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100 General Services, Fort Collins,
CO 80523-8002
(970) 491-6385 (V/TDD), (970) 491-3457 (Fax) |
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INFO FOR CURRENT STUDENTS
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RDS is part of the |
100 General Services, Fort Collins,
CO 80523-8002
(970) 491-6385 (V/TDD), (970) 491-3457 (Fax) |
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INFO FOR CURRENT STUDENTS
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Some of you may be considering transferring to another school or going on to graduate school. It is important to note that not all schools operate the same way even if they are under the same federal mandates of non-discrimination based on disability. Your rights and responsibilities, however, remain the same as a student with a disability. For convenience, there are two sections: General Responsibilities and General Rights or protections (still in development).
Below is information that generally gives you an idea of what to expect wherever you are as a postsecondary student. After some sections will be information as to how CSU responds to the guidelines of the federal mandates. The following information is courtesy of the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Washington, D.C. from their publication Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education.
No. However, if you want the school to provide an academic adjustment, you must identify yourself as having a disability. Likewise, you should let the school know about your disability if you want to ensure that you are assigned to accessible facilities. In any event, your disclosure of a disability is always voluntary.
(At CSU, Resources for Disabled Students (RDS) is the responsible unit for coordinating accommodations and/or for verifying the need for an accommodation. While faculty or other staff may provide a specific accommodation, they are not authorized to make the decision whether one is needed or not.)
The appropriate academic adjustment must be determined based on your disability and individual needs. Academic adjustments include modifications to academic requirements and auxiliary aids and services, for example, arranging for priority registration; reducing a course load; substituting one course for another; providing notetakers, recording devices, sign language interpreters, extended time for testing and, if telephones are provided in dorm rooms, a TTY in your dorm room; and equipping school computers with screen-reading, voice recognition or other adaptive software or hardware.
(RDS does most of the above auxiliary aids; for computer access, contact Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC).)
In providing an academic adjustment, your postsecondary school is not required to lower or effect substantial modifications to essential requirements. For example, although your school may be required to provide extended testing time, it is not required to change the substantive content of the test. In addition, your postsecondary school does not have to make modifications that would fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program or activity or would result in undue financial or adminstrative burdens. Finally, your postsecondary school does not have to provide personal attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature, such as tutoring and typing.
(RDS encourages any student who might need any of the things we are not obligated to provide to discuss those needs with us so that we can perhaps provide referrals to other resources.)
You must inform the school that you have a disability and need an academic adjustment. Your postsecondary school is not required to identify you as having a disability or assess your needs without this self-identification.
Your postsecondary school may require you to follow reasonable procedures to request an academic adjustment. You are responsible for knowing and following these procedures.
(RDS is the recognized unit on campus to initiate the process for academic adjustments/auxiliary aids. We require you to meet with our counselor, Kathleen Ivy, or other professional staff for an initial intake and for each semester an adjustment/aid will be needed.)
Although you may request an academic adjustment from your postsecondary school at any time, you should request it as early as possible. Some academic adjustments may take more time to provide than others. You should follow your school's procedures to ensure that your school has enough time to review your request and provide an appropriate academic adjustment.
(The earlier contact with RDS is made prior to the need of the specific adjustment/aid, the easier it will be to provide it. There is no guarantee any adjustment/aid will be available if not requested in a timely manner.)
Generally, yes. Your school probably will require you to provide documentation that shows you have a current disability and need an academic adjustment.
(RDS will work with students who are currently in the process of verifying they have a disability. Up to one semester of support may be granted to any student who does not have documentation verifying their disability and need, with the expectation that the student will provide such documentation to continue receiving support beyond that time frame.)
Schools may set reasonable standards for documentation. Some schools require moe documentation than others. They may require you to provide documentation prepared by an appropriate professonal, such as a medical doctor, psychologist or other qualified diagnostician. The required documentation may include one or more of the following: a diagnosis of your current disability; the date of the diagnosis; how the diagnosis was reached; the credentials of the professonal; how your disability affects a major life activity; and how the disability affects your academic performance. The documentation should provide enough information for you and your school to decide what is an appropriate academic adjustment.
Although an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 plan, if you have one, may help identify services that have been effective for you, it generally is not sufficient documentation. This is because postsecondary education presents different demands than high school education, and what you need to meet these new demands may be different. Also in some cases, the nature of a disability may change.
If the documentation that you have does not meet the postsecondary school's requirements, a school official must tell you in a timely manner what additional documentation you need to provide. You may need a new evaluation in order to provide the required documentation.
(In general, RDS is fairly liberal with its documentation guidelines (see Documentation Guidelines). If an IEP or Section 504 plan clearly states the type of disability you have, it may be acceptable to RDS as a means to verify you have a disability and are eligible for services. However, any documentation does not necessarily dictate what academic adjustment/auxiliary aid you will receive; that is dependent on the type of disability you have and the type of difficulty you are experiencing on this campus.)
Neither your high school nor your postsecondary school is required to conduct or pay for a new evaluation to document your disability and need for an academic adjustment. This may mean that you have to pay or find funding to pay an appropriate professional to do it. If you are eligible for services through your state vocational rehabilitation agency, you may qualify for an evaluation at no cost to you. You may locate your state vocational rehabilitation agency through:
www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/RSA/Resources/State/
(Some students may need to have an additional evaluation done in order to ensure a particular auxiliary aid is appropriate for their needs. The Learning Assistance Center (LAC) at CSU does do diagnostic screening/evaluation for learning disabilities. This screening/evaluation is free to all fee-paying students. Contact the LAC at: Learning Assistance Center.)
The school will review your request in light of the essential requirements for the relevant program to help determine an appropriate academic adjustment. It is important to remember that the school is not required to lower or waive essential requirements. If you have requested a specific academic adjustment, the school may offer that academic adjustment or an alternative one if the alternative also would be effective. The school may also conduct its own evaluation of your disability and needs at its own expense.
You should expect your school to work with you in an interactive process to identify an appropriate academic adjustment. Unlike the experience you may have had in high school, however, do not expect your postsecondary school to invite your parents to participate in the process or to develop an IEP for you.
(RDS works with each student to determine what is most appropriate for a student's individual need. We consider you a partner in this endeavor as well as the faculty member or other university personnel involved with the provision of any auxiliary aid, academic adjustment or other accommodation. While input from your parents may be desirable for you (or them), we consider you an adult and responsible for your own welfare.)
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100 General Services
Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO 80523 USA (970) 491-6385