My Platform...#2 Disability Accommodations

#2 Work with disAbility Resources for Students on the accommodations process
Do you know the process for requesting disability accommodations? Do you know the process for grieving the accommodations or lack of them if you are dissatisfied? Did you know that the student must always take the first step in both processes? Do you know what kinds of accommodations are available to students with disabilities?

About the Accommodations Processes:
Let’s start from the beginning. The University disAbility Resources for Students office is responsible for proving “reasonable accommodation” for students with disabilities. Under policy 1 of the disability accommodations, a reasonable accommodation is “a modification or adjustment that enables a qualified student with a disability to enjoy equal access to WWU's academic programs, services, or activities.” It is the responsibility of the student to initiate the process of accommodation by appealing to the office and also provide documentation of said disability. The Director of the disAbility Resources for Students office will then evaluate the situation case by case and provide accommodations as he/she feels necessary.

If the student is not happy with the accommodations that he/she is given or is denied accommodations, he/she may go through the grieving process. The student is also responsible for requesting this process and Procedure 9 in the University policy describes the process. It requires that the student first contact the Director of DRS and when dissatisfied with his evaluation and reply, the student can seek the Vice President of Student Affairs, who then evaluates and makes necessary changes. And that’s basically it.

If students feel the need to make an illegal discrimination complaint, they may do so through the Equal Opportunity Office, United States Department of Education, and Washington State Human Rights Commission.
For more information on university policy and procedures for accommodations, visit http://www.wwu.edu/depts/drs/policy.htm

Foreseeable Problems:
As VP for Students for Disability Awareness I have had to deal with many complaints regarding the accommodations provided by the disAbility Resources for Students. They aren’t fast enough, they don’t give me what I want…they listen, but they just don’t understand. Students have come to me dissatisfied with the quality of accommodations they have received. There are reasons for this, and these are what I think they are:

-There is a grey area in accommodations that separates academic use and medical use: Accommodations for purely academic use are those that are used to affect the student’s academic achievements and quality of education, while others are for purely medical use prescribed by a physician or other health care provider. The reason why there is a separation is because medical uses are more individualistic and apply only to that single person, while academic accommodations can be applied more broadly. Though accommodations are made through a case by case basis, they are not made to suit each case perfectly. Problems with chairs, for example, are one thing, whereas requiring a certain type of chair is another. This grey area is difficult because medical accommodations often affect academic success.

-Just like admissions preying on cultural diversity for state funding, the university is subject to state funding allocated in accordance to the disabled student population. With community programs and colleges with more local students with disabilities attending, you may find nicer chairs, more state-of-the-art equipment, and so on, because the funding allows it. Because of current budget cuts and small population relative to total attending students, students with disabilities at Western may not enjoy the same quality of accommodations as another school. There really are only 400 students registered with the DRS, which is only about 2.9% of Western’s population.