FAME: Definition < Grievance Procedures < Rights & Responsibilities

Typically students with disabilities progress through their programs with complaints that are no more frequent and no different from any other student. Most accommodations are implemented with relatively few concerns that can be worked out between the student, faculty member, and Disability Support Services (DSS). Occasionally, however, a student believes he or she has been subjected to discrimination or harassment. There are also times when a student, a faculty member, and DSS cannot agree on appropriate accommodations. The law requires that institutions identify a grievance process (6 Law) to resolve those situations.
While the process will be shaped by each institution's policies, there are some basic elements institutional policies will have in common. Discrimination and harassment based on disability are similar to discrimination and harassment based on race, gender, or ethnicity, so there can be a single process to cover these. However, accommodation issues are unique to disability and there typically will be a separate process for complaints about accommodations.

There are four basic stages to a grievance. These stages are stepwise; that is, if complaints cannot be resolved at initial stages, subsequent stages are implemented on an as-needed basis. The four stages are informal procedures, formal review, appeal, and third-party involvement:

Informal procedures. Most institutions identify an informal stage as the first step in responding to a complaint. Informal processes identify an institutional representative (such as an ADA Coordinator, Dean, Judicial Affairs Officer) to mediate a resolution. The mediator's role is to help individuals on both sides of a complaint understand each other's positions. In instances when complaints are based on unreasonable expectations or misunderstandings, the informal process provides a less adversarial environment where an individual can more easily withdraw their complaint. When complaints have a more grounded basis, the goal is to find a compromise or common ground that would be, if not a win-win, then at least a satisfied-satisfied situation.
Formal review. The second stage is a formal review of the complaint by a designated institutional representative (a grievance officer or a grievance committee) who will investigate the facts surrounding the complaint by taking statements from all parties, interviewing technical experts or witnesses, etc. There is typically a time limit to the fact-finding, which may conclude with a hearing. At the conclusion of the process, the institutional representative makes a judgment.
Appeal of initial ruling. If either side of a complaint is unhappy with the initial judgment, they can move to the third stage by filing an appeal of the initial judgment. Appeals may be heard by an upper-level administrator of a committee. There is usually a short timeline for decisions that are based on a petition or letter written by the individual requesting the appeal, and typically the process includes a review of the information gathered in the initial fact-finding in the context of institutional policy. In some cases, there may be additional fact-finding and at some institutions, there may be 2 or more levels of appeal.
Third-party involvement. The final stage, if the individual is not satisfied with the internal process, is to go outside the institution and file complaints with outside agencies. Most often, an outside agency would be the Federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), but it could also be the Department of Justice for a private college, a State level civil rights agency, or a suit filed in Federal Court (6 Law).