General Information about OSSD
Policies and Procedures
(Updated Documentation Standards will become available in July or August 2004.)
Information for CSM Faculty and Staff
Links to External Resources
General Information about OSSD
Policies and Procedures
(Updated Documentation Standards will become available in July or August 2004.)
Information for CSM Faculty and Staff
Links to External Resources
No qualified student shall be excluded solely on the basis of disability from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under, any academic, research, occupational training, housing, counseling, financial aid, physical education, athletics, recreation, transportation, other extra-curricular, or other postsecondary education program or activity (adapted from Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973).
The ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act, is federal legislation that reinforces the requirements that ensure the university does not discriminate, based on disability, against qualified individuals who have disabilities (as outlined in Section 504 regulations). In other words, students who meet the basic requirements of a program or activity (qualified) cannot be denied access to any program or activity offered or sponsored by the university solely on the basis of disability. Eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out individuals with disabilities are also not allowed UNLESS such criteria are necessary for successful participation in the program or activity. The nondiscrimination obligations of the ADA are patterned after the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504. Both acts stress providing equally effective access to all university programs. The regulations of both acts also outline the types of auxiliary aids and/or reasonable accommodations the university is to make for qualified students with disabilities. These include, but are not limited to, the following: moving classes to accessible locations, providing alternatives to print material, allowing the tape recording of lectures, providing sign language interpreters, changing the length of time for completion of assignments, providing adaptive computer equipment, and adapting or modifying testing situations as appropriate for an individual student need. However, accommodations are not meant to change the fundamental elements of a program or activity and they are not designed to guarantee a student's success. As defined by Section 504 and the ADA, a person with a disability is someone who currently has, has a history or record of, or is considered to have, a physical or mental condition that significantly limits a major life activity. These activities include, but are not limited to: walking, seeing, hearing, learning, breathing, etc. While some disabilities are apparent, others may not be. Verification of the presence of a disability is supported by appropriate documentation when necessary. Although the majority of students with disabilities have permanent conditions, students with temporary disabilities may be eligible for support services depending upon the availability of resources (not required by law, per se). Accommodating a student with a temporary disability can aid in the retention of the student since many temporary disabilities can disrupt a student's normal functional abilities for academic activities (e.g. taking notes or writing exams due to hand surgery). A qualified person is anyone who meets the basic requirements of a program or activity. Students with disabilities at Colorado School of Mines all meet the basic requirements for admission to the university. Eligibility for accommodations or auxiliary aids is determined by information supplied by the student including appropriate diagnostic documentation by qualified professionals.
A reasonable accommodation modifies the environment (including policies and/or procedures) or a task in order to provide access to a program or activity in the most equitable and feasible manner available. The accommodation is designed to minimize the effects of a disability so a qualified person can benefit or participate in an activity to the fullest extent possible. These accommodations are determined individually for each student and are to be appropriate to the specific limitation caused by a disability. A reasonable accommodation is not required if such accommodation would significantly alter the essential or fundamental objective of an academic program or class. Students are responsible for requesting accommodations in a timely manner and must first be recognized as eligible for the accommodation through Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD). The term "reasonable" refers to the match of the nature of the accommodation to the type of limitation presented by a particular disability. In other words, is the accommodation "reasonable" for the student need? When assessing an accommodation for cost, normally the term "undue burden" will be applied. In many cases, the concept of "undue burden" will be judged against the total university's resources and not necessarily those of an individual unit.
As part of the teaching staff of the university, your responsibilities are encompassed in the university's obligations to federal mandates. In other words, you are expected to make reasonable accommodations for a qualified disabled student so that discrimination based upon the effects of the disability does not occur. Therefore, if you are preparing assignments, lectures, exams, etc. and a student requires an accommodation, your cooperation is critical in order for the student to participate fully to meet essential or fundamental requirements of the class. However, you are not responsible for determining what is and is not a reasonable accommodation for a student. The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD) is responsible for determining appropriate accommodations for students and is available to help you in providing a reasonable accommodation based on the requirements of your class or program and the needs of the student. Nor are you solely responsible for the full provision of an accommodation. OSSD coordinates most of the more common accommodations needed by students for the university, including the provision of interpreters. Please feel free to contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD) 303-273-3377.
