Karen Nielson

Karen Nielson resigned from her position as director of UC Berkeley’s Disabled Students' Program, or DSP, Wednesday, and will be moving to work at UC Santa Cruz as director of its Disability Resource Center. 

UC Berkeley students usually share concerns about schedules, waitlists and grading bins on the first day of the semester. However, campus senior Hannah Bailey was more concerned with finding a desk to accommodate her wheelchair.

For many disabled and high-risk students, the return to campus has been frightening and stressful. Routine issues such as lack of ventilation in classrooms become dangerous when students have underlying conditions or are immunocompromised. 

Amid the flurry of hellos exchanged by students and instructors is a general misconception about disability, according to campus graduate student Rosa Enriquez.

Amid national labor market disruptions and employee departures, DSP is experiencing a shortage of specialist staff resulting in accommodation delays for students.

The Disabled Students' Program, or DSP, acquired emergency funding that will allow four staff members to begin work in spring 2022.

UC Berkeley’s Disabled Students' Program will be moving to the Dwinelle Hall Annex as the program finds the need to accommodate its growth. 

In a time of unknowns and uncertainties, many students with disabilities desire hybrid instruction, not as an accommodation, but rather as a matter of ensuring public health.

The Tang Center and the Disabled Students’ Program, or DSP, are offering primarily remote services despite campus resuming in-person activities.

With the resurgence of in-person instruction, many students with disabilities are feeling COVID-19’s presence encroaching on their lives.