Attendance or Deadline Modifications

Access needs related to attendance and assignment deadlines are most often connected to chronic health conditions or emergent illness/injuries. Many chronic health conditions such as diabetes, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic migraines, etc. can have unpredictable flare-ups. When someone experiences a flare-up, it can be hours to days before they recover enough to resume daily activities. Attendance and Deadline Modifications are in no way intended to force an instructor to redesign their course or develop a secondary method for assessments. These accommodations are also not intended as a substitute for time management and organizational skills, but resource there are many resources available to help students develop these skills.

Attendance Modifications

For students with chronic health conditions, attending class can be interrupted by disability flare-ups. During the interactive process, students work with their access team advisor to determine the maximum amount of additional time they may request to make-up any missed work. These time frames are generally short extensions of time (such as, 1–3 days).

Instructors are not expected to reteach course content for a student using this accommodation. Rather they are expected to allow students to make-up graded class assignments within the timeframe outlined on the student’s letter. This accommodation is not intended for time management or non-disability related events.

We recommend students and faculty reach out to our Access Team advisors if a student requests to use attendance modifications more than 3 times per semester. This will allow us to clarify any misunderstandings or provide additional assistance to struggling students.

Deadline Modifications

Under certain conditions, extended time on assignments and/or projects may be an appropriate accommodation. This accommodation is only granted when disability flare ups are likely to happen unpredictably. During the interactive process students work with their access team advisor to determine the maximum amount of additional time they may request. These time frames are generally short extensions of time (i.e., 1–3 days).

Students are expected to request to use the accommodation in writing, prior to the assignment deadline. This accommodation is not intended to be used as a time management tool and/or used for every assignment in a class. We recommend students and faculty reach out to our Access Team advisors if a student requests to use deadline modifications more than 3 times per semester. This will allow us to clarify any misunderstandings or provide additional assistance to struggling students.

Late to Class

Many disability types may make arrival at class a challenge. Since attendance is often a graded element, it’s important that disabled students are not disadvantaged. SSD connected students are given priority registration, but this is often still not enough to accommodate students who need more than the traditional 15-minutes between classes. The expectation is that students with this accommodation should receive attendance credit, be allowed to complete opening classwork, etc. A few disabilities that are often supported by this accommodation are physical disabilities, mobility needs, or seizures.

Remote Participation

Under limited conditions remote access to class may be the only reasonable way to provide a student with access to the learning environment. A few potential examples could be when recovering from surgery or because of an emergent medical condition. Determining the reasonableness of remote access to class is a partnership between our access team advisors, instructor(s) and the student. Common reasons when remote participation may not be reasonable are: synchronous group work is part of a graded learning objective, specialized tools or equipment are required, or remote access does not allow for an essential graded learning objective to be assessed.