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Chapter Topics: [ I. Administration & Governance] [ II. Funding, Budget and Operations] [ III. Personnel ] [ IV. Other Personnel Policies ] [ V. Curriculum and Related Policies ] [ VI. Student Academic Affairs ] [ VII. College Relations ] [ VIII. Resources & Services ] [ Glossary of L&S Terms ]

Chapter VI Contents: [ VI.1 L&S Student Academic Affairs ] [ VI.2 L&S SAA Staff ] [ VI.3 Academic Advancement Program ] [ VI.4 L&S Advising Service ] [ VI.5 Bradley Learning Community ] [ VI.6 Cross-College Advising Service ] [ VI.7 Letters and Science Career Services ] [ VI.8 S.O.A.R. ] [ VI.9 Student Records ] [ VI.10 Degree Audit Reporting System ] [ VI.11 Academic Misconduct ] [ VI.12 Accommodation of Religious Belief ] [ VI.13 Policy & Guidelines on Nondiscrimination ] [ VI.14 Summary Blocks/Final Exams ] [ VI.15 Multi-Section Courses ] [ VI.16 Chadbourne Residential College ] [ VI.17 Deleted Section] [ VI.18 First-Year Interest Groups ] [ VI.19 Pathways to Excellence Programs and Services ] [ VI.20 African American Student Academic Services ] [ VI.21 American Indian Student Academic Services ] [ VI.22 Chicano/a Student Academic Services ] [ VI.23 Southeast Asian American Student Academic Services] [ VI.24 Summer Collegiate Experience ] [ VI.25 Undergraduate Research Scholars ] [ VI.26 Grading Policies ] [ VI.27 The Grading System ] [ VI.28 Grade Change Procedure ] [ VI.29 Student Appeals of Grading ] [ VI.30 Grade Disputes ] [ VI.31 Distinction: in the Major, in the Thesis ] [ VI.32 Scholarships ] [ VI.33 Major Declaration Form ]

VI.13 UW SYSTEM POLICY AND GUIDELINES APPLYING TO NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY

UW-Madison supports the right of full and equal educational opportunity for all students. Disability should not be the basis for exclusion from the institution's programs, activities and services. All students are entitled to an accessible, accommodating, supportive and nondiscriminatory institutional environment. Therefore, it is the policy of UW-Madison to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified students with disabilities.

Implementing reasonable and effective accommodations is a shared institutional and student responsibility. Students with disabilities who need accommodations should notify the institution of such need as early as possible, preferably before the beginning of a semester. Students who incur or recognize a disability for which an accommodation is needed during the semester should notify the faculty member directly and in a timely manner of their need for special instructional accommodations. Students may also make accommodation requests through the McBurney Disability Resource Center or a duly designated departmental or college Access and Accommodation Resource Coordinator (AARC).

The AARCs are faculty members or instructional staff who serve as resources within their departments or units. (For more information, please refer to http://www.wisc.edu/adac/facstaff/coord.html.) Divisional Disability Representatives (DDRs) are generally academic staff within a school, college, or unit who serve as resources on disability-related employment issues as well as general physical access to buildings and facilities. It is expected that the AARCs and DDRs act as additional resources and will share information with other staff members periodically on disability-related issues. The following individuals serve as DDR for L&S: Maggie Sullivan (3-2315; academic staff); Diana Allaby (3-4964; classified staff); and Nancy Westphal-Johnson (3-2506; graduate assistants). For more information regarding DDRs, please refer to http://www.oed.wisc.edu/disability/dlrdiv.html.

Faculty are expected to work with students to identify and provide reasonable instructional or academic accommodations, although the student is responsible for self-advocacy. In addition, the McBurney Disability Resource Center is available as a resource, and can assist students and faculty with accommodation issues, can recommend appropriate instructional or academic accommodations to faculty and can recommend or provide reasonable accommodation issues. McBurney, the AARCs and the institution's Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Coordinator can provide information about departments and institutional appeals of denials of requested accommodations.

Accommodation Examples

Disability is a part of life that may or may not interfere with learning or demonstration of learned knowledge. Often, accommodation is simple. In fact, some accommodations may improve the learning environment for all students. The School of Education document, "Accommodations for Full Inclusion of All Students in Teaching and Learning Activities," available from the McBurney Disability Resource Center, provides some useful tips on accommodation.

Accommodations may be required in the classroom as well as in field experiences, clinical settings, or laboratories. The same principles apply to these situations.

It is important to note that the type of disability does not necessarily determine the accommodation. For example, all students with learning disabilities do not need note takers. Workable accommodations depend on (1) students' abilities and limitations, (2) the content and pedagogy, (3) the instructional environment, and (4) students' past experience with accommodations. Potential accommodations include, but are not limited to, note takers, seating at the front of the classroom to hear better, interpreters for sign language, use of large print materials, and extended time for examinations with recommendation from McBurney Disability Resource Center.

Foreign Language Substitution

The Disabilities Curricular Accommodations Committee can approve a substitution to the foreign language requirement for students with certain disabilities that make it impossible to learn a foreign language. Extensive and very specific documentation is required from students and learning disability specialists in order to be considered for a substitution.

Students completing the foreign language substitution package are required to complete specific courses that may be electives for other students. Students approved for the substitution package may request admission to some courses (with the assistance of a counselor in the McBurney Center) that are already filled. Faculty are encouraged to assist these students if possible.

Confidentiality

Student requests for accommodations on the basis of a disability and the related medical or other verifying documentation are medical records and are, therefore, confidential records. In many instances, those records are maintained by the McBurney Disability Resource Center, separate from the student's education record. AARCs may have access to this information on a strict need-to-know basis in order to assist in providing accommodations. In this instance, the records remain confidential, must be maintained in a separate, confidential file, and may not be shared with others, except under the same strict need-to-know basis.

Last reviewed: August 16, 2006

 

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