Obtaining Disability Accommodations and Related Services at the College Level
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If you are a student with a disability attending, or planning to attend, a college or university, you may need academic or work-related accommodations and related support services. The only way you can receive academic accommodations and services42 related to a disability is when you:
1. Contact the coordinator of disability services on your campus;
2. Provide the required documentation of your disability;
3. Request services each academic term; and,
4. Work out specific accommodations.
Contacting Disability Services
All colleges have a person assigned to provide services to students with disabilities. (Schools may or may not have an office titled “disability services,” or similar, where these services are managed.) The office or coordinator, who is often identified as the Disability Services Coordinator, may be located in the college’s counseling or student affairs center.
If you wish to request accommodations, you must do so by registering with this office. If you are already attending the college, you should meet with the Disability Services Coordinator to find out what documentation of your disability is required. If you are planning to attend the college in the near future, you should ask ahead of time about the documentation requirements and due dates.
**Note: It is recommended that you register with Disability Services prior to entrance to college.
Providing Required Documentation
All colleges – community, technical and four-year/graduate universities – require documentation of a student’s disability and need for accommodations in order to determine:
• Eligibility for services, and
• The specific accommodations and services that are needed.
If you are a student who received special education or other disability supports in high school, the school psychologist, private psychologist or a medical doctor most likely completed testing. A copy of that assessment may be sufficient as documentation of your disability. Your most recent IEP (Individual Education Plan) and/or SOP (Summary of Performance) can be helpful, but generally won’t qualify as documentation of your disability for college purposes.
Some colleges have a time limit on accepting documentation. Most colleges will accept documentation as valid if the date of testing is within three years of the date of college enrollment.
Since most high schools have a time limit on how long they retain student records after graduation (usually five years), it is best to request a copy of your last IEP and a copy of an updated assessment (performed by the school psychologist or medical doctor) before you graduate.
If you must be tested for a disability after high school graduation, you must pay for that testing and it can be expensive.
Requesting Services
After meeting with you and reviewing your documentation, the Disability Services Coordinator will better understand how your disability impacts your learning, and will be able to determine possible accommodations. Keep in mind that services must be requested from the Disability Services Office each term. Services will not be offered unless you make the request. You are your own best advocate to make your needs known, and to request additional help if the provided supports are not addressing your learning needs. You “should be able to describe how [your] disability affects the following aspects of learning:
- Classes(lectures,laboratory,webbasedclasses,collaborativegroups) •
- Assignments(reading,writing,calculating,keyboarding,librarywork)
- Communication(speaking,listening,usingphonesande-mail)
- Evaluation(tests,papers,oralreports,grouppresentations,projects)
- Timeconstraints(timedtests,deadlines,assignmentduedates)
- Attendance(class,requiredactivities,residentiallivingrequirements)43”
Working Out Specific Accommodations
It is important to know what accommodations are available, and which are likely to work for you. You may not need the same accommodations for each class – a history class, for example, may require a different accommodation than a math class. You will be in partnership with the Disability Services Coordinator and the course instructor to work out which accommodations will work best for you.
Although the college is required by law to provide a reasonable accommodation, they may not always agree to your request for a specific accommodation. Determining which accommodations will be effective can sometimes be a process of experimenting and making adjustments.
Accommodations in an academic setting may include, but are not limited to:
- Provision of note takers, reader, scribe for exams, proofreaders, editing services, lab assistants, and tutoring. (Note: individual tutoring is not a required accommodation, and is considered by many schools as a personal service for which the student must arrange and pay.)
- Provision of textbooks and other educational materials in alternative form, such as audiotapes, large print, electronic format (e-text) or Braille.
- Access to adaptive computer equipment (i.e., Assistive Technology) in computer labs and libraries.
- Sign language, oral interpreting and real-time captioning services.
- Alternative testing services such as; extended time, quiet location, taped tests, oral test, alternative test site or use of a computer as an aid for quizzes and exams.
- Access to adaptive equipment such as closed caption devices, amplified phone receivers, low visionreading aids, tape recorders and computer enhancements.
- Equal access to classes, activities, housing and services.
- Preferential seating in the classroom.
- Extension of timelines to complete assignments, certification or degree requirements.
- Permission to take less than full-time credit and still be eligible to receive financial aid.
- Foreign language and math course substitutions, e.g., option to take foreign culture class instead of foreign language.
- Early registration.
Adapted from: Ladders to Success: “A Student’s Guide to School after High School,” Puget Sound Educational Service District, 1966.42 See Footnote 45, page 55. Also, see discussion under section titled: The Why, What, When & How of Disclosure.43 Region Five Transition Guide, http://sharedwork.org/documents/TransitionGuide.pdf
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