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Access for Students with Disabilities
Walla Walla College is committed to providing for the needs of enrolled
or admitted students who have disabilities under Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (ADA).
In general, the college policy (above) calls for reasonable
accommodations to be made for students with disabilities on an
individualized and flexible basis and to the greatest extent possible
without compromising the integrity of any student's degree. It is
the responsibility of students with disabilities, however, to seek
available assistance at the college and to make their needs known.
Eligibility
To be eligible for disability-related services, students must have a
documented disability condition as defined by Section 504 and the
ADA. Under these laws, a person has a disability if he or she has a
physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
of the major life activities (walking, standing, learning, seeing,
speaking, hearing, breathing, or taking care of oneself).
Staff from the Disability Support Services office will request current
disability-related documents from the appropriate licensed professional
(e.g. clinical psychologist and/or physician) to certify a student
as having a disability. The cost of obtaining documentation is
borne by the student.
Students who lack documentation but are reporting learning or
attention difficulties may be interviewed and screened by Disability Support
Services free of charge and may be given referrals for other preliminary
screening on-campus or for further comprehensive and diagnostic testing.
The student is responsible for testing costs after the initial screening.
Upon certification of a disability which causes functional limitations, the
student and staff from Disability Support Services
develop plans for the provision of accommodations and assistance.
The Disability Support Services office cannot guarantee appropriate
accommodations any earlier than SIX WEEKS after the
receipt of acceptable documentation.
Accommodations & Assistance
Many accommodations are available at WWC to ensure that students
with disabilities participate fully in academic and student life.
- Admission: individual arrangements during the application process
or advising about admission.
- Academic Accommodations: readers, lab/library assistants, course
and program modifications,
exam modifications, classroom relocations,
document conversion
(audiotape, large print).
- Outreach: consultation, training, and technical assistance with
faculty and staff regarding reasonable accommodations, disability
rights, technology, architectural barriers, attitudes, curriculum
access, and federal legislation.
- Assistive Technology: TDD's, tape recorders, adapted computer
terminals, and print enlargers.
- Support: individual and group.
The Student's Responsibility/Role in Accessing Accommodations
The Disability Support Services office exists to serve students with disabilities,
offer them support, and act as an intermediary between students and
faculty. It is the student, however, who is his/her own best advocate.
While we are able to recommend academic accommodations to faculty, it
is the student who can best explain to them why these accommodations
are necessary. We require, then, that students make appointments with
their new teachers each quarter and specifically outline their needs
to them. Even with a support plan in hand from Disability Support Services, if
a teacher is not directly approached by the student, he/she is under
no obligation to accommodate that student. Learning self-advocacy
now is good practice for the future when students will enter the
workplace and the community and will have no one else to advocate for
them but themselves.
In addition to working with faculty members, we expect our students to
maintian close contact with our office, updating us on any difficulties
(and successes!) that they are encountering. Our goal is to make the
Teaching Learning Center, where the Disability Support
Services office is located, a home-base for students with disabilities.
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