Accommodations

• Edgewood University provides reasonable housing accommodations for students with disabilities who experience disability-related barriers in the residential environment. Housing accommodations are determined individually based on each student’s disability-related needs and may involve modifications to a room, housing assignment, or other aspects of the residential experience.

  If you have a disability or health condition that affects your access to campus housing, we encourage you to connect with Disability and Accessibility Services (DAS). DAS will work with you through an interactive process to understand the barriers you experience and determine whether a housing accommodation is appropriate.

  We encourage students to request housing accommodations as early as possible, particularly when an accommodation may affect room placement or availability. While requests can be made at any time, housing options may become more limited as the housing assignment process progresses.

  To learn more or begin the accommodation process, contact Disability and Accessibility Services at AccessDisabilityServ@edgewood.edu or 608-663-3273.

Flexible attendance may be an appropriate accommodation for students whose disabilities are episodic or unpredictable and may periodically affect their ability to attend class. When approved, this accommodation allows reasonable flexibility with an instructor’s attendance policy when an absence is related to the student’s disability.

Flexible attendance does not mean that attendance requirements are waived or that a student has unlimited absences. The amount of flexibility that is reasonable may vary by course and depends on factors such as the course format, the importance of in-class participation, and whether missed activities or experiences can reasonably be made up. Students are still responsible for meeting the essential requirements and learning outcomes of the course.

Students using this accommodation should communicate disability-related absences to their instructors as soon as reasonably possible and follow any established process for making up missed work or activities. DAS is available to collaborate with students and instructors when questions arise about how much flexibility is reasonable in a particular course.

Flexible attendance applies specifically to attendance requirements. Students who experience disability-related barriers to completing assignments or taking assessments by their scheduled dates may qualify for separate accommodations related to mutually agreed upon extensions or flexible assessment dates.

For more detailed information: Flexible Attendance Accommodation Responsibilities

Providing mutually agreed upon extensions or flexible deadlines may be appropriate when a student has an episodic or unpredictable disability that may periodically affect their ability to complete coursework by an established deadline. When approved, this accommodation allows reasonable flexibility with assignment deadlines when disability-related symptoms interfere with timely completion.

Flexible deadlines do not provide automatic extensions for every assignment or eliminate course deadlines. The amount of flexibility that is reasonable depends on the nature of the assignment, the structure and pace of the course, and whether an extension would fundamentally alter an essential course requirement. Students should communicate with their instructors as soon as reasonably possible when disability-related symptoms affect a deadline.

Flexible assessment dates may be appropriate when an episodic or unpredictable disability periodically prevents a student from taking an exam, quiz, or other assessment at the scheduled time. When approved, this accommodation allows reasonable flexibility in rescheduling an assessment when the student is unable to complete it as scheduled due to disability-related symptoms.

Students should notify their instructor as soon as reasonably possible when they need to use this accommodation and work with the instructor to identify an appropriate alternative date. Flexibility may vary depending on the nature of the assessment, course structure, and essential course requirements.

When assistive technology would allow access to instruction for a student with a disability it may be listed as an accommodation. Some supports may be loaned by Edgewood University to the student, others may be purchased by the student.

Examples include:

1. Student purchases or uses a free version of text-to-speech software on their personal computer, to have access in all settings.

2. Edgewood University provides a licensed text-to-speech software on specific computers in the library to provide access on campus.

3. Student is approved to record lectures and provided with note-taking software licensed to Edgewood University.

4. Student’s instructors are provided with FM transmitters or WebEx microphones to assist student in hearing lectures.

5. Student is provided with large screen monitors for use in classes.

6. Student is permitted to use personal device to take pictures of notes in class.

Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-2831 for more information.

Students approved for digital textbooks follow these steps to obtain them:

1. Check Edgewood University’s Online Bookstore, which carries digital copies of many required texts. You can purchase those instead of paper copies, or buy both if you wish.

2. If purchasing digital copies is a hardship, or if a digital copy is not available from the bookstore, then make scans of your paper copy to be used with a text-to-speech reader. This is not a copyright violation if your disability requires digital texts.

3. If you want us to check with a publisher, complete an Alternative Textbook Request Form to have us request a digital copy. Be aware that some publishers do not provide a digital copy and others can take several weeks to respond. Please check back a few weeks after the semester starts if you have not received your requests. Continue to scan the text while waiting to hear from us.

Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.

When a student with a disability is impacted by the disability in the learning of a foreign language, the Foreign Language course requirement may be modified as an accommodation. The student may take courses related to a country, region, or a group of countries or people sharing a common language other than the student’s first language. The student may also study abroad as substitution for the foreign language course requirement. Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.

Accommodations for individuals with a hearing or vision disability are determined through the collaborative intake process. Such services may include captioning, interpreting, larger print and text-to-speech supports. If you are in need of Hearing or Visual Impairment Accommodations as a student at Edgewood University, contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.

Some students with disabilities may experience difficulty in taking notes in the classroom. Peer note takers have been used in the past, but research has shown they do not help students develop their own note-taking skills. The preferred accommodation is to allow the student to record the class using note-taking software provided by Edgewood University. This software lets the student easily add notes to the audio trail of the class, then go back to any parts later to quickly review and update the notes.

Access to instructor notes is another accommodation that may be helpful. The tutoring supports available for all students is also often used for students to provide feedback on notes.

Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.

Priority registration can be an appropriate method to provide an accommodation for students with disabilities, based on their functional limitations in the educational setting. The following are examples of how a disability may impact scheduling:

1. A student’s physical fatigue requires consideration of the number of classes per day.

2. A student’s processing speed requires consideration of balancing text-heavy classes.

3. A student’s anxiety requires consideration of lower-stress courses.

Priority registration is not a guarantee of specific courses at specific times. It does allow the student to register in advance of the general student body in order to find the most appropriate balance of courses based on the limitations of their disability.

Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.

Testing accommodations provide students with disabilities equitable access to exams and other assessments when a disability affects how they access or complete them. Approved testing accommodations may address factors such as the amount of time available to complete an assessment, the testing environment, or the format or method used to complete an exam. Testing accommodations do not change the academic standards or essential learning outcomes being assessed.

Students are responsible for communicating with their instructors in advance about how approved testing accommodations will be implemented. Depending on the course and assessment, accommodations may be provided by the instructor, through the university’s testing services, or through adjustments to an online assessment.

Students who experience difficulty accessing their approved testing accommodations should contact DAS for assistance.

Contact Disability and Accessibility Services or call 608-663-3273 for more information.