Instructors

Remember to make sure students work with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) in order to receive accommodations in your course. For example, if a student tries to approach you with a pill bottle to document his or her disability or a psychological evaluation for you to review, please encourage them to work with Student Accessibility Services so that reasonable accommodations can be determined. To ensure consistent accommodations with each student and inform students of available support services, please make referrals to Student Accessibility Services. A student should obtain a Faculty Notification Letter from SAS, which will be provided to a student’s instructors upon request each semester, before receiving accommodations.

Faculty members are not required to make modifications that fundamentally alter the nature and content of a course. There is no need to dilute the curriculum or reduce course requirements for students with disabilities. The same standards should be applied to students with disabilities as to all other students in evaluation and assigning grades. However, special accommodations and modifications might be needed in the way information is presented, in methods of testing and evaluation or as it pertains to classroom attendance or participation

It can sometimes be helpful to discuss implementation of reasonable accommodations with students; however, these discussions should be limited to helping the student understand how their accommodations will be provided. Asking questions about a student’s disability, such as the diagnosis, must be avoided. Students have the legal right not to disclose the diagnosis; they need only discuss how reasonable accommodations assist them in their academic environment.