Guidelines for Faculty Teaching Students with Disabilities
Disability Services is committed to function as a resource for faculty. We can assist students and faculty in determining appropriate accommodations and creating universal design in the classroom to maximize a student's potential. We are committed to assisting faculty in its legal obligation to fulfill academic accommodations.
Further guidance is provided below:
- Faculty are strongly advised to provide accommodations only if they have received a Letter of Accommodations through the Accommodate System.
- Please note that accommodations are not retroactive.
- Faculty is not obliged to interact directly with outside agencies such as psychologists, medical practitioners, parents and/or other educational institutions.
- Get help on How to use Accommodate via the Access to Accommodate webpage.
- Students will use Accommodate to book appointments for the Testing Center both with testing accommodations and without as arranged by faculty. Information can be found on the Testing Center website.
- If you are using Blackboard to administer exams, please follow the guidance on how to change exam times in Blackboard.
Faculty are expected to include information about our office in their syllabi. This may encourage students to register with our office and remind students to speak to you about their academic accommodations. The recommended syllabus template can be found below.
Syllabi Language
If you are registered with Disability Services and will require course accommodations, please notify me via the Accommodate semester request process as soon as possible so that we might make appropriate arrangements. It is important that we connect to discuss the logistics of your accommodations; please speak to me during office hours or privately after class as we respect and want to protect your privacy. If you need further information or need to register for academic accommodations, please visit the Disability Services Website.
Confidentiality Tips
- Don't open your email with student names in subject lines where it can be visible to others.
- Don't use student names in subject lines.
- Be mindful that every student who has accommodations is confidential, so all interactions should be on a 1:1 basis in a private space.
- Group emails should be bcc'd.