An Eight Point Access Guide for Instructors

Text Only Version

1. The Office for Disability Services is the designated campus office to determine academic adjustments and auxiliary aids and services for students with disabilities. The determination is based on the disability documentation provided by the student and the functional limitations presented by the disability. Students must provide ODS this documentation before services are initiated. The person who documents a disability must be a qualified professional. The purpose of adjustments are to give the student an equal opportunity to participate in the academic environment.

2. Students with disabilities have a right to meet with you privately regarding disability matters, and their confidentiality must be maintained. Treat all disability-related information as confidential medical information. Conduct disability-related meetings in a private location. Provide plenty of opportunities for students to meet with you to describe their disability-related needs, to arrange test accommodations, to ask for clarification about what was presented in class, to get help with in-class note taking, etc. Also, a student may come to you with a "proctor sheet." It is important that you complete this form as soon as possible because it assists you, the student, and ODS in coordinating the administration of your exams with accommodations.

3. Students with disabilities need access to course materials and information presented in your classroom at the same time as all other students. As an instructor, you play a vital role in ensuring that materials are available in alternative format in a timely manner. Converting print materials to alternate formats-whether to Braille, audio tapes, electronic format, or enlargements-is both labor and time intensive. Therefore, it is critical that you inform ODS about the textbooks you plan to use and all other print materials as soon as you are requested to do so either by a student or ODS.

4. Students have the responsibility for making their disability-related accommodation needs known to you. Your syllabus statement will welcome students to do so. Students with disabilities are encouraged to make their accommodation needs known to you in a timely fashion so that the appropriate arrangements can be made (they are not, however, required to discuss their disability). You can facilitate this process by including a statement on your syllabus that invites students with disabilities to meet with you to discuss their needs. Here is an example of a syllabus statement: "Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact the Office for Disability Services, Warner Center 226, 740-366-9441, to coordinate reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities."

5. If a student with a disability does not request accommodations, you are under no obligation to provide academic assistance. In other words, you are not asked to guess or predetermine what a student may need. Even with proper authorization, a student may choose not to use authorized accommodations, but a request to provide a previously authorized accommodation must be met.

6. Accommodations should not be provided to a student who has not provided appropriate documentation to ODS. ODS is the only office designated to review documentation of a disability and determine eligibility for specific accommodations.

7. Individual accommodation needs vary from student to student because a disability, even the same disability, may result in different functional limitations. Compensation skills and strategies vary from one student to another, just as instructional methods vary from one instructor to another. Therefore, it is necessary for you and the student to discuss specific accommodations that address the particular needs of that student.

8. ODS provides reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids, and support services that are individualized and based upon disability documentation, functional limitations, and a collaborative assessment of the student's needs. However, if you chose to provide accommodations without making arrangements through ODS, it is important that appropriate accommodations are made. Students with documented disabilities have a right to certain aids and accommodations. Contact ODS if you are uncertain about what is appropriate.

Academic adjustments (accommodations) are legally mandated services, such as:

Extended time on exams and quizzes (generally time and a half, although some students may have double time)
Distraction-reduced testing environment
Reader and/or scribe for tests
Computer for essay examinations
Recording lectures

Auxiliary aids are services, equipment, and procedures that give students with disabilities access to learning and activities in the classroom environment, such as:

Sign language interpreting
Assistive listening devices, which amplify sound
Real-time captioning of lectures
Videotext displays, which allow a deaf student to read auditory portions of a video
Materials in alternative formats (e.g., text scanned onto disks, taped textbooks, Braille, or enlarged print)
Adaptive technology
A lab assistant

Contact the Office for Disability Services for further information. Warner Center 226, 740 366-9246.

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