How can faculty help students
disclose their disability and advocate for appropriate accommodations?
Faculty can:
Faculty can:
- Create a welcoming climate. Incorporate a disability
statement on your syllabi and openly express your willingness to provide
accommodations.
Video Clip: Syllabi Disability Statement
Duration: 0.7 minutes
Video Clip: Effective Climate Practices
Duration: 1.0 minutes
Video Clip: Invitation to Disclose
Duration: 0.7 minutes
Video Clip: Receiving Disclosure
Duration: 1.1 minutes
- Invite the student to disclose learning needs through open
communication. For example, engage the student in a dialogue about how his/her
disability impacts their learning. You may say-
- "In what ways can I help you understand the class material?"
- "Can we work together to brainstorm some possible solutions for difficulties you might have with the course?"
- "How have other instructors met your learning needs?"
Video Clip: Influencing Success
Duration: 0.6 minutes
- Respect student privacy. By law, a student does not have
to disclose what type of disability (1 Law)
he/she has or reveal specifics about that disability unless he/she chooses
to volunteer that information. Students only need to state that they have
a disability and provide verification from their institution's Disability Support Services (DSS) office
in order to receive accommodations.
- Be prepared to accommodate students with disabilities at any point in the semester. Although faculty and disability service providers encourage students to disclose early in the semester, whenever students choose to disclose, they have a right to accommodations (4 Law) as long as the accommodations are approved by DSS and the appropriate documentation (2 Law) is on file.
