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Disability Accessibility for Students

  1. CCRI
  2. Disability Accessibility for Students
  3. For Parents & Guidance Counselors

For Parents & Guidance Counselors

Students with documented disabilities who are registered with Disability Support Services make up approximately 6% of the Community College of Rhode Island student population. This fact sheet is designed to help parents understand the rights and responsibilities of students with disabilities as well as the policies and procedures that have been established for this group at CCRI.

What is Disability Support Services (DAS) at The Community College of Rhode Island?

CCRI is mandated by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to provide equal access to facilities, educational and co-curricular programs, campus activities, and employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities.

How does DAS provide equal access?

Disability Support Services ensures that students with disabilities have physical and academic access to the educational experience at CCRI by providing reasonable and appropriate accommodations. DAS believes that the most successful students are self-advocates who identify their own needs, take personal initiative in problem-solving and decision-making, and effectively use all available resources to fully participate in the educational experience.

How do students qualify to use the services of DAS?

Services are available to all students with documented disabilities that substantially limit a major life activity such as: learning, hearing, seeing, reading, walking, and speaking. It is the student’s responsibility to self-identify and provide current documentation from an appropriate professional (physician, psychologist, etc.) to the DAS office. Students must request academic accommodations in person in the DAS office each semester.

How does DAS learn of students with disabilities?

DAS learns of students with disabilities in a variety of ways. Most students and their families provide documentation of the disability as the student begins his/her academic career at CCRI. Other students come to DAS without having been diagnosed. DAS provides these students with resources for obtaining diagnostic evaluations that may warrant the provision of accommodations. Documentation is the students responsibility and not provided by the community college.

How will students with disabilities tell their professors that they are eligible to receive academic accommodations?

Having met with a member of the DAS staff to discuss accommodations for the current semester’s courses, eligible student and their professors will receive Request for Accommodation letters electronically via email. Professors are asked to reply to the Coordinator as a form of receipt. It is the student’s responsibility to make arrangements for accommodations (this might include reminding a professor to deliver a test to DAS). Instructors are not expected to provide accommodations “on demand” or “after the fact.”

Can faculty members approach the topic of students with disabilities at the start of a course?

Students’ disability information is confidential and should never be discussed or referred to in front of classmates or other individuals. To preserve students’ rights to privacy and to indicate a willingness to provide accommodations, instructors may include a statement on each course syllabus such as:

"Services for Students with Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability may arrange reasonable accommodations. As part of this process, students are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Accessibility for Students as early in the semester as possible (www.ccri.edu/dss)."

After receiving a Request for Accommodations letter, an instructor may invite the student to an office hour to discuss any special circumstances related to a disability.

What are common accommodations?

The most commonly requested accommodations are: extended time for test taking, testing in a distraction-free environment, and note taking assistance. Accommodations are not intended to guarantee success. They are intended to “level the playing field” so students have equal access and are assessed on their learning and not on the impact of their disability in the educational environment.

What is extended time for testing?

Extended time for testing is an accommodation that grants the student the right to spend additional processing time on an exam. Time-and-a-half is a common guideline or starting point, but each student’s allotted time is determined on a case-by-case basis. Extended time does not mean unlimited time. After receiving the Request for Accommodations letter from a student who wishes to use the DAS Testing Center, the faculty member is responsible for delivering the test to the DAS office. The test is accompanied by a completed Test Cover Sheet which supplies DAS with such information as: materials students can/cannot use while testing, special instructions, latest date test can be taken, where to deliver test, etc.

Can a faculty member review a student’s documentation/file before agreeing to accommodations such as extended time for a test?

Only the DAS staff has access to the files containing students’ documentation. From time to time, DAS will confer with faculty who are concerned about a student. DAS can supply only general information to the faculty member along with strategies to meet the learning needs of the student in the classroom and explanations of the accommodations to be provided.

What types of disabilities do CCRI students disclose to Disability Support Services?

CCRI students disclose a variety of disabilities including, but not limited to: physical disabilities (e.g. Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy); learning disabilities (e.g. dyslexia, language disorders, dyscalculia); psychiatric disabilities (e.g. depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder); chronic health disabilities (e.g. asthma, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome); Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Blindness/Visually Impaired; Deafness or Hard of Hearing.

How can I reach DAS to discuss any of the above information or other disability related issues?

The DAS Staff Directory provides contact information and office hours.