Students, instructors, and Disability Services (DS) all have rights and responsibilities in the process of ensuring that students receive the reasonable accommodations necessary for their full participation in their academic program. This page provides a brief oversight of these rights and responsibilities, but for more information you are referred to Disability Services.

Student Rights and Responsibilities
In order to ensure their rights to reasonable accommodations, it is the responsibility of students to report any learning-related disabilities, to do so in a timely fashion, and to do so through the Office of Disability Services. Students who have documented conditions and are determined by DS to need individualized services will be provided an DS-certified ‘Accommodation Letter’. It is students’ responsibility to provide this letter to all their instructors and in so doing request the stated accommodations.

Disability Services Rights and Responsibilities
DS is responsible for working with students with disabilities to assess their academic needs, for assisting students in communicating with individual instructors regarding reasonable accommodations and, in some cases, for facilitating the implementation of the approved accommodations. DS shares the educational mission of all offices in the University and is therefore also responsible for upholding the academic policies established by the faculty and for the integrity of academic programs. DS therefore has the right to receive current disability documentation and to deny requests for accommodations that are not warranted or are not reasonable.

Instructor Rights and Responsibilities
Is is the right of all instructors to establish the academic standards for the courses that they teach and to consult with DS to determine what accommodations are reasonable for a given course. It is therefore the responsibility of an instructor to provide accommodations, as determined by the DS-certified ‘Accommodation Letter’, as long as they do not undermine the academic integrity of the course. Instructors are also responsible for evaluating the academic work of students with disabilities according to the same criteria of evaluation utilized for all other students in the class.

It is also the responsibility of an instructor to maintain student confidentiality. Instructors are expected to refrain from discussing a student’s disability with other students, to file accommodation requests in a secure location, and to provide opportunities for students to discuss privately their accommodation needs.

Lastly, while individual students with documented disabilities are entitled to reasonable and specific accommodations, instructors are responsible for fostering accessible learning environments for all students. Many strategies for teaching students with disabilities are known to benefit all students. These include:

• Clear statement of course goals and objectives;
• Clarity in course syllabus, schedule, and requirements;
• Multiple modes of presentation - lecture, handouts, powerpoints;
• Setting the tone for intellectually rigorous and socially courteous engagement with all students;
• Including in syllabi a statement regarding classroom accommodations – for example:

"If you are a student with a disability and have an DS-certified ‘Accommodation Letter’ please come to my office hours to confirm your accommodation needs. If you believe that you might have a disability that requires accommodation, you should contact Disability Services at 212-854-2388 and disability@columbia.edu."