Instructors are critical players in the provision of reasonable accommodations. However, the responsibility for the initiation of an accommodation begins with the student. Students are responsible for notifying their instructors of the need for an accommodation. At the beginning of each semester, OSSD will send a Confidential Faculty Letter to you, as written verification of the disability and the accommodations the student is eligible to receive. Students are expected to personally meet with you within the first few weeks of the semester to discuss the information provided in the Confidential Faculty Letter. Students are advised to use this initial contact to discuss their needs although some students may come to you at any time during the semester. Some instructors may be able to provide an appropriate accommodation directly; other more specific accommodations are coordinated through OSSD. Each accommodation is determined individually with each student.
Before an accommodation is provided, students should first be recognized by the university as eligible for accommodation. OSSD is the university unit responsible for verifying a student's eligibility. Each accommodation determination is related to a student's particular disability and other information including appropriate diagnostic information provided by the student.
Accommodations are both disability and person-dependent. Depending upon the individual need, reasonable accommodations may vary, even for the same "type" of disability. Some common accommodations have included requests for extra time or alternative environment for exams, copies of lecture notes and overheads, reading what is written on the board or on overheads, speaking slower for an interpreter to follow, an extension on deadlines for assignments, using a microphone for a closed-circuit sound system, adaptive computer programs/equipment, and an alternative method of testing mastery of material. There may be some students who will not realize they need an accommodation until immediately before or after the first exam. This situation may make it more difficult to determine the most appropriate accommodation depending upon the timing of the request, the disability, and the need of the student. While you still have an obligation to try to work out a reasonable arrangement with the student, it may not be necessary to provide exactly what is requested, especially if it is after-the-fact. Contact OSSD personnel (303-273-3377) for further clarification if you encounter this type of situation.
If a student requests an accommodation you feel is unreasonable, or for other reasons question its validity, feel free to contact OSSD (303-273-3377). Most students who identify as having a disability will have had contact with this office and their needs have been verified by professional staff. However, if a student has not identified him/herself with the office, please feel free to refer the student to the office so that the staff can help in the process of determining the most appropriate and reasonable accommodation concerning your class.
Even though you may be able to provide a specific accommodation independently, please discuss the accommodation with OSSD staff who have more experience in determining what may or may not be appropriate for a given need, especially if an accommodation is requested by the student without our verification. If the student has not contacted OSSD, they should provide you with documentation of their disability when requesting specific accommodations. It is preferable that you refer the student to the OSSD. Not all requests for accommodations by a student may be appropriate or necessary for a given situation.
A disability inherently can put a student at a disadvantage in comparison to the other students in your class. An accommodation for the particular limitations of a disability is meant to minimize this disadvantage and to "even out the playing ground" - or to provide an equitable environment for the student with the disability. Therefore, it can be considered UNFAIR to the disabled student to NOT provide an accommodation.
An accommodation is related to the presence of a hearing, visual, mobility, learning, or other disability. Since the majority of your students will not have such conditions, it is unnecessary to accommodate them in the same way because their needs as individual students will be different than those of a student with a disability. No two students are alike. Therefore, the need to treat them as if they were all the same, or equal, is an inequitable and unjust expectation. In addition, research indicates that accommodations such as extra time on exams does not benefit the student without a disability while it significantly improves test scores of students with disabilities (time constraints may actually test students' limitations rather than their knowledge). It is important, however, to remember that all students should have the same expectation to learn the material of a particular class. Some students will do well and some others will not; sometimes due to individual student effort and motivation and sometimes due to the method you choose in teaching and/or measuring their learning. However, the latter can present artificial barriers to students with disabilities regardless of their effort and motivation. Accommodations are means by which disabled students have the opportunity to transcend these barriers as they participate in the educational process.
Accommodations are by no means foolproof and even with a reasonable accommodation a student may still fail to learn the material. Nevertheless, what is important is that the student is given the opportunity to learn, and a fair chance to show how much he/she has learned, through methods that facilitate both those processes.
