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“If you would’ve asked me last semester (to disclose her disabilities), I would’ve told you to bunk off,” Dana Drew, social work major at Grand View said.

This year, Grand View University has hired a new disabilities coordinator, Megen Johnson. She will be the third person to fill the disabilities coordinator position in two years. She stepped into a job that is extremely important to many GV students. Even though it is a legal obligation for the college to have the position, it positively impacts students on many levels, even outside of physical disabilities.

Michelle Lively was the previous disabilities coordinator and she made a strong impact on the students that she worked with. Drew used Lively’s services for time and a half on testing, testing outside the classroom, student note-taking, and assistance with an emotional support animal. Drew said that she was always able to go into Lively’s office and talk to her about her day and she listened. Drew strongly expressed how upset she was when Lively left GV. Lively set up a strong platform of communication for her students.

Jordan Wayne, alumni of GV, who worked with Lively, said that his relationship with her was strong and reliable. Wayne hopes that Johnson will be able to connect with students in the many ways Lively did.

The position of the disabilities coordinator at Grand View University opened up the Summer of 2019. The position provides help to make accommodations in and out of the classroom for students who have disabilities. The responsibility of the position, in an accommodation case, is to meet with the student and have them disclose their disability to GV disability services.

The disabilities coordinator will work with a doctor to get the correct documentation necessary to show that they have a need for accommodation. Next, the disabilities coordinator will work with the student one on one to find the correct adaptions to make the student successful. That will then be communicated to professors and other staff involved.

“It is not to give them an advantage, it is to give them an equal playing field,” Johnson said.

Johnson went to Iowa State University to study biology and her goal was to be a physical therapist. She took a year off of college, not by choice but because she was on the waiting list for physical therapy school at ISU. During that time, she was hired as a vocational rehabilitator at the Iowa Department of the Blind. The position was to assist individuals with disabilities to get employed. Johnson acquired the skill of working with individuals to manage their disability, which has helped her with her position at GV.

After leaving her vocational rehabilitation role of 15 years, Johnson found an opportunity to cross into post-secondary education at Des Moines Area Community College as a career coach. In the DMACC position, she helped students enroll in classes and be persistent to finish college and figure out what the next steps were to be successful in the real world. While at work, Johnson’s coworker showed her a Facebook post of an open position for the disabilities coordinator at GV. She applied knowing she had the expertise in the disability field, and her interview sealed the deal.

“You are also looking at what kind of attitude they bring. Are they excited about the possibility or the role? Do they understand the role? Those are things you are trying to access and she checked all of the boxes,” Carl Moses, provost and vice president of academic affairs at GV said.

Johnson has only been at GV in the disabilities coordinator position for a short while but she already feels at home. Johnson has high hopes of getting to know the student body more. One of the goals Johnson has set out for herself is to build a strong and supportive community that includes everybody with a disability. She has already expressed how she wants students to feel comfortable enough to talk with her in the hallways and have her office seen as open and inviting. Johnson wants families or students with disabilities to look at Grand View as the most accommodating and supportive college there is.

High hopes of what Johnson is going to do for the disability community is expressed by many. Drew said that she has a lot of faith in Megen and that she has the capability and education to do the job correctly. Professors and staff add to the support with good things to say.

Drew says that it is very difficult to open up since she is a reserved person, and going through two disabilities coordinators has been hard. Lively made a very strong connection with Drew through Drew’s emotional support animal, Jada. Lively was the one that offered up the idea of Drew obtaining a emotional support animal and assisted with her picking out the correct dog for Drew. Drew and Johnson have only had one meeting this semester, so the time has not come for Drew to completely open up, but she has faith that their relationship will get there.

“I am a firm believer that you don’t do for others, you walk alongside and support,” Johnson said.

Drew said that Johnson has been nothing but supportive and open. She recognizes that Johnson is as very experienced, and supportive. Without the support of the disabilities coordinator position many students, like Drew, would not be where they are today.