Grand Opening of New Student Access and Disability Services Office at ECC

Elgin Community College’s (ECC) Student Access and Disability Services has a new home on campus. The office is now located in Building F, Room 120 at ECC’s 1700 Spartan Drive in Elgin. The new office’s grand opening reception is Tuesday, February 3, from 11 am to 1 pm. The office is open to all students now for the spring 2026 semester.

“One of the great benefits of our new office is that we’ll have a front desk area and a lobby or waiting area for students,” Pietrina Probst said,  the director of ADA and student access & disability services. “They [the staff] meet with those students throughout the semester to check in on how they’re doing with their accommodations. They also provide any extra support with time management, study skills, and other strategies to help them in their courses.”

The new office will house all staff in one location and feature three private testing rooms. Previously, Probst’s office was in Building B, Room 125. The rest of the department staff (two accessibility specialists/student success coaches, two administrative assistants, and the assistive technology and testing accommodations coordinator) were previously housed in Building B, Room 105.

Probst said testing rooms have been a challenge for students in the past. Previously, there was only one testing room, and if two or three students needed to test at the same time, they would have to wait. 

“The disabilities and access services office helped me immensely when I first started here at ECC in 2021,” said ECC student Colby Doom, who has autism and ADHD. “They helped me with requesting my accommodations and getting to know them. Working with the office helped me become more confident in my ability here at ECC, and being my own advocate.”

Doom’s accommodations include having extra time on tests, being able to use a smart pen to record lectures, requesting PowerPoint presentations or copies of notes between tests or quizzes, and preferential seating in the front of the classroom. 

The office space will include readers, cribs, and assistive technology on a computer, in a minimum-distraction room designed to meet the needs of students. One room is a dedicated assistive technology room where students can use a Braille embosser, assistive technology, and help from the testing accommodations coordinator. 

“Working with our architect, we designed a space that’s visually very inclusive, and we have this tactile wall that really evokes the feeling of being in nature, like a pattern, which is really cool,” Probst said. “From what the architects have shared with me, having that type of tactile and pattern that relates to nature is helpful for people who are neurodivergent.”

For more information on Student Access and Disability Services, head to elgin.edu/student-services/student-access-disability-services.