An accommodation is a modification that is made to a course, program, service, job, activity, or facility that minimizes disability-related barriers to allow equitable access while maintaining the essential requirements.
There is often more than one way to accommodate a situation or activity. In order for an accommodation to be considered reasonable it must:
- maintain essential requirements and learning outcomes of a course, program, job, activity, or facility.
- not compromise the safety of the student or others or cause an undue administrative or financial hardship.
The DRC gathers information from a student’s self-report, health provider documentation, and the academic program to determine reasonable accommodations. While documentation from health providers is a valuable source of information, it does not solely determine what accommodations will be reasonable.
An access consultant will work with you and your instructors to determine if an accommodation is reasonable. Different courses may require different accommodations. Accommodations are tailored to the individual student and their courses. For example, some accommodations may be useful in a classroom while others may be useful in a laboratory setting.
While the University strives to incorporate Best Practices or Universal Design, at times accommodations are still needed to reduce barriers.
The following are some examples of accommodations:
- Testing accommodations such as additional time, a lower distraction room, or use of assistive technology
- Note taking assistance
- Sign Language interpreting or captioning
- Document Conversion to create alternate text formats
- Access Assistance for students who need audio description, support with manipulation tasks, help with library materials, or other tasks