Disability Resources & Services (DRS) uses a combination of information to determine a student's eligibility for services and reasonable accommodations.
This includes but is not limited to a student's submission of an application and documentation, participation in the interactive process with a specialist, and insight from relevant faculty or University staff, when applicable.
Ensuring that accommodations provide effective access requires a deliberative and collaborative process that is responsive to the unique experience of each individual, as advised by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the amendments to the ADA.
Documentation is reviewed by examining the unique functional limitations posed by a student's disability and how this supports the need for reasonable accommodations.
Documentation of a specific disability does not directly translate into specific accommodations. Instead, reasonable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case and course-by-course basis.
Documentation of specific recommended accommodations does not automatically guarantee the approval of those accommodations.
A reasonable accommodation is one that is:
- Necessary to ensure that the campus environment, academic requirements, and/or technical standards do not have a discriminating effect on the basis of disability
- Necessary to ensure a student’s meaningful participation and equal opportunity to benefit from institutional offerings as their peers without disabilities
- Logically connected to the functional impact of a student’s disability in academics and/or the campus environment
- Effective in removing an identified institutional barrier to access
A reasonable accommodation must not:
- Constitute a substantial change to an essential element of a curriculum or program
- Constitute a substantial alteration to the manner in which a service is provided
- Pose an undue hardship to the University
- Result in a risk to the health or safety of others