Requesting an Accommodation

Disability Services · Room A-134 · ext. 2144 · Coordinator: Grace Timmen, M.Ed.

How to request

Submit a request through the Disability Services form in DroverNet, in person at Room A-134, by mail, or by contacting the Coordinator at ext. 2144. There is no charge, and no deadline; a request may be made at any point in a term. Accommodation is not retroactive; it begins when approved. Students are encouraged to request before the term begins, particularly for programs with shop, barn, clinical, or field components, where implementation may require equipment or scheduling arranged in advance.

The request asks for three things:

1. the condition or functional limitation, in the student’s own words;
2. the barriers the student has encountered or expects to encounter; and
3. the accommodations the student is requesting, if known.

A student who does not know what accommodation to request should submit the request anyway. Identifying workable accommodations is the Coordinator’s job, not a condition of asking.

Documentation

Documentation guidelines are published, but the College accepts a range of evidence, including a prior IEP or 504 plan, a letter from a treating provider, and the student’s own account of their functional limitations. Where documentation is incomplete, the Coordinator will begin an interactive process rather than deny the request. The College does not charge for evaluation and does not require a specific diagnosis to be disclosed to instructors.

The interactive process

The Coordinator acknowledges a request within five business days and schedules a meeting with the student. The meeting reviews the request, the documentation, and the requirements of the student’s program. For programs with shop, barn, clinical, or field components, the Coordinator may consult program faculty and, where applicable, Environmental Health and Safety, without disclosing the diagnosis. A determination is ordinarily issued within ten business days of the meeting; requests requiring equipment, site arrangements, or external coordination may take longer, and the Coordinator states an expected date in writing.

On approval, instructors receive a letter stating the approved accommodations. They do not receive the diagnosis, the documentation, or the reason. An instructor who believes an approved accommodation cannot be implemented in their course must contact the Coordinator and may not decline it directly to the student.

Licensure examinations

The College’s accommodation does not bind a state licensing board or an examination vendor. Testing accommodation for a licensure examination is requested from the board, not from the College, and students are advised to inquire early. Career Services assists with these requests.

If a request is denied

A student who believes an accommodation was wrongly denied or improperly implemented may file with the Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Bernadette Ollsvig, Room A-118, ext. 2240, who is a different person than the Disability Services Coordinator by design. A determination is issued within 20 business days. A student may file with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights at any time, and is not required to use the College’s process first.

Known physical access limitations, and the schedule for their remediation, are published at /about/accessibility. Employee accommodation requests go to Human Resources, ext. 2240, not to Disability Services.