Text-Only Version

Welcome to NDSU Disability Services!

Please see the Quick Links to the right for a fast connection to important information and instructions on how to make requests for accommodations.

The mission of NDSU Disability Services is to ensure equal access to educational opportunities for students with disabilities to fully participate in the university environment.”

Community Events
Invitational Art Exhibition Featuring Artists With Disabilities
Assistive Technology Expo - April 10, 2008

New links/updated information
• Disability Services Fact Sheet
• Temporary Medical Conditions
• Notetaker Video
• Notetaker training

NDSU Disability Services Official Policies Applying for Accommodations Disability Services Staff Disability Services Procedures Guidelines for Incoming Students Deaf & HOH services

Receiving Accommodations Residence Life Requests Sign Language Interpreting Services Available Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Teaching Students with Disabilities Office for Equity & Diversity

Welcome to NDSU Disability Services!

Our services exist to assist both students with disabilities, and our faculty and staff who are working with these students. Disability Services staff members can:

• Explain how to access services.
• Provide individual consultation regarding the possible presence of learning, emotional, or physical disabilities that hinder academic performance.
• Consult with students, faculty and staff to determine and provide appropriate accommodations.
• Assist in arranging for accommodations.

If we can be of assistance, please call our office at 701 231-8463 to schedule an appointment with a DS staff member.

Official Policies

The following links are to the NDSU Policy Manual:

• Nondiscrimination on the basis of disabilities and reasonable accommodation
• Guidelines for student requests for reasonable accommodation
• Course substitution
• Confidentiality of documentation
• Reduced courseload
• Service Animal

Bias Reporting

Disability Services Staff

All Disability Services staff offices are located in Ceres 212.

• Bunnie Johnson-Messelt, Disability Services Director
  Phone: 231-7198
  E-mail: bunnie.johnson-messelt@ndsu.edu

• Beth Fiechtner, Accommodations Coordinator
  Phone: 231-7340
  E-mail: beth.fiechtner@ndsu.edu
  
  
• Jennifer Erickson, Disability Specialist
  Phone: 231-7714
  E-mail: jennifer.erickson@ndsu.edu

    Guidelines for Incoming Students

If you are a student with a disabling condition who plans to attend NDSU and will require appropriate accommodations, here are some guidelines to help assure that your needs are met. It is your responsibility to begin this process.

• In order to expedite the provision of your services, we strongly encourage you to contact the Disability Services office at least 60 days prior to the semester in which you plan to enroll.
  
  
• Please send documentation of your disability to:
  Disability Services Office, NDSU
  PO Box 5226
  Fargo, ND 58105-5226
  
  Please click on the follow link to locate information about documentation: Disability Documentation Guidelines
  

• Check with your regional office of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) or Department of Rehabilitation Services to see if you are eligible for services Rehabilitation Consulting & Services. NDSU Disability Services works with VR offices to serve you.

• Please contact NDSU's Office of Financial Aid in person at Ceres Hall 202 or by phone at 701-231-7533 or 800-726-3188 regarding availability of funding and to obtain a financial aid application. Disability Services does not provide financial assistance.

• Students who plan to live on campus will need to submit their housing application and deposit to the Office of Residence Life at 701 231-7557 or 800 572-8840, NDSU Residence Life. If a student has a special living requirement, he/she will need to review and follow the procedure for a “Residence Life Request Based
  on a Medical, Psychological or Disability-Related Need” located at the following link:
  http://www.ndsu.edu/counseling/reslife.htm
  
  

Receiving Accommodations

The professional staff of Disability Services help assess disabling conditions, determine appropriate accommodations, and support students in their learning and management of accommodations.

Staff in the Disability Services office are prepared to work with NDSU students who have a wide range of disabilities and the faculty members who are their teachers. Students should contact Disability Services to make an appointment with a staff member to determine whether they qualify to receive accommodations.

In order to access accommodations, students should provide documentation of a disability from an appropriate medical or educational specialist, which is no older than three years and includes the following:

1. A diagnostic statement identifying the disability, date of the current diagnostic evaluation and the date of the original diagnosis.
2. A description of the diagnostic criteria and or diagnostic test used.
3. A description of the current functional impact of the disability.
4. Treatment, medications, assistive devices/services currently prescribed or in use.
5. A description of the expected progression or stability of the impact of the disability over time should be included.
6. The relevant credentials of the diagnosing professional(s) such as medical specialty and professional licensure.

This documentation serves to establish eligibility for disability services and to help staff members recommend appropriate accommodations. It is maintained in the Disability Services office as confidential information and is not available to faculty or staff outside our office without a release from the student.

Students are encouraged to speak with instructors and Disability Services staff about accommodations well before the term begins to allow enough time to make necessary arrangements. Although instructors may need to be flexible with accommodations, they will hold students with disabilities to the same academic standards as other students.

Services Available

If it is determined that a student is eligible to receive services, appropriate accommodations will be determined by a Disability Services staff member in consultation with faculty members. These possible accommodations include:

• Priority registration for those students whose accommodations necessitate these course arrangements.
• Alternative Format Text Requests
• Alternative testing, which may include (but is not limited to) extended time on tests, distraction-free rooms, a reader, a scribe, large print, special lighting, use of a computer.
• Access to class notes
• Library access
• Campus access (for example: classroom relocation, entrance and general building access).
• Technology adaptations
• Tutoring and small group instruction is provided to undergraduate students who have disabilities by Student Support Services Project (through the TRIO office). Tutoring supports students in developing basic learning skills. Classes include computer skills, reading improvement, and study skills. Individual tutoring is available for English, writing, math, chemistry, biology, physics, and many other areas.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

For the purpose of serving students with disabilities, ADA defines a disability as:

1. a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits the student's equal access to educational and other university programs,
2. a record of having such an impairment, or
3. being regarded as having one (Jarrow, 1992).
   

In post-secondary settings, a person must be otherwise qualified to meet academic standards required for admission despite the disability.

For more information, visit the United States Justice Department's ADA Guidelines .



Teaching Students with Disabilities

Faculty Guide - Teaching Students with Disabilities

Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, university faculty are working to provide physical and programmatic accommodations, services, and accessibility that equalize the educational opportunities of students with disabilities. As the number of students with disabilities attending college grows, it becomes more important for university faculty to know how to provide instruction, accommodations and services with sensitivity.

An Overview of the Process for Obtaining Accommodations
It is the responsibility of the student with a disability to inform the university through Disability Services of the need for academic accommodations.

Possible accommodations include:

• course substitutions
• adaptive teaching methods
• time requirements for testing
• auxiliary aids

A licensed professional must document each disability, which must fit the definition of a disability and define the person's limitations. The Disability Services staff work with the information provided and with faculty to arrange appropriate accommodations.

Most faculty will, at some point, teach students who have physical, psychological, or learning disabilities. These students may require various accommodations in order to have equal access to the university environment. Students with disabilities differ from other students since their accommodations may provide access to the physical environment or, academically, in the learning and evaluation process.

Some Important Issues to Consider

• Students with disabilities enrolled at the university have met academic qualifications for admission.
• While many learn in different ways, their differences do not imply inferior capacities.
• They are expected to perform at the same level academically as all other students.
• It is not necessary to lower academic standards to accommodate a student with a disability.
• While course requirements are specified, the means to achieve them may need adjustments in order to equalize the competitive disadvantage caused by a disability.
• The same treatment is not always equal treatment when a functional or processing problem limits a student's involvement in an activity.

webpage revised on 2/04/08

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