UI aids those with hearing disabilities

By Emily Melvold
via The Daily Iowan

For the hundreds of deaf or hard-of-hearing students at the UI, such simple tasks as waking up, greeting someone at the door, and taking notes in class all prove to be challenging.

Living with a hearing disability can be a constant struggle, but advisers at the UI Student Disabilities Services work to make students' college experience a little easier.

The service assists 600 to 700 students each semester, providing technological devices and personal support.

Vibrating alarms and watches help students wake up on time, and their dorm rooms come equipped with a doorbell that triggers the lights. In the classroom, some students are assigned interpreters, while others have someone type everything their professor says.

"Things as simple as going to the cafeteria can be difficult at times because of the amount of background noise," said Carly Armour, one of the four UI Student Disabilities Services advisers.

Armour knows firsthand what her advisees are going through on a daily basis - she was deaf during her college years, too.

She said students with hearing disabilities have more opportunities in today's society than in the past. 

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