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There are many different accommodations available that can help to remove barriers and level the playing field for students with disabilities. The types of accommodations needed vary, depending on the disability and the individual needs of the student. The process of providing accommodations does not need to be difficult or time-consuming, although it may occasionally be. Disability Services are readily available to provide both advice and resources. Accommodations are generally simple and easy to administer, and cost little or nothing to implement.

It is important to note that the purpose of accommodating students with disabilities is not to provide them with an advantage, but rather to provide an equal opportunity to access and to fully participate in post-secondary education. All students, with or without a disability, must meet the academic requirements of a given course.

The Human Rights Code and the Duty to Accommodate

Section 8 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code prohibits the denial or discrimination in the provision of services customarily available to the public. In practice, this means that a service provider, like a post-secondary institution, cannot discriminate against individuals with, among other things, mental and/or physical disabilities. The service provider has a legal obligation to ensure access to and remove barriers to participation experienced by persons with disabilities. This obligation is known as the duty to accommodate.

Accommodating Students with Disabilities

The purpose of the duty to accommodate is to remove the barriers produced by or resulted from students’ disability and to place the student on a level playing field with all other students.

However, the institution may have a duty to inquire in some situations. For example, with a student who does not have an accommodation letter from Disability Service and who appears to be struggling with their studies, the instructor has a duty to inquire and provide information on the supports and services their institution offers. Another example could be if a student is showing unusual behaviours, the instructor needs to talk to the student about their actions and let them know about the resources the institution has available for students.

Once an accommodation has been requested, the institution is expected to be innovative yet practical in its approach, and to make every reasonable effort to accommodate student’s disability up to what is known as the point of undue hardship. The point at which undue hardship will be reached will vary with the circumstances of each case.

It is important to note that the duty to accommodate will be different in every situation. This means that where an accommodation is requested, the institution has an obligation to conduct an individualized analysis where it looks at the specific functional impact of the condition has on the particular student, and then determines whether they can be accommodated. The institution must avoid making assumptions or generalizations. It is the functional limitations of the particular individual that are important, not of the class or group to which the individual belongs.

At the same time, the institution is not required to satisfy unreasonable demands being made by a student with a disability. Just because a student has a disability does not mean they have the right to receive everything they want or to make unreasonable demands.

Undue Hardship

The institution has an obligation to accommodate a student’s disability up to the point of undue hardship. It follows, then, that the institution will be expected to accept some measure of hardship in the accommodation process. It is only when that hardship becomes undue that the duty to accommodate will come to an end.

Cost may be a factor in determining whether the point of undue hardship has been reached, but the mere fact that an accommodation is costly does not mean that its provision is not required. Do not assume that the cost of a potential accommodation means that it cannot be utilized. Each circumstance must be analyzed to make a determination as to whether the point of undue hardship has been reached.

Students Duty to Cooperate

In a duty to accommodate situation, the student shares in the institution’s obligation to be reasonable in the search for an appropriate accommodation. The student must cooperate with reasonable requests made by the institution, and must accept a reasonable accommodation if one is offered.

In some cases, there may be more than one way in which to accommodate a student’s disability. If the institution offers an accommodation that is reasonable and meets the student’s needs, the student cannot refuse the accommodation and hold out for an accommodation that the student prefers.

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable accommodation refers to changes in the allocation of institution resources or in teaching or evaluation procedures which are designed to meet the particular needs of a student with a disability. Reasonable accommodations have to meet certain criteria:

  1. Accommodations are based on documented individual needs. For example, if a student has a diagnosed learning disability and an assessment from an educational psychologist showing that her reading speed is below average, it could be a reasonable accommodation to have extra time in exams to read the questions and check her work.
  2. Allows for most integrated experience possible.
  3. Reasonable accommodations do not compromise essential requirements of a course or program. When selecting accommodations for a student, it is important that Disability Services and faculty members work together in order to identify the essential course requirements. Doing so ensures the accommodations remove barriers to learning without changing the key aspects of the course.”
  4. Does not pose a threat to personal or public safety.
  5. Accommodations do not impose an undue hardship or administrative burden. The majority of accommodations are not expensive or time-consuming to implement. A student may occasionally request an accommodation that is very expensive or time-consuming to provide. Some institutions have more resources than others, so undue hardship has to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. If they cannot provide a requested accommodation, institutions should offer an alternative.
  6. Accommodations are not of a personal nature. Accommodations must be based on the documented functional impacts of a disability and should be consistent across individuals with the same impacts. As a result, accommodations cannot be made based solely on the personal preferences of an individual.

Case Study

In this video an instructor describes her experience of working with a student with dysgraphia.

Discussion:

What accommodations were put in place to support Jodi?