Many students on-campus have disabilities that can’t be instantly recognized and can result in misunderstanding
situations. As stated by an expert, “You may look at a student and say, you seem like any other student in the class, then why do you need note-taking or extra time to finish the test? As a faculty or third person, you might not understand the disability in the student, but it directly affects their class participation and performance.”
Accommodations are tools which grant students having disabilities access to educational opportunities. Americans with Disability Act (ADA) enforces such accommodations which don’t lower the expectations or standards of exams/courses, but are designed to assist in student learning of the course, and meet the expectations similarly like the classmates, who don’t have the disability. Disability Resources for Students (DRS) sometimes require professional documentation to support the requests of certain accommodations which will help in disabled student affairs.
Almost all the colleges/universities come under the compliance of ADA, section 504 or both. ADA compliance also provides broad nondiscrimination protection to employment, public accommodations, and public services for all individuals with disabilities. Several federal agencies enforce ADA, which include the Department of Justice, Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and Department of Labor. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973’s Section 504 prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified individuals with disability, based solely on disability, in any program requiring federal assistance. Section 504 is enforced by the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
Students having invisible disabilities may/may not need accommodation in classroom, however, if they do – they need to provide self-disclosure, disability documentation and then request accommodations. Some of them don’t, due to variety of reasons and it could be stressful to both student and faculty. College students with disabilities need to contact the disabled student’s association on-campus before they start their classes. The staff there will typically check disability documentation, determine the accommodations appropriate for the candidate and make necessary arrangements so that the student is comfortable.
An accommodation is deemed inappropriate if,
- It makes substantial changes in the essential curriculum elements
- Alter the objectives of the course
- Impose an undue administrative or financial burden to the institution
- Pose a direct threat to other’s health and safety
If the accommodation request seems unfair, the student, faculty and disabled student’s committee staff may try to arrange for a compromise. Also, the students with disability have full rights to confidentiality. If a student having disability is facing problem at class but hasn’t request accommodation, the faculty is advised to not ask the student if any disability is involved. However, you can suggest resources on campus, including disabled student services which is an acceptable way of offering assistance.
If you want to assess the current institutional policies and procedures related to ADA compliance, you may want to join the webinar Supporting ADA Accommodations beyond the Classroom: Manageable Solutions for Student Affairs by expert speaker Dr. Aaron W. Hughey on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 to assess the policies & procedures assessment, meet the needs of individuals on-campus effectively and more.
