An influential journey towards Student Services and Student Success: A Caribbean Perspective

An influential journey towards Student Services and Student Success: A Caribbean Perspective

By: Anil Maharaj

I was born with a visual impairment due to congenital cataracts in both eyes. At the age of 2 years, attempts were made by doctors to remove some of the cataracts from both eyes, but this had partial success. Today, I am blind in the left eye and have partial sight in the right.

As I grew older (between the ages of 5 and 6 years old), I eventually noticed that something was wrong with my eyes when compared to my peers at lower school, that is, I realized that I had to look at many items very closely for me to see them almost as clear as my peers. Because I was young, this did not deter me in anyway, but I learnt to and was forced to accept and cope with my sight impairment as a daily reality. For me, it was my norm, and I did not see myself different from anyone in any regard.

My degree of impairment is such that, I am unable to see many small objects clearly, read or write print materials clearly, experience impairment in general physical navigation, especially in dark environments, which may be perceived as many challenges as possible for me. My disability, however, did not hinder me from being the successful young man that I am today.

I am proud to be a graduate of The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus with a full bachelor’s degree, completed within the university’s regular standard of time (3 years). My disability for the period of my academic life served me well in that, it was conveniently used to motivate others around me (both students and academic staff); my peers looked at me as their source of inspiration as my fighting spirit set the tone in the classroom for many lecturers. I was able to educate many students and teacher/lecturers around me and for me, I would say, this is where my first spectrum of student services begun from the basis of a student myself.

In the year 2013, I was accepted and admitted to the UWI St. Augustine to pursue my studies in Management and Economics. Given that I have a disability, automatically, I was extra observant to witness how the university’s culture was trained/taught to respond to students with various disabilities. I also used this opportunity (both in and outside of the classroom) to sensitize peers/lecturers about their views on disability, particularly visual impairment. Over time, many Lecturers have heeded my statements; many would forget that I even had a disability.

More so, when I met the Student Life and Development Department (SLDD), Division of Student Services and Development, where I received top notch accommodation services for exams in the form of extra time and the use of a laptop due to my disability. Through this department, I was able to further learn and influence the culture within the university that one should look at a student’s ability and not his/her disability as part of delivering quality and universal design services to all students. At this point, I classify this experience as a more advanced level in the spectrum of my involvement within student services, as I was employed as a Student Assistant, in addition to volunteering my skills and services as a student. This has led me further into the realm of student services where I started to work together, hand in hand with the department to revolutionize procedures and systems in place to manage student services. I used this opportunity to advocate and conduct presentations on behalf of the department on the major goal of having the university’s culture adapt their services to “creating a Campus without Barriers” so that no student is left behind regardless of a disability or a medical condition.

Having successfully graduated in the year 2016, not all was ended with my relationship with the SLDD; I left the department as a student, but I returned with gratitude in late 2017, where I accepted a job offer to work at the SLDD under the portfolio of Disability Support Services. Today, I now have overall responsibility of the Disability Support Desk at the SLDD. This opportunity has presented me with a lot of advancements towards personal growth and development, it opened my mental eyes to the facets of ‘real’ student services. I now have first-hand experience being a listening ear to students and responding to students’ queries by the implementation of programmes set out to meet student’s needs. Over the 2+ year period, I must say that I have truly gotten to understand students and their behaviours, how they think and the manner and kind of services they desire as today’s generation. Having benefited from this same department as well, personally and professionally, I believe that I understand the challenges that students may face and so, I would adapt my delivery of accommodation services to students accordingly.

My work as a Student Services Assistant is never left behind; my work is always recognised; I can safely say that students of the SLDD, particularly under my care are very pleased and satisfied about the services they have received to date. As part of my job within the Student Services, I spend time trying to develop and empower our students; I encourage them to never let a disability erode their true potential. On many instances, I use my personal visual impairment as a story of motivation to students to paint a bigger picture, that the sky is the only limit. I try to have students maximize their potential and this sometimes involves me speaking with the parents of students.

In this short period of time (2+ years), I eventually took on board that the issue of student services can be a career. Just like an ordinary business serving customers, I see students as our customers and the services delivered to these students are the resulting products. The reality is such that, universities must compete for the same students; this has propelled me to be very strategic and meticulous on what I do and how I conduct matters of student services when it comes to acquiring and retaining students to our products.

As a former student and now an employee of the UWI St. Augustine Campus with a disability, I am prepared to deliver high quality, customized services to our students. I do not see myself superior to any student at all, as I am the type of person who will always appreciate my humble beginnings. I believe that effective delivery of student services, more so in the current virtual environment will play an appreciative role in the lives of students today. I believe in empowering, advocating and educating any university society to embrace full inclusive for all, that whoever the student may be, must be able to cross the graduation stage too. I am prepared to continue to work with students which involves employing measures to ensure that students will be successful graduates, not only limited to their field of academic study, but to produce students who will be well fitted and ready to employ sustainable development in our society at large.

Writers bio:

Mr. Anil Maharaj graduated from The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad in 2016 and is the holder of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Management since. Having won a national scholarship for persons with disabilities in 2014, he was employed as an Associate Professional at the Scholarships and Advanced Training Division (SATD) at the Ministry of Education, Trinidad and Tobago for a period of one year in his bid to repay the value of his scholarship through obligatory service to the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.  Mr. Maharaj is gainfully employed at the Student Life and Development Department (SLDD), Division of Student Services and Development (DSSD) with effect from 28^th November 2017 in the capacity of a Student Services Assistant. Mr. Maharaj has overall responsibility for the provision of quality service for all students who present with disabilities and medical conditions at the SLDD with the main aim of creating a campus without barriers.