Faculty Resources

The Access Services office (formerly known as Disability Services) works in coordination with faculty to provide academic adjustments for students with disabilities. Because many accommodations are curriculum based, collaboration between Access Services and faculty is essential to ensure equal access.

We hope this resource page will provide guidance for you regarding student accommodations. Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions you may have.

Referring Students

Access Services recommends that you include a statement in your syllabus, such as the following:

"If you need accommodations for a disability, if you have emergency information to share, or if you will need assistance in the event of an evacuation, please discuss this with me in private or contact the Access Services office."

If a student lets you know they have a disability, all you would need to do is refer them to the Access Services office. Keep in mind that students may not use the term ‘disability.' They may say they have a ‘condition’ or that they had ‘special services’ in high school, or an IEP or 504 plan. These are all indications that the student may have a disability. If you’re not sure, go ahead and refer the student to Access Services and we can meet with them to make that determination.

Accommodation Procedure

After you refer students to Access Services, we will ask them to complete an intake form and provide documentation of disability. We then work with the student to determine what accommodations might be appropriate. An accommodation form would then be issued if indicated. 

The accommodation form is written generally, for all classes, but at times adjustments may be needed for a specific class. If you have questions about how an accommodation may work in your class, please contact the Access Services office as soon as possible to discuss alternatives. Instructors should provide the requested accommodation until an alternative is arranged.

Confidentiality

All matters related to disability are confidential. If a student starts talking with you in front of the class about a disability, you would want to help them protect their privacy and talk with them outside class in private.

When talking with the student in private, it’s recommended to focus on a discussion of accommodations or how their disability may affect them in your class and not the specific disability.

Accessible Technology

Accessible software and hardware are available for students to use in computer labs or in the classroom. Jaws, Dragon and ZoomText are networked and available on any student facing computer. Other software is available upon request. Please refer students to the Access Services office if they request accessible technology. We may need instructor assistance to install software in some computer labs.

Accessible Content

Videos must be captioned before they are shown in class. Please note auto-generated captions may not be accurate.