Sharon Li, Senior Photographer

Last year, Student Accessibility Services embarked on new initiatives to improve the quality of accessibility resources at Yale. Their achievements give them optimism about newly planned initiatives in store for the near future. 

Last March, SAS, in collaboration with the Good Life Center, opened the Good Life Center @ SAS —  Yale’s first space specifically designated for students with disabilities. The Student Workers in Assistive Technology also grew significantly, according to SAS Associate Director Jordan Colbert, who created the SWAT team in 2021. 

In this academic year, SAS plans to keep using technology to address accessibility needs on campus and further develop a Good Life Center space with new programming. 

Technology enhancing accessibility

Last year, SAS collaborated with the faculty of large lecture courses to institute a model for accommodated exams.

Under the new model, a SAS Assistant Accommodations Coordinator works with faculty members and students to coordinate testing accommodations, instead of students having to schedule their own accommodated exams in the Watson Center.

SAS’s major focus last year was using technology to address accessibility needs, SAS Director Kimberly McKeown told the News. As new plans begin, this will remain a priority this year as well.  

The SWAT team, which consists of highly-trained student workers, has grown in both number and competencies.

The team consists of two units. The Accessibility Assistant Unit ensures accessible PDFs for students using screen readers. The Captions, Interpreting and Assistive Technology Team trains students on assistive technology and works with campus partners on accessibility standards. 

In the next year, the team will work on access to a text–to–speech program called Speechify, according to Colbert. 

The team also plans to roll out technology supporting note-taking for students who cannot take notes themselves due to a disability. The program records the audio of a class or meeting and then provides a detailed summary, highlights and transcript. It can also create quizzes based on the information.

SAS is working toward several projects still in development, such as glasses with American Sign Language capability and captions available via augmented reality. 

A space for students with disabilities

SAS Associate Director Susan Olson is enthusiastic about what the Good Life Center @ SAS has in store for the future, including new developments like student programming. 

“Programming is a relatively new endeavor for our office, as our primary work is, and will always be, working with individual students to meet accessibility needs,” Olson told the News. “This new space, though, has given us room to dream around the edges of that important mandate, and we are all really excited about creating opportunities for students with disabilities, and their friends, to engage together in a space that is uniquely theirs.”

The Good Life Center @ SAS expanded its hours this fall. It is now open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays  and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays. 

The center also recently hired two graduate students to serve as programming assistants. Laurenz Dodge ENV ’26 and Mary He SPH ’25 will plan events and programs throughout the semester, all focused on wellness and building community. 

“I’m most excited about the opportunity to create events that support accessibility while bringing people together in a meaningful way,” Dodge told the News.

In addition to wellness programming, the Office of Career Strategy and Office of Study Abroad are partnering with SAS to provide some disability-specific programming on the unique factors that students with disabilities will want to consider in launching career searches or planning a study abroad experience.

The Good Life Center at SAS is located at 35 Broadway.