Both ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are civil rights laws. A student who feels discriminated against based on his/her disability has the right to file an informal or formal complaint internally with the university's Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Office and/or an external formal complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights for further investigation. In addition, the ADA allows an individual direct access to the courts as a means to address the claim of discrimination and you can be held personally responsible for your actions.
For more information concerning your individual responsibility, please contact the office for Student Development and Academic Services, Suite #8, Ben F. Parker Student Center, 303-273-3377.
Students often identify with OSSD when first arriving on campus. However, many students do not self-identify until they are faced with a problem or anticipate one. Some students who suddenly find themselves struggling in this environment have been found to have undetected disabilities, the limitations of which they have been able to cope until challenged by specific course work or material.
In addition, since some disabilities are acquired, there may be students who become disabled while attending classes. This includes both permanent disabilities as well as temporary ones.
In support of the university's overall commitment to retention, OSSD will provide support services to students with temporary disabilities as long as resources to do so are available.
Students with mobility, visual, hearing, learning, and with chronic health conditions attend CSM. The majority of students who identify themselves with a disability have permanent limitations. However, OSSD has also worked with students with temporary limitations such as broken legs or short hospitalizations.
Mobility, visual, and hearing disabilities are usually readily recognizable. Mobility impairments include the difficulty of moving from one place to another, use of hands or arms, or simply accessing buildings, classrooms, or other locations. Visual impairments often result in difficulties with print material in different degrees - ranging from those who need things slightly enlarged to those who need an alternative to print material (e.g. audio or tactile).
Hearing limitations range from the need to use hearing aids and speech reading to the need to communicate through alternative methods (i.e. sign language). The other conditions identified as disabilities might be less obvious and include such conditions as psychiatric impairments, epilepsy, severe asthma or allergies, chronic pain, cardiac limitations and learning disabilities, including Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Central Auditory Processing Deficit (CAPD). While some chronic health conditions require little accommodation, students with these disabilities may find themselves facing attitudinal barriers that exist concerning these conditions. OSSD can act as an advocate for these students when necessary.
As "invisible" disabilities, learning disabilities are the most challenging for an academic environment. A "learning disability" can manifest itself in a variety of ways. However, it does not mean a student with one has a lower intelligence nor does it mean a student cannot learn. In fact, CSM students with diagnosed learning disabilities have scholastic records comparable to other students admitted to CSM. There are various causes of learning disabilities, many of which are considered genetic. What is recognized about them is that they are neurological based and are related to how the brain deals with the activity of learning.
A student who has been diagnosed as having a learning disability experiences difficulty in one or several processes associated with learning. These processes often involve encoding and decoding information. In other words, a student may have difficulty taking in information (e.g. in reading or in hearing correct words), in processing information (e.g. understanding the meaning of a question), and/or in showing what they know and understand (e.g. through written work, through speaking, etc.). These processes can also affect a student's ability to perform common behavioral tasks such as focusing and filtering out distractions, understanding abstract concepts, spelling, listening and taking notes, manipulating numbers and symbols, or interpreting body language and other social cues correctly.
The educational system has been designed for the "average" student with the expectations he/she can and will learn through a standard process. Therefore, students with learning disabilities can find it very FRUSTRATING in such an environment. They often know and understand material but are unable to demonstrate their knowledge through methods that are considered "ordinary" means of measuring mastery. Sometimes they may have difficulty knowing what to study, whether to focus on details or general concepts, or how to apply theory. While these difficulties may be experienced by any student occasionally, a student with a learning disability experiences these difficulties as part of daily life, sometimes not realizing when something is amiss until given feedback (i.e. a failing grade on an exam).
The following are offered as suggestions when you have a student with a disability in your class.
You may want to include on your syllabus a statement that invites students to talk to you if they have a need for an accommodation due to a disability or other situation. Students are sometimes intimidated with the act of speaking to instructors because of negative experiences they have encountered in the past concerning their needs. Your demonstrated willingness to work with a student can often make it easier for a student to approach you early in the semester rather than in the middle of a crisis. Again, if a student has not yet had contact with OSSD, this may be a good time to inform them of university procedures for obtaining accommodations.
