Rights and Responsibilities

a. Student Rights and Responsibilities

Students Have The Right To:

• Expect all disability-related information to be treated confidentially.
• Receive appropriate accommodations in a timely manner from faculty or SDS. Students should have the opportunity to meet privately with faculty to discuss needed accommodations and any other concerns. Please keep in mind that SDS is the only office designated to review disability documentation and determine eligibility for appropriate accommodations for students.
• Appeal decisions regarding accommodations and auxiliary aids.

Students Have The Responsibility To:

• Self-Disclose and provide SDS with appropriate documentation of the disability that meets the university documentation guidelines.
• Meet with the instructor during their office hours or make an appointment to facilitate privacy in order to engage in an interactive conversation about the student’s accommodations.
• Initiate requests for specific accommodations with SDS in a timely manner, preferably early in the semester.
• Follow procedures with faculty and SDS in order to put appropriate accommodations in place.
• Inform SDS of the materials you need in alternate format as soon as possible.
• Notify faculty/SDS immediately when an accommodation is not being provided completely or correctly.
• Notify faculty/SDS immediately when a decision has been made to not use an accommodation or the accommodation is no longer needed.
• If student is utilizing other SDS services (e.g. Adaptive Test Center, Accessible Furniture), they are responsible for following prescribed SDS procedures to put those accommodations in place.

• Provide for their own personal independent living needs or other personal disability-related needs. For example, coordinating services of personal care attendants or acquiring homework assistance are student responsibilities and are not the responsibilities of the instructor or SDS.
• Act as their own advocate. Work with counselors on developing advocacy skills and communicating your specific needs and accommodations to faculty.

b. Faculty Rights and Responsibilities

Faculty Have the Right To:

• Request verification of a student's eligibility for any requested accommodations. Such verification will be in the form of an official notification from SDS. (SDS is the only office designated to review disability documentation and determine eligibility for appropriate accommodations for students.)
• Expect the student to self-disclose their accommodations needs to SDS
• Expect the student to engage in an interactive conversation about their approved accommodation requests.
• If the student is taking their tests at SDS, expect SDS to administer exams in a secure and monitored environment.

Faculty Have The Responsibility To:

• Identify and establish essential functions, abilities, skills, and knowledge of their courses and evaluate students on this basis. Students with disabilities should meet the same course expectations as their peers.
• Provide accommodations only to students who are registered with SDS. It is NOT your responsibility to provide accommodations to students who are not registered with SDS.
• Use a syllabus statement and class announcements to invite students to disclose their needs.
• Act immediately upon getting a student's request for accommodations by engaging in an interactive conversation with the student about their accommodations.
• Contact SDS (if unsure about request) to further discuss the accommodation.
• If a student needs alternative media , please provide SDS with syllabi, textbooks, course packets etc, well before classes begin (at least 4-8 weeks prior to the start of the semester is recommended) in order for students with disabilities to use alternative media when all other students have course materials. With such timely consideration, students with disabilities who have alternative media needs for accommodations and instructional access will be best served. Converting print materials is both labor and time intensive. Alternative media may be print material in Braille, scanned onto discs, or enlarged.
• Work to ensure that all audio-visual materials used in class are accessible (e.g., that videos shown are captioned for students with hearing impairments and that the VCR equipment used has captioning capabilities, that videos shown will be made with auditory description in some way or that written transcripts will be provided, etc.)
• Consider incorporating principles of Universal Design for Learning in your teaching. More information about University Design can be found at UDL guidelines
• Clearly communicate your testing procedures with the student and with SDS.