Ball State University gained recognition from College Magazine with the #1 ranking in their article, “Top 10 Campuses for Students with Physical Disabilities.” Recently, Ball State was listed as one of the "Best Disability-Friendly Colleges of 2025" by Intelligent.com.
Additionally, Dr. Courtney Jarrett, DS Director, won the 2024 Student Affairs Benny Award for Professional Staff Member of the Year and celebrated 15 years of service at BSU. Most recently, the Office of Disability Services was nominated by Women in Business Unlimited for the 2024 ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award.
Students at Alliance for Disability Awareness club and DS pottery painting eventThe role of Disability Services (DS) is to coordinate services and accommodations for students with disabilities. DS is currently assisting an ever-growing number of students, with approximately 5,205 students registered this year. We want to continue our long-standing tradition of accessibility and remain a university that is committed to accommodating students with all types of disabilities.
In addition to coordinating accommodations for our growing student population, Disability Services also strives to provide strong programming to help students develop important skills to facilitate life-long success, such as speakers and events hosted during Disability Awareness Month in March. Contributions to the Harris Fund via One Ball State Day gifts make this work possible. Two of our more sizable projects are our Faculty Mentorship Program and our former Summer Bridge Program. You can read about both programs below.
Students attend our annual Disability Advocacy Training session. The Faculty Mentorship Program matches brand new, first-time fall semester freshmen with faculty mentors in their chosen major/field. These faculty mentors are trained to work with students with a variety of disabilities and meet with their students as often as mutually agreed upon. Students who participate in this program are retained at a higher rate than the students with disabilities in their cohort who choose not to participate. The DS office continually strives to help students with disabilities stay at BSU and graduate at the same rate as their peers without disabilities. Your support on One Ball State Day allows us to do just that.
DS staff and ADA club students with Donelle Henderlong, keynote speaker and BSU alum, for Disability Awareness Month 2025Contributions have also supported our Summer Bridge Program, through the Office of Student Life. Past Summer Bridge Programs at Ball State have provided incoming freshmen students the opportunity to move in a few days early and participate in co-curricular, skill building workshops of all kinds before the Fall Semester begins. First piloted in Fall 2023, Disability Services began hosting our own Summer Bridge Program, Connecting Accessible Resources with Disability Services (CARDS), available to students who have registered early with our office. This program assisted students with disabilities who are excited to come to college but concerned about their adjustment to life on-campus and college-level coursework by providing them additional time to adjust and early access to campus support and resources. Participating students worked on developing a strong sense of belonging and community, an understanding of their role and responsibilities as a student, and building strong self-advocacy tools. The upcoming change in the academic calendar and addition of the Weeks of Welcome means that Summer Bridge programs have been sunset; however, donations will still be utilized toward similar Disability Services programming for incoming students during the new Weeks of Welcome.
Our 2025 Summer Bridge cohort poses for a group photoOur pilot program welcomed 27 new freshmen with disabilities to campus early to participate. Through our first year, we found that participating students gain an inside knowledge of themselves as college students, and have thrived both academically and socially using these newly-sharpened skills. Last year in 2025, we hosted this program for 21 new Ball State freshmen and brought back a handful of the students from past CARDS groups as Group Mentors. With your help, we can continue to support incoming students through programming and events!
Ball State Disability Services is dedicated to providing students with disabilities opportunities and experiences to help them grow academically, socially, and prepare them for life after Ball State. Your One Ball State Day gift will allow us to continue this important programmatic work for current and future Cardinals. Chirp Chirp!
Disability Services 2025 Award Winners
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