Student accessibility services strengthens assistance for instructors

To help instructors successfully implement students' reasonable academic accommodations, student accessibility services (SAS) staff have developed trainings and updated accommodation descriptions to provide clarity. 

The number of accommodation requests continues to increase rapidly. From 2019 to 2023, requests grew from 528 to 1,260. In fall 2023, 8,022 accommodations were approved by SAS staff with many students needing more than one.

"With the increase, we had to make sure we are meeting the demands of students and the partners we work with because we do accommodations for housing, dining, in the classroom, service and emotional support animals, and facilities," SAS director Clara Hernandez said. "That increase puts more on us, and we know that means it puts more on our partners."

All three regent universities are seeing significant increases in accommodation requests. In fall 2024, Hernandez shared that (combined) 51% of students with accommodations have neurodevelopmental diagnoses (such as ADHD, autism), 48% psychological (for example, generalized anxiety disorder), 24% chronic health conditions (such as Crohn's disease, diabetes) and 4% sensory (low vision, deaf or hard of hearing). Students often have needs in multiple areas.

"Students are getting more support in schools at a younger age, providing them the opportunity to come to a university," said SAS assistant director Josie Irwin. "The culture around disability has shifted a little bit to being more open, and students are more vocal."

Help for instructors

A significant change started two years ago when SAS began emailing a survey to every instructor who received a letter for a student accommodation during the year. Hernandez said it generated a high response rate and helped shape two new workshops that, beginning this fall, will be offered numerous times each semester. The two workshops are:

Understanding Accommodations: Legal Foundations and Practical Guidance for Instructors

Making Accommodations Work: Practical Strategies for Implementation

"The first one explains the process students go through to receive accommodations and the university's legal responsibility. It also defines SAS and the instructor's roles," Hernandez said. "The second workshop focuses on the implementation of accommodations. We highly recommend that instructors participate in both workshops."

Each virtual workshop is 90 minutes. Early sessions of the understanding accommodations workshop are: 

• Aug. 19, 10-11:30 a.m.
• Sept. 9, 10-11:30 a.m.
• Oct. 8, 2-3:30 p.m.

The making accommodations work workshop will be offered:

• Aug. 21, 1-2:30 p.m.
• Sept. 11, 1-2:30 p.m.
• Oct. 10, 10-11:30 a.m.

Faculty and instructors will receive an email with more information about the workshops the week before the start of fall classes. Irwin said faculty also can join a monthly email newsletter to stay updated on enhancements or changes to accommodations.

How accommodations happen

Hernandez said the process of approving an accommodation begins with a meeting between the student and a SAS consultant to review documentation about the necessity of the accommodation. Not every request from a student for an accommodation is approved.

If a request is approved, SAS staff help the student understand their rights and responsibilities related to their accommodation(s). Students are responsible for contacting an instructor about an accommodation after notification from SAS. SAS staff sends an email to the instructor to alert them of the student's approved accommodations and confirms that the student will contact them, Hernandez said. The email outlines instructor and student responsibilities and provides resources that address common instructor questions.

The student and instructor meet and formulate a plan that works for both of them. Hernandez recommends instructors document the meeting and what was agreed to, and email it to the student for their records. SAS provides an accommodation planning tool (PDF) on their website which can be used as a template for documenting these plans if instructors choose to use it.

Clarity for accommodations

Hernandez and her team spent the summer updating more than 100 accommodations with more specific and understandable descriptions to help both students and instructors when they receive an accommodation email. 

"The gist of the accommodation has not changed. But the language may have been inconsistent because different accommodations may have been written by different people," Irwin said. An example of an accommodation update is that assistive technology is now identified by its general function rather than manufacturer, for example "reader software" instead of "Kurzweil."

Instructors typically have up to a week after finalizing the accommodation plan to implement it. Student accommodation emails are sent beginning the week before classes start each semester. Hernandez said accommodation clarity is important because they can look different in classrooms, lecture halls, labs and studios.

Testing accommodations

SAS also offers a testing center to students who need a low-distraction environment or private room. An area in the Hixon-Lied Student Success Center was expanded two years ago to meet demand. SAS uses the same system as the university testing centers to reserve space for exams.