The Americans with Disabilities Act ensures equal access to qualified individuals with disabilities, and prevents discrimination on the basis of a disability. It is Hartford International policy to provide reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis, which may mean working with outside social and governmental agencies to provide the necessary range of services for student success.
Students with disabilities who wish to receive accommodations must contact the Student Services Coordinator. Students with disabilities are eligible for disability support services when they are enrolled in courses and they have disclosed their disability and requested related accommodations during enrollment and/or before the start of each semester. All students seeking accommodation must fill out the Request for Accommodations form.
If the student approaches you to discuss a disability, you must refer them to the Student Services Coordinator. The Student Services Coordinator will go through the following steps to ascertain if accommodations are to be made:
- Verify medical documentation for each stated disability;
- Ascertain potential accommodation(s) for the related disability;
- Determine accommodation(s) for student for the semester in which the student is enrolled;
- Consider contracting with outside agencies to provide accommodation; and
- Provide professor with written explanation of the accommodation.
Depending on the nature of the disability, the Student Services Coordinator may recommend some or all of the following accommodations be provided for the student:
- Granting additional time for assignments.
- Giving access to a note-taker, or note-taking device for the student’s use in class.
- Allowing technological assistance to aid the student in class.
- Providing an alternative assignment or project if a student is unduly burdened or physically unable to participate, i.e. requesting that a deaf student attend worship service(s) outside of class time.
- Providing a deaf or hard-of-hearing student with sign language interpreters.
Accommodations based on a disability are intended to “level the playing field” (by removing barriers) between students with disabilities and students without diagnosed disabilities. If you believe that any of the specific accommodation will fundamentally alter the essential components of your course, please contact the Student Services Coordinator as soon as possible.
Please note that once the finalized accommodations are in place, you may not alter your class or schedule without first getting approval from the Office of the Dean. In some cases, there are significant expenses as well as written contracts involved with accommodations, and it would be cost prohibitive to make changes post-hoc.
For any questions on disability services, please contact Eamon Ormseth, Student Care and Residential Life Coordinator by email.