Five sentence summary:
If you're denied accommodations, you don't have to accept this and give up. Deciding whether or not to escalate things means considering your health and what evidence you have, and your next steps will depend slightly on what options you've already taken. There are avenues inside your school and outside if you're denied an accommodation. Depending on the department you speak with and the process you take, resolving these conflicts can take weeks, months, or even years. They can also require a lot of your time and energy, so it is crucial to have a good support system.
If you're denied your accommodations or are discriminated against because of your disability, you don't have to give up and accept your fate. That said, fighting for your rights is just that, a fight. It is often exhausting, it can be demeaning, and retaliation is not unheard of. It can also take a lot of time. Professors violate the ADA all the time (on a related note, you should know how the ADA protects you).
Things to consider before proceeding
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Five sentence summary:
Your rights to services/accommodations are covered under the American Disability Act. It states that disabled students need equal opportunity to all services, programs, and experiences offered to non-disabled students. It protects you against discrimination. It also does not require you to disclose your disability if you do not need accommodations. Accommodations can be denied under certain circumstances.
As a student, your rights are covered under the American Disability Act or the ADA. This is a federal law.
Which schools the ADA applies to
The ADA covers all public institutions as well as any private college, university, technical program, or career program that receives federal funding (so pretty much every college). It guarantees equal opportunities and services and prohibits discrimination based on disability. It is the main thing stopping higher education from being even more ableist and unwelcoming to disabled folks, so it's worth knowing about.
Your rights as a student
Under the ADA, you have the right
To privacy. If you do not need accommodations, you do not need to disclose your disability to anyone. You also do not need to disclose your disability to your professors. This means you can give them your accommodation documentation from the disability office, and they can't ask you what disability you have or you at least don't have to answer them. They are not entitled to know what conditions you have or anything else that is not on that paperwork you've given them. Furthermore, your professor cannot announce to the class that you need a note taker because you are hard-of-hearing. To have an equal opportunity to experience the programs, services, and experiences other students have. This includes extra curricular activities and dorm life. If students without disabilities are provided something (housing, transportation, etc.) disabled students should be provided it also. If there's an event on campus that you'd like to attend, but you're unable to wait in a long line like everyone else due to a mobility issue, student services should work with you to come up with an alternative for purchasing a ticket without standing in line yourself. To have equal opportunity to experience the programs, services, and experiences other students have FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION. This means your professor cannot make snide comments about you needing double time for your exams or alternative format for lecture slides. It also means your advisor cannot allow all of their other students to meet weekly with them on Zoom, but require you to come to the office to see them in-person. Circumstances for (legally) denying an accommodation
Under the ADA, universities can deny accommodations if it would incur "undue hardship," meaning significant difficulty or expense, including financial hardship given the overall financial resources of the institution. Accommodations can also be denied if they would fundamentally alter the nature of the service/activity/program.
Your school can probably deny purchasing the latest, most sophisticated screen reading software if it has similar alternatives that are less expensive. This would be an example of an undue hardship. In a writing class, an accommodation request that a long essay be replaced with a verbal exam would likely be denied, as this would fundamentally alter the nature of the course, which is centered on developing written communication skills.
You can find out more information from the US Department of Education's page, Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education. You can also read the full ADA online. It was first written in 1990 and then amended in 2010.
More good resources include College Resources for Students with Disabilities the Ultimate Guide, What if my college isn't ADA compliant?, and The ADA at 30. Key points:
Five sentence summary:
The process varies depending on the school but it can take a long time and it can be a serious headache. You will have to essentially prove that you're disabled, and this can mean finding a lot of documentation from specific doctors and/or making new appointments. You should contact the disability office to find out specifically what is needed, how recent documentation needs to be, and what to do after. If they want additional documentation, it is your responsibility. I recommend starting this early because you may have to jump through some hoops.
Regardless of whether or not you expect accommodations, I recommend every student register with the disability office. Yes, this includes graduate students! If you don't register and you have a professor who acts particularly ableist, you won't be able to do much until you're registered with the disability office. Reminder: Yes, ADHD can be considered a disability. Read more: Is ADHD a disability?
Every school is different, but this process can take a really long time, so you should reach out and contact them sooner rather than later. Keep in mind, they're likely to be busy at the start of the semester, so you may want to reach out over summer. Another thing to remember is that you can register AT ANY TIME. If you are diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the middle of the semester and you need accommodations, you have every right to contact this office and start the process. Now, accommodations aren't retroactive, so you can't apply in October and expect to receive extended testing for the tests you've already taken. Your professors and the office also have to be given a reasonable amount of time to provide the accommodations, which is why it's better to apply before the semester starts, but it's not a requirement. |
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