The Ross Center for Disability Services

Student Handbook

• Introduction
• Eligibility for Services
• Requesting Accommodations
• Services and Accommodations
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Confidentiality
• Grievance Procedure
• Time Lines for Service Requests
• Other Support Services

Rights and Responsibility

• Student's Rights
• Student's Responsibilities
• Ross Center's Rights
• Ross center's Responsibilities
• Faculty's Rights
• Faculty's Responsibilities

As a student with a disability, you have the right to:

• Appropriate confidentiality of all information related to your disability.
• Equal access to courses, programs, services, jobs, activities, and facilities available through the University.
• Appropriate reasonable accommodations according to your disability, which may include academic adjustment, and/or auxiliary aids determined on an individualized basis using required documentation.
• Be treated respectfully by all University personnel.

As a student with a disability, you are responsible for the following:

• Disclosing your disability and providing current documentation regarding your disability from an appropriate health care professional to the Ross Center.
• Completing the Semester Service Request Form and meeting with the RCDS staff member each semester to review course requirements and obtain Confidential Faculty Letters for each instructor.
• Meeting with faculty to get the Confidential Faculty Letter signed and discuss disability-related needs and accommodations.
• Requesting all services in a timely manner. (See Time Lines and Service Requests in section above)
• Reporting any concerns that you have regarding accommodations as they arise. Otherwise, it inhibits the Ross Center’s ability to address your concerns.
• Treating all university personnel with respect.
• Meeting the University’s graduation requirements and qualifications essential for full participation in any academic program.

Ross Center for Disability Services has the right to:

• Request current and appropriate documentation of your disability.
• Discuss a student’s need for reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids with the professional who provides the written verification of disability (with the student’s signed consent).
• Deny a request for accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids if the documentation does not meet the guidelines set forth in this handbook.
• Refuse to provide specific accommodations if:
• The request is not made within the timeline and procedures as specified in this handbook.
• It constitutes a substantial change or alteration to an essential part of a academic program or course.
• It poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others.
• It poses undue financial hardship on the University.
• The faculty member has not been notified.
• Select the most appropriate or equally effective accommodations, adjustments, or auxiliary aids through discussion with the student.
• Suspend services if the Student Code of Conduct has been violated.
• Be treated respectfully by all students.

Ross Center for Disability Services is responsible for the following:

• Maintaining the student’s confidentiality with respect to their disability.
• Ensuring that all programs, courses and services through the University are provided in the most integrated settings possible.
• Orienting students to information regarding policies and procedures at the RCDS and ensuring their availability in an accessible format upon a timely request by a student.
• Supporting reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, adaptive equipment and/or other auxiliary aids for students with disabilities on an individualized basis upon request and with appropriate documentation.
• Informing students with disabilities of University grievance procedures.

The Faculty has the Right to:

• Determine course content and general methods of teaching.
• Make informed decisions about how to best adapt their teaching and assessment methods to accommodate all students.
• Ensure that the standards in their courses are not lowered or compromised.
• Ensure that a student has demonstrated mastery of the essential requirements of a course in order to obtain an appropriate grade.
• Fail any student if he/she does not demonstrate mastery of essential course requirements.
• Question a specific accommodation request if it is either inappropriate for their course, or if the nature of the request would alter the essential requirements of a course.
• Determine through consultation with knowledgeable professionals the most appropriate ways to adapt their course to the needs of a particular student, without violating the confidentiality of a specific student.
• Be treated respectfully by all students in their class.

Faculty members are responsible for:

• Acknowledging that students who are registered with the RCDS have provided adequate and appropriate documentation of their disability from a registered health care professional. Accommodations are based on this documentation.
• Respecting confidentiality with regards to the specifics of the student’s disability.
• Signing the Confidential Faculty Letter and other appropriate forms in a timely fashion.
• Provide course syllabus and all other relevant course material at least a month in advance upon request of registered Ross Center students who may need information in an alternative format.
• Learning about RCDS policies and procedures and cooperating in the coordination of services.
• Understanding that some students with disabilities have academic or behavior problems that are not related to their disability. Faculty members are not obligated to treat such problems differently than they would for a non-disabled student.
• Enforcing the Code of Student Conduct equally for all students.

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