Academic Accommodations Request Procedure:
Students requesting academic accommodations should submit the Academic Accommodations Request Form along with supporting documentation from their treating health care provider Disability Documentation to Disability Services.
After this appropriate documentation has been submitted, requesting students should arrange a meeting with the Director of Disability Services. At this meeting the Director and student will discuss reasonable accommodation based on the submitted documentation and how the student will implement the accommodation(s).
Students’ whose requests are denied or who are dissatisfied with the process or its outcome have the option to file a petition using the Grievance Procedure.
Academic Accommodations and Adjustments
ADA & Equal Access
The purpose of accommodations is to provide equal access for otherwise qualified students with disabilities. The office of Disability Services makes determinations regarding appropriate accommodations and adjustments on a case-by-case basis. We require documentation from the treating health care professional and encourage a great deal of input from the student in order to understand the functional impact of the disability on the student’s ability to access courses, programs, services, and activities.
In some cases Disability Services will request input from faculty in order to consider unique characteristics of a particular course or program of study, such as performance based standards associated with internship or fieldwork experiences. All students must be able to meet essential academic, behavioral, and performance standards associated with a course or field of study. Generally, academic accommodations are related to accessing course print and audiovisual material, lecture content, and tests.
Access to course print material
Students with print (vision, reading) disorders may request accessible course material as an accommodation. The office of Disability Services will request accessible PDF’s of required textbooks submitted through the College Bookstore Faculty Adoptions Procedure prior to the beginning of the semester for qualifying students to access with a screen reader, such as Adobe Acrobat.
If your instructor uses supplemental course print material or readings on reserve in the Library, please request these materials are converted into an accessible format.
Access to Class Lectures
- Recording Class Lectures:
Permission to Record Class Lectures is an accommodation approved by Disability Services to provide students with certain disabilities equal access to lecture content. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (45 CFR 84.44) identifies audio recording as a reasonable academic accommodation. The Director of Disability Services will send an accommodations letter notifying faculty of approved accommodations.
Student Responsibilities:
Upon approval of this accommodation, the student needs to:
- Complete the Recorded Lectures Agreement; and send a signed copy to Disability Services. By signing this agreement, the student acknowledges they will not to share any course recordings, and acknowledges that the recordings are solely for their personal educational use.
- Talk with their faculty about whether a course involves personal reflection, self-disclosure, or confidential discussions, and discuss how these should be handled.
- Discuss any concerns with the Director of Disability Services
Student Resources:
Students approved for recording class lectures may find the following links useful.
Audionote for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows
Office for Civil Rights – Q & A Regarding Audio Recording
- Assistive Listening Devices:
Some students who are hard of hearing may use FM systems. FM systems utilize wireless technologies to amplify the speaker’s voice via a lapel or independent microphone, and may be effective for students who have residual hearing.
Learn more… https://www.csun.edu/ncod/assistive-listening-devices
- Inclusive instruction:
It may be reasonable for students with disorders affecting auditory processing to request teaching faculty speak only when facing the class, and not while writing on a white board or facing away from the class.
Testing Accommodations
Elizabethtown College is committed to providing equal access and reasonable academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and/ or services for qualifying students. Students who qualify for testing accommodations should contact the Office of Disability Services at the beginning of each semester to specify which faculty they would like to receive a copy of the accommodations letter. Students should arrange to meet with each of their faculty to discuss the accommodations.
Students have the right to take exams in the most appropriate environment, whether that be the classroom with their peers, or another suitable place with reduced distractions or assistive technology such as a screen reader. Their preference for testing locations should be strongly considered. Students who prefer to take test in the classroom need to make arrangements with faculty for the extended time based upon available space, their schedule, and their professor’s schedule.
The Learning Zone offers a space for students who choose to take tests in a separate room or with assistive technology. In this event, faculty can provide the following information to disabilityservices@etown.edu
- an electronic version of the exam
- the date and time the student plans to take the test
- how to contact you during the exam in case there are questions
- specific testing instructions, such as use of a calculator
- the length of time permitted for students taking the exam in class
Completed exams will be scanned and returned to faculty as an email attachment – the original will be sent through campus mail. According to the Faculty Handbook Final Exam Policy (4.10 H) students with three exams in one day may directly request of a professor that one exam be rescheduled during exam week. Three exams taken under standard conditions would necessitate nine hours of testing. For students qualifying for 50% additional time for testing, two exams scheduled in the same day involves nine hours of testing. While the faculty handbooks states there is no obligation on the part of the faculty member to reschedule the exam under standard testing condition, this request should be considered an accommodation. All requests for rescheduling an exam must be made at least five class days before the start of the final exam week.