liberal Arts 1 and Liberal Arts 5.  Of these, 60 chairs (8%) were left-handed. 

 For the rest of the story visit http://www.daily49er.com/news/campus-faces-shortage-of-left-handed-desks-1.2649251