The Disability Resource Services (DRS) program at Stanislaus State provides many opportunities for disabled students, helping them to better reach their educational goals. Disabled students’ lives are often made more difficult due to disabilities that can complicate how they accomplish things and how active they can be in school and in other aspects of their lives.
Having a disability can look different from person to person. It can mean that a student can be physically disabled, intellectually disabled or they might even have an invisible disability. There are many other types of disabilities as well.
Marvin Williams, Director of DRS, said that DRS is the campus entity to help students with disabilities get reasonable accommodations as is their right.
“In short, we help students with disabilities have equal access to the curriculum and student life,” he said. 
Williams said it’s important to note that accommodations do not give DRS students an advantage over other students and that the accommodations that DRS students have provide them with equal access. Accommodations should be viewed as help to make the lives of disabled students easier, not as disabled students being given an advantage over other students.
DRS gives many students who utilize the services hope that they can accomplish their dreams and has changed the ways many of them think about their lives. 
Michael Vickery (junior, Kinesiology) has epilepsy.
For him, his epilepsy is an invisible disability, meaning that he does not use a wheelchair or any other equipment to get around. He believes DRS is a great program because the DRS staff show genuine care for their students, and they want to give any assistance they can to help disabled students accomplish their goals.
Tamara Mena (alumna, Communication Studies) graduated in 2011, suma cum laude, and has been an advocate for disabilities since becoming paralyzed at the age of 19 in a tragic car accident. She was the first disabled student to become the a commencement speaker, and she felt honored to be chosen as the speaker. Since leaving Stan State, Mena has become a motivational speaker, actress, and model who has never given up on her dreams. 
“DRS always made me feel like I mattered, and they make sure that students with disabilities are properly accommodated,” she said. “That made me feel important and valued as a student.”
DRS staff takes pride in being available and engaged with all DRS students both past and current. 
Williams said he is proud of each and every one of the past and current DRS students, adding that he has been impacted by them in many ways.
“I see how hard they work, how much they struggle, and how far they make it,” he said. “I see them grow and learn that they can [and will] achieve great things if they believe in themselves and put forth the effort. Even when they fail and choose a different path, I’m proud of the growth I see in them.”
The DRS program continues to do many positive things for its students and gives them enormous possibilities for the future. While disabled students may not want to be seen as inspirational, they should be proud of how much they motivate others to become better people and how much they change our campus and community around the campus to be inclusive to everyone.