If a student is hard of hearing, facing the class while lecturing will be helpful for those students who lip-read. You may also be asked to wear a microphone that is programmed to work with an individual FM system a student will have. This system focuses your voice directly and allows the student to use his/her hearing aid more effectively. (Note: this system has also been used by students with specific types of learning disabilities such as central auditory deficit or attention deficit disorder (ADD) to minimize distractions.)
If a student is deaf, he/she will be accompanied by a sign language interpreter. You will be contacted prior to the beginning of class by either the interpreter or another representative from OSSD who will orient you to working with a sign language interpreter. A classroom interpreter will position him/herself in view of the student as well as within hearing distance of you.
The interpreter is also available to reverse interpret - or voice what the student wants to say. It is important to remember to speak to the student and not the interpreter when conversing with the student since the interpreter is there to simply translate words into and from signed gestures. If your pace of lecturing is too fast for the interpreter to follow you may be asked to repeat or to slow down so that the student does not lose important information. Remember, too, whatever the interpreter voices will be the words of the student and not the interpreter.
If you plan to use videos, slides, or other visual media, it might be helpful to have someone in class describe the material orally to students who are blind. Written material may need to be converted to alternative formats and your cooperation in this process may be to provide an extra copy of a book (for someone from OSSD to read aloud on tape) or copies of printed handouts prior to distribution to the class so that they may be translated into an appropriate format (i.e. Braille).
Some students with learning disabilities may not realize they are experiencing trouble in a class until they take an exam. More frequent testing throughout the semester or other measures of performance in addition to exams is often helpful for these students. Study guides can also be helpful for students who have difficulty differentiating the minutia from what is important.
Some students find it difficult to take notes in classes based on their particular disability (e.g. unable to use hands, learning disability, hard of hearing, etc.). At times, a student may ask you to make an announcement for a volunteer note taker (someone to share his/her notes with the student). Your cooperation in this process helps, especially if the class is a large one and the student does not know anyone in the class. Notes will often be taken on carbonless paper provided by the student or will be copied through OSSD. An outline of your lecture may also be helpful for students as well as copies of overheads for students who have difficulty copying information. In addition, some students may need to use tape recorders as an accommodation or other assistive devices/auxiliary aids in lieu of taking notes.
If you conduct a class that requires students to work with computers, specific adaptations may need to be made for a student (usually those who are visually or mobility limited) for help. Contact OSSD at 303-273-3377.
Students who have difficulty taking standard exams under standard conditions may require an "alternative" testing procedure. Some may only need extra time and a quieter environment. Others may need a reader and/or scribe. Students with particular processing problems may need an alternative format in order to demonstrate their knowledge (e.g. an essay or oral exam instead of a multiple choice or vice versa). Another alternative may be to have a student give her/his answers on a tape rather than in written form. Students may need to meet regularly with their instructors in order to clarify points or simply to verify they are understanding the material correctly. Your willingness to meet with students will be especially helpful for these students. At times, too, a student may request help in locating study partners or tutors to help in learning class material and your assistance could be invaluable if you are aware of particular students who are doing well in your classes.
For more suggestions as to how to help a student with a disability be more successful in your class, please contact OSSD, 303-273-3377.
Having a disability is a personal issue for some individuals and students are not always comfortable discussing such aspects with others who might not understand. Some students may have an undiagnosed disability (usually learning) and not realize they need an accommodation. Others may feel there is no need for an accommodation from their instructor until something goes awry. If you decide to approach a student, it is strongly suggested you do so within the context of the student's performance in your class. The issue of a disability may be part of the discussion but it is recommended that it not be the focus. It is a student's choice to request an accommodation although you are free to offer any assistance you feel might facilitate an individual student's learning process. Students can be referred to OSSD for further assistance. If a student suspects the presence of a learning disability, diagnostic testing referrals can be made.
Feel free to contact OSSD, in the office of Student Development and Academic Services, located in Suite #8, Ben F. Parker Student Center, 303-273-3377 regarding questions you might have about disabilities in general or about students with disabilities. Contacts in the office include Mr. Ron Brummett, Director of Student Development and Academic Services, and Kristen Wiegers, Disability Services Coordinator.