Tucked away in a corner of the ground floor of the New Academic Building, among the computer labs and IT desk, is a new space designed with the needs of disabled students in mind. This is the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD) Sensory Room. It is a fairly small room, but it contains a vast array of sensory experiences that can help anxious and dysregulated disabled students calm and soothe themselves.
This space was added to the resources that OSSD offers because of the obvious need for a place where disabled students dealing with an overwhelming campus, heavy course loads, and the other stressors of daily life could come and relax and recharge. Psychology major and senior, August Romeo, who is neurodivergent, shared with me over email, “I actually asked Stacey [DeFelice, the Director of Services for Students with Disabilities] in Fall 2024 about if they had any availability to rooms where I could hang out since it was my first time back on campus after a year of online classes and I was having anxiety. To my surprise, over the summer, she, Natalie [Caesar, the Accommodations Coordinator], and Aly [Membreno, OSSD student intern] had worked on a sensory space.”
A visitor to the room will notice right away that the small space, about the size of a faculty office, is kept dark and quiet. The overhead fluorescent lights are rarely on, the room is instead lit by a choice of a floor lamp with dimmer control and a light projector that displays colorful designs and can be paired with a soothing sound machine if wanted. There is a chair and desk, with art supplies and a sand tray. But along with that more typical seating, there are bean bag chairs and an egg swing, along with weighted blankets and weighted stuffed animals for a variety of sensory and tactile experiences. The shelves around the room are filled with fidget toys and there is a freezer stocked with cooling neck rings and cold gel eye and forehead packs.
In their email, Romeo told me, “I enjoy the spinning egg chair the most, and the access to art supplies and the colorful light projector.” They also explained why they find the sensory space so useful: “It allows me to have a space to calm down during a meltdown or overstimulation with the feeling of privacy since before I would have to calm myself in the stairwell.” Finding a quiet, private place to manage a meltdown, panic attack, or other form of dysregulation is difficult on a campus that is bustling with activity. The classrooms and hallways are full of people, the Campus Center often has a DJ playing loud music – before the sensory space existed, there were limited options for privacy and peace, the stairwells, as Romeo mentioned, and sometimes the restrooms, if those weren’t also full of people. Having this space is a welcome addition for the almost six hundred students registered with OSSD.
In order to use the Sensory Room, a student must be registered with the OSSD. If you are dealing with a disability or condition that impedes a major life function, such as academics, you can reach out to Stacey DeFelice to request accommodations. Her direct number is (516) 628-5666, her email is [email protected], and her office is 2065 in the NAB. According to DeFelice, it doesn’t have to be stereotypical things such as being a wheelchair user or blind or deaf or having a learning disability. Many students have accommodations for mental health conditions, autism spectrum disorder, neurological disorders, and chronic health conditions. Once a student is registered with OSSD, Stacey and the other staff will work with them to figure out the reasonable accommodations that the student needs to succeed as a student at Old Westbury. Along with the typical accommodation of extra time on exams at a separate location, there are a variety of others available – from Messenger Pigeon, a note-taking program, to Kurzweil, a screen-reading software. Accommodations are not limited to these options however, Stacey works with each student to figure out what accommodations will best help support them.
August Romeo is so happy with the current sensory room, that they encourage everyone to push the administration for more spaces like it. They want to let fellow students know, “Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself! Send an email to the dean of students, or President Sams about OSSD sensory space so they know that it is working and should be added to more buildings!”
