What are accommodation letters?
An accommodation letter is the official notice from our office to you of a student鈥檚 approved disability accommodations. Accommodation letters may come at different times in the semester. Students are expected to request accommodation letters with an appropriate amount of advance notice for you to implement the accommodations.
When are accommodation letters received?
Accommodation letters may come at different times in the semester. While we do encourage students to initiate that notification at the start of the semester, students can register with our office at any point in the semester, or request different accommodations if they experience new access barriers. This can result in either new or updated letters being sent later in the semester. Unfortunately, this means that SSD cannot send you all of the letters at once, and thus you will receive multiple emails.
Students are expected to request accommodation letters with an appropriate amount of advance notice for you to implement the accommodations. Instructors are required to make a good faith effort to meet late accommodation requests and are encouraged to contact SSD with any questions regarding the implementation of accommodations.
Tracking accommodation needs
If you have certain course staff who should receive a copy of student accommodation letters due to their role in assisting with the implementation of accommodations in your course, be sure to include that information in your syllabus statement. You can request that your students forward a copy of their accommodation letter to those designee(s). As per our University鈥檚 responsibility to ensure that equitable access and accommodations are provided to students with known disabilities, we also encourage you to make sure the appropriate course staff have the information.
You can use the Instructor Portal to view copies of your student鈥檚 accommodation letters, or to view a combined list of all the accommodation needs of students in your course(s).
We recommend setting up an email filter to keep all the accommodation letters that we email to you in one, easy-to-reference folder.
Implementing accommodations
Students are expected to communicate with you (or your designee) to discuss the specific logistics of how their accommodations will be implemented in your course. Students know that if they do not have the discussion with you prior to needing to utilize an accommodation (e.g., extended time on an exam), you do not need to honor the request and will assume they are choosing not to utilize the accommodations for your class. If you have questions or concerns about any of the student鈥檚 approved accommodations, particularly if you are unsure if it is a reasonable one for your particular course, reach out to SSD right away.
SSD may also be in touch with you to coordinate the specifics of implementing certain student access needs (e.g., Braille, captioning). We thank you in advance for your partnership in arranging for equitable access!
Testing accommodations
SSD does not authorize any accommodations that require a student to utilize testing services at the University Testing Center. SSD does not run the UTC testing, nor does it manage testing at 91社区. The 91社区 community is lucky to have the University Testing Center as a resource for ANY student.
You as the instructor of the course have the right to determine how to provide the approved accommodations. This may include but is not limited to finding alternative locations with proctors (e.g., TAs), providing extended time in and after class, and implementing assistive technology in a testing conducive environment. SSD will never tell a student that they are guaranteed a seat in the testing center. Instructors and students should discuss how to implementing testing accommodations early in the semester. Feel free to contact SSD if you need assistance.