At first glance, Marie Zappone looks just like any other student at UCLA. She attends classes, socializes with other students and cheers for the UCLA football team.
But Zappone is also a student in Pathway, a two-year extension program for students with learning disabilities.
At the age of 14, a stroke in the right hemisphere of her brain paralyzed her left arm and leg and erased part of her memory. She was soon diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome, a disorder that caused excess clotting in her left brain and kidney.
Her first reaction was fear over what was happening to her. She said she felt the disorder would prevent her from attending college, as she felt not many students with disabilities went on to higher education. But with therapy, she gradually regained her ability to use the left side of her body and improved her memory.
In 2009, upon a friend’s suggestion, she joined Pathway’s third class of students.
According to Eric Latham, the program’s executive director, Pathway is a certificate program at UCLA Extension that works specifically to assist young adults with intellectual disabilities to come and have a true college experience.
Pathway enrolled its inaugural class of 17 students in 2007. The program currently has more than 30 students in its third class of students, who will graduate this June.
A recent $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will also allow the program to add 12 additional students over the next 5 years and focus more on getting high school students with disabilities ready for college.
According to Latham, one of the biggest misconceptions is that having students with disabilities participating in college classes lowers the value of college education for other people.
“That is a barrier we run into, but again, it’s about all the other things you gain from going to college,” he said.
Pathway provides students with tutoring assistance and logistical support, he said. Many of the Pathway students are facing the first time they are living away from home, and the staff lives with them, assisting them in tasks like laundry and grocery shopping.
“For most of our students, going to college wasn’t ever on the radar, and they never expected to go, and now they have this opportunity,” Latham said. “(College is) where we learn about the world and those same things are happening for our students. And you can just see the confidence that they gain from their experiences.”
UCLA students at the dining halls may also have seen Pathway students, as many purchase a non-resident meal plan and have their meals on campus, Latham said. The students enjoy the opportunity to participate in the dining hall and meet other students.
While Pathway helps support disabled extension students, UCLA students who face similar learning disabilities can turn to the Office for Students with Disabilities.
The Learning Disabilities Program at OSD serves about 855 students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, psychological disabilities, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, acquired brain injuries or other learning disabilities, said Julie Morris, the program’s coordinator.
The office helps coordinate academic accommodations based on functional limitation of the student’s disability, she said. If they have a harder time processing information, they may recommend the professor allow the student a separate testing environment and a longer test time. Students are also offered priority enrollment, note-taking services and counseling on areas like time management.
Much of the work involves finding the student’s needs and helping them navigate the program’s services, said Jessica Downey, a learning disabilities specialist for the Learning Disabilities Program.
“It starts with the student, and we work our way out,” she said.
And while Zappone said her ailment still leaves her left arm weak and she occasionally suffers from memory loss, she added that her brain is still healing, and she is doing well in her classes.
UCLA student volunteers help Pathway students with their homework and hang out for activities like going to the John Wooden Center on Tuesday or watching movies or playing games on Friday, Zappone said.
Participants in the program also have to apply for an internship, which results in half the people from Pathway graduating while already part of a steady job, she said.
“(Pathway) helped me to step up, how to become my own person,” she said. “One day I will have to step up and not have to rely on my family.”