Suggestions for Faculty and Administrators
- Determining how to accommodate a student with a disability after they request an accommodation costs more in time and resources than addressing questions about curricula accessibility before a student presents a request. Accessibility to course instruction should ideally be addressed prior to an accommodations request.
- Knowing the people at your institution who provide AT and disability related accommodations makes the process of accommodation provision easier.
- Disability accommodation is a shared institutional responsibility. The DSS office is to help you do what you do best - teach. Your responsibility is to work with the DSS office to determine what the essential elements of your curriculum are and then to work together with the student to ensure that he/she has access to that material.
- Keep an open mind about testing methods, remembering that there are multiple ways for a student to demonstrate his/her knowledge of your course material.
- Accommodation is not about giving a student an unfair advantage. Rather, it's about giving a student an opportunity to demonstrate his/her knowledge.
- Accessibility is not just a disability issue – it's an institutional issue. As an administrator, here are some questions to consider: How are you treating it? How will your AT initiatives be funded? Does administration really support AT or merely pay lip service? How aware is the campus community about AT issues?
- As an administrator, when purchasing AT, don't take a "shopping list" approach to procurement. "I want to start an AT lab. What should I buy?" is a typical scenario that usually ends up with a closet full of equipment collecting dust. Use facts and data about the disability populations on your campus, and make selective purchases that current students need and are likely to be used by future students.
- If you can't afford a fulltime AT professional, find someone in your information technology (IT) department who may be interested in the topic and have him or her facilitate your AT project. In general, DSS personnel are not trained in AT provision.
- As an instructor, be open to AT accommodations in the classroom and on tests. Ask yourself, "Does the accommodation compromise an essential element of the curriculum?" and "Would the accommodation fundamentally alter the course of study?" Be open and respectful of your students' needs.
