Society for Pharmacists with Disabilities

Here's another example of student services provided by the UT Austin College of Pharmacy for those who have disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides a variety of special programs and services to assist students with disabilities in their academic pursuits. Based on the needs of the individual, many different kinds of services are offered to students with visual impairments, hearing impairments, mobility impairments, learning disabilities, and other disabilities. Staff in the area also work with faculty and staff to ensure that all University classes and services are accessible to all students. The office is in the fourth floor of the Student Services Building . The phone number is 471-6259. The Speech and Hearing Center, located in CMA 2.200, provides evaluation, remediation, and referral services for speech and hearing problems. These services are rendered on a sliding fee scale. Their phone number is 471-3841. The Texas Commission for the Blind, Flawn Academi...

Most pharmacy schools have resources and support for students who have documented disabilities. For example, here are some segments from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy website: Any UIC College of Pharmacy student who has a documented disability, as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, will be referred to the campus Office of Disability (ODS). The College will make accommodations on a case by case basis with advice from the ODS. Students with disabilities who require accommodations for full access and participation must be registered with the Office of Disability Services. As reflected in the University of Illinois' Nondiscrimination Statement and the UIC Chancellor's Statement of Commitment to Persons with Disabilities, UIC strives to maintain a barrier-free environment so that students with disabilities can fully access classes, programs, services and other campus activi...

This is a sad story of a pharmacy student who literally took things into his own hands. A pharmacy student was sentenced today to six years in state prison for strangling and killing his mother after becoming angry that she disapproved of his pharmacy studies and wanted him to become a physician. Son Richard Lam Nguyen, 31, Garden Grove, was convicted by a jury March 23, 2010, of one felony count of voluntary manslaughter. The defendant is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Science in biology. At the time of the crime, he was a first-year student at Ross University in Dominica, located in the Caribbean, studying to be a pharmacist.   To read about this case, click here .

There's an interesting article published in the 2006  Am J Pharm Educ . titled, "Factors That Affect Academic Performance Among Pharmacy Students." Here's what the authors found: Results Academic performance was significantly associated with factors such as academic competence and test competence. Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater significantly differed in their level of test competence than those with a GPA of less than 3.0. Students enrolled in their experiential year differed from students enrolled in their second year of curriculum on factors such as test anxiety, academic competence, test competence, and time management skills. Conclusion Test competence was an important factor to distinguish students with low vs. high academic performance. Factors such as academic competence, test competence, test anxiety and time management improve as students' progress in their experiential year. Some pharmacy students have learning disabilities and ot...

There's an article in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education titled, "Students with Disabilities: Implications for Pharmaceutical Education." This paper was published in 2001 by Virgil Van Dusen. Here's a brief summary: The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires the provision of “reasonable accommodations” to those qualified individuals with disabilities by providing equal, nondiscriminatory program access in the academic setting which includes professional pharmacy education. This article explores the issues surrounding the disabled student and the corresponding responsibilities of the institution to provide reasonable accommodations. Eligibility for services, including documentation, and the need for the student to self-identify disabilities are discussed. “Reasonable modifications” are reviewed from both a legislative point-of-view and from relevant case law. Also discussed in this article are exception...

If you look on the Internet, you won't find many resources for pharmacists and pharmacy students who get disabled. Where do these individuals go? Forums? Generic disability websites? Blogs? Government websites? We were surprised when we found no significant resource for disabled pharmacists. Therefore, our hope is to build an online community around this website so that we can provide a comprehensive resource for disabled pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and students. Please share your experiences and help others who may be encountering similar circumstances.