Beyond the Stacks - December 13th 2021

Effects of the Coronavirus on College Students. Report available at: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/20210608-impacts-of-covid19.pdf Recently, I had a brief conversation with several print-disabled college students about how they were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Although things are slowly becoming better, the students presented common complaints about ZOOM, lack of accessibility, technological blackouts (drops), and overall uncertainty, but there were few details regarding how the pandemic affected them personally. I searched Google and found the extensive report: Education in a Pandemic: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on American Students from the Office of Civil Rights. Although the report was lengthy I focused on the eleven observations for students K to postsecondary. To focus on the MAT program patrons, I have included only OBSERVATIONS 9 and 11. OBSERVATION 9 (postsecondary): COVID-19 has raised new barriers for many post-secondary students, with heightened impacts emerging for students of color, students with disabilities, and students who are caregivers, both for entry into higher education and for continuing and completing their studies. OBSERVATION 11 (postsecondary): Students with disabilities in higher education are facing significant hardships and other barriers due to COVID-19, threatening their access to education, including through remote learning, and basic necessities. While college life is beginning to look more like the days of old, the pandemic is certain to be a continuous topic of discussion with its effects lasting months, perhaps, years to come. The MAT Program will monitor future outcomes and report new information as it becomes available.