Disability Accommodations

The Office of Accessibility Resources is responsible for assessing each student petition for accommodations and for determining which reasonable accommodation may be used. The latter question may require sustained communication with faculty. Approved accommodations are communicated to the faculty in all cases. 

It is our policy that faculty ought to wait to receive documentation from the Office of Accessibility Resources of an approved accommodation and not make any changes based on any other information. 

To find out which of your students have approved accommodations, visit the Accommodate system. Sign in with your Carleton username and password.

When your homepage comes up, click on “Courses” in the blue section along the top. You will see a list of all of the courses you are teaching during the current term. Click on the course you are wondering about, then click “Enrolled Students.” A list of all students in your course will populate. At the far right of that list, you will see a heading called “Accommodations.” If any of the students in your course have accommodations, they will be listed in this column.

Self-advocacy is an important expectation of students with approved accommodations. The student is responsible for approaching their professors to discuss their accommodations. However, some students find it difficult to take the first step. Although instructors are not required to initiate the process, they are encouraged to help their students by aiding them to first talk about their accommodations and plan ahead. Faculty may use the Recommended Syllabus Statement to inform all students of the standard process.

Even though students are encouraged to process accommodations early in the trimester, they cannot be forced to do so and cannot be penalized for having asked for an accommodation later in the term. Disability conditions can arise at different points in a person’s life and students can make determinations about when to request accommodations. Faculty are obligated to implement an accommodation from the point of notification, or within a reasonable period of time. Faculty are not obliged to retroactively apply an accommodation before initial notification. 

Faculty are encouraged to use standard syllabus statements to let students know that they ought to communicate as early as possible about any approved accommodations they plan to use in a course. These statements may incentivize earlier communications by reminding students that accommodations are not retroactive and that they ought to be acknowledged in a timely fashion prior to their use. 

This is a dangerous course of action. Faculty who handle accommodations this way are assuming legal responsibility for a matter that requires expertise that is best represented by the Office of Accessibility Resources. If a student receiving this kind of “informal” accommodation later complains that they were treated unfairly or that the informal accommodation was ineffective, the faculty member could conceivably be held responsible for violating the student’s civil rights. At a minimum, the faculty member would be found to have violated college policy and might face sanctions as a result. 

The Dean of Students Office often provides initial communication with faculty about a student’s injury or other recent health concern. In some cases, students will also work with the Office of Accessibility Resources. Faculty are welcome to contact the Office of Accessibility Resources to consult about how to manage student requests for accommodations or adjustments due to a recent injury or health concern. Depending on the injury and its origins (athletic or non-athletic), the faculty may need to speak with an Associate Dean of Students, who will be in more direct contact with PEAR and SHAC personnel. 

Knowing a student’s specific diagnosis is less important than understanding how a disability affects learning and then working with the Office of Accessibility Resources on a reasonable accommodation. Students are not obligated to disclose their specific diagnosis and it is against policy for faculty to press the issue. Students may, however, elect to disclose details if they choose. Even in these cases, faculty must protect the privacy of the student and not discuss the disability or identify the student as disabled to other students, faculty, and staff (who are not otherwise connected to the Office of Accessibility Resources). 

Yes, but the student with the approved accommodation must never be identified. The same is true if a note-taker or captioning service are employed. The identity of the student with the accommodation must be kept confidential in all cases. 

Instructors ought to discuss their concerns first with the Office of Accessibility Resources and/or Yansi Pérez, Associate Provost. In all cases, students who have been approved the use of a recording device aid are required to sign a confidentiality agreement that protects the privacy rights of other students and any copyrights of intellectual property in the course. This requirement requires the destruction of the recording at the end of the term, after all work has been evaluated. The Office of Accessibility Resources verifies with the student at the end of the term that all recordings have been destroyed. 

Indicate in your syllabus statement regarding your laptop policy that you will review individual cases and approve laptop use under certain circumstances, including but not exclusively, in cases of approved accommodations. 

Faculty may elect to prorate the student’s attendance or use some other standard to assess the student’s participation, preferably in accord with a plan negotiated with the student earlier in the term. Faculty may not downgrade a student’s participation score if they have an approved accommodation regarding class attendance. 

Consult with the Associate Dean of Students, who will have direct access to SHAC, and/or the Office of Accessibility Resources. If the professor cannot determine if the illness is disability-related, then the absence can be handled according to the attendance policy as described in the course syllabus. It is not expected that a student with a chronic health condition will see a medical provider for each flare up of symptoms. 

Normally, a student requesting a testing accommodation must provide a minimum of 72 hours notice to an instructor of an approved accommodation for testing. If notice is shorter, we still recommend that the instructor provide the accommodation, if they can, but there is no requirement in this case. Consultation with the Office of Accessibility Resources in these cases is recommended. 

No, because that would not provide the same educational benefit to the student with an accommodation. Normally, the content of an exam must not be changed, only the period of time for completing the task may be altered. If a student takes an exam before or after the rest of the class, the instructor has the option of changing some of the content to preserve the integrity of the exam, but the assessment mechanism must not vary substantially from the original copy. 

Yes. From a compliance standpoint, students with extra time accommodations must receive more time than the total given the rest of the class. Only take-home and other forms of “unlimited time” assignments and exams are free from the extra time accommodation. 

Normally, approved accommodations must be implemented from the moment that notification is given to a faculty member. A reasonable period may be allowed for making adjustments, such as to a classroom exam schedule, or negotiating modifications to the accommodation in light of course requirements. But any further delay in the implementation of an accommodation can constitute a form of discrimination against the student. 

A student with a disability is to be evaluated in the same way that other students are in the same course. If an accommodation ought to be adjusted to equalize a disabled student’s opportunities for learning, the professor should contact the Office of Accessibility Resources. Otherwise, the instructor should discuss their concerns about a disabled student’s performance with that student, just as they would with any other student in the course. 

Yes. Accommodations at Carleton travel with the student on a Carleton OCS program. Implementing the approved accommodation pertains to both Carleton faculty and any other instructors, including foreign nationals, who are hired by the College to teach Carleton students. For non-Carleton programs, faculty and advisers should consult with the OCS office for further guidance.