Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the Student
A student with a disability has the responsibility to:

Responsibilities of the Faculty Member
As part of the teaching staff of the Colorado School of Mines, your responsibilities are encompassed in the University's obligations to federal mandates. In other words, you are expected to provide reasonable accommodations for a student registered with Disability Services so that discrimination based upon the effects of the disability does not occur. Therefore, if you are preparing assignments, lectures, exams, etc., and a student requires an accommodation, your cooperation is mandated in order for the student to participate fully to meet essential requirements of the class.

However, you are not responsible for determining what is and is not a reasonable accommodation for a student.  Disability Services is responsible for this and is available to help you provide reasonable accommodations based on the requirements of your class or program and the needs of the student. Nor are you solely responsible for full provision of certain accommodations; for example, Disability Services coordinates accommodations such as relocating a class to an accessible location, arranging for readers and sign language interpreters, and obtaining adaptive equipment. .

A faculty member is responsible for providing authorized accommodations in a reasonable and timely manner. Upon receipt of the Confidential Letter of Required Accommodations from Disability Services, the faculty member and student need to meet to coordinate the logistics of the required accommodations. If a student requests accommodations, but the faculty member has not been notified by Disability Services of the student's need, the faculty member should refer the student to Disability Services.

Question Regarding Appropriateness of Accommodation Requested by Disability Services
If a faculty member has questions about the appropriateness of certain accommodations, contact Disability Services immediately but continue to provide accommodations while the issue is being resolved. If a required accommodation is use of a tape recorder in the classroom, and the faculty member is concerned about copyright issues, it is acceptable to ask the student to sign an agreement not to release the recording or otherwise obstruct the copyright.

Shared Responsibilities
The accommodation process is a partnership between student and faculty. Disability Services serves the role of consultant, facilitator, record keeper, and mediator. As stated above, students are responsible for initiating the process of obtaining accommodations as well as discussing details with faculty in a timely manner. And faculty need to address this issue early in the semester, preferably by adding a syllabus statement as well as encouraging those in need of accommodations to meet with them. If the student does not ask for accommodations until late in the semester, the instructor is required to provide accommodations only from that time on and does not need to offer make-up exams.

Faculty members should keep students with disabilities in mind when making special class arrangements such as field trips, field session, audio/visual presentations, tests/quizzes using "clicker" technology, or outdoor activities. Faculty should discuss potential difficulties with the student in order to plan for any needed accommodations.

Faculty members may not discourage students from specific fields of study if the student meets the admissions requirements, maintains the appropriate grades, and is otherwise qualified. Faculty is responsible for providing an education, and the student is responsible for meeting the academic requirements, with or without accommodations.

Portions of the above were taken from College Students with Disabilities: A Desk Reference Guide for Faculty and Staff, Anne R. Thompson, PhD and Leslie Bethea, MS, Project PAACS, Mississippi State University.