It might be hard to determine whether you qualify for college disability services and accommodations despite already receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. This may explain why most college students with impairments fail to disclose their issues and needs to their institutions. There’s no reason to pass up essential resources and assistance, though.
Contact the Disability Services Office or corresponding department at your educational institution to request disability accommodation on campus. Send the supporting paperwork for your request for accommodations, such as medical documents or assessments.
In this article, you will learn how to apply for accommodations for people with disabilities at a college and what to expect when doing so.
Considerations for College Attendance and Disability Claims
When considering your disability claim, the Social Security Administration may question your college attendance. They may evaluate how your limitations affect your ability to finish college coursework.
It is important that you communicate any necessary accommodations you receive or problems you have as a result of your disability, such as particular arrangements made by your college’s disability services office.
Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation From the SSA
In addition to the SSDI and/or SSI benefits, the SSA provides appropriate accommodation solutions to facilitate good communication with people who have trouble listening or are deaf. It helps them in the following ways:
- Providing an experienced sign language interpreter who is certified
- Offering telephone devices for partially deaf people to help them listen with ease
- Through lip-reading and/or speech-reading
The SSA’s emphasis on college accommodations and communication helps highlight the necessity of advocating for student needs and knowing how these resources can affect their disability claim and college experience.
5 Steps to Request College Disability Accommodations
Most institutions have a systematic, step-by-step procedure for requesting and securing accommodations for students with disabilities for on-campus instruction. The following are some of them:
1. Register On Campus
Declare yourself a student with a disability on campus. For comprehensive access planning, students should confirm that they are contacting the right office. Sometimes, students will strike up informal relationships without being aware that there is a specific office that can offer assistance and advocacy.
Contact the disability services access center to register as a student with a disability and obtain college disability services. A representative will typically be available to meet with you in person or virtually to discuss your disability, the accommodations you’ve already received, and the services that are accessible to you.
The mere fact that you benefited from certain accommodations in high school does not guarantee that you will continue to do so in college. This is especially true if you don’t have the necessary paperwork or proof of a disability.
In addition to this, some schools and colleges provide the option of a tuition fee waiver to disabled students who are already getting Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. In fact, this is one of the eligibility criteria included as part of their application processing.
2. Provide Proof of Your Disability
Colleges and universities will require sufficient evidence of your disability before making accommodations. Depending on your disability, this can include a current medical report or a psychological assessment.
For instance, an ophthalmologist or other vision specialist can provide proof if you have a visual impairment.
You may have an IEP if you were part of an individualized education program in high school. This document can assist in determining the kind of accommodations you might require but, it is insufficient to establish a disability.
You will want to show all the medical proofs and evidence to the campus office that you submitted during your SSDI or SSI application process, along with all the approvals from the SSA, to provide an accurate record to the college.
You normally do not need any extra paperwork for a short-term disability, such as a broken or dislocated limb, other than verification of your visit to a medical facility.
3. Meet With a Disability Services Office Representative
After assembling all the necessary paperwork, schedule a formal meeting with a college disability services representative.
You need to provide your supporting paperwork at the meeting and specifics on the difficulties your disability has caused you. You will also discuss the accommodations you require to succeed in college.
This process could seem a little intrusive. Remember that all communications and records related to your healthcare are confidential and should not be made available to anyone else without your permission. Ask a staff member how your data will be kept secure if you have privacy concerns.
4. Notify Professors of Your Eligibility for Accommodations
Notify your instructors to begin arranging accommodations once the disability services office has verified your eligibility. You will normally receive a letter as confirmation. You might also get an email instead of or in addition to a letter. After that, you can give your instructors access to this documentation.
Some students may be more comfortable keeping the specifics of their needs and accommodation requests private. If so, you can arrange a private meeting with the professor during office hours.
5. Regularly Remind Instructors Whenever You Need Accommodations
Even after presenting proof of your accommodations, you might still need to speak out for yourself and remind your instructors of the support services that are available to you and the accommodations you need. Instructors with several courses and many students may need to be reminded of previous accommodation arrangements.
A crucial responsibility of an instructor’s work is to provide students with the necessary adjustments.
Importance of Disability Service
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) assures Americans with disabilities that they have equal access to public services like higher education and outlaws discrimination against them.
If students disclose a disability to their college or university, they are entitled to reasonable adjustments or accommodations that make the learning environment accessible to students with disabilities. Offices for students with disabilities ensure that postsecondary institutions achieve the objective of granting access to students with disabilities.
A provider is typically assigned to a student with a disability when they contact disability services. A provider often evaluates the learner to determine what accommodations are available.
Providers also collaborate with educators and administrators to ensure that the adjustments do not dramatically change or end program requirements.
Types of Disability Services Offered by Colleges
Students looking for accommodations for disabilities in college can typically discover a wide range of options. Students and their families should contact the student services and/or disability services offices at prospective colleges and universities.
Disability service offices assist students in getting timely access to support and deal with inquiries regarding physical, cognitive, learning, and other forms of disabilities by working with students, teachers, and academic departments.
Some of the most common types of accommodations include the following:
- Sign language interpreters
- note-takers/scribes
- Special parking spaces
- Wheelchair parking spaces
- Test-taking accommodations, such as extended time and alternative formats.
Some accommodations may be more difficult to get, including the following:
- Tests and directions are read out loud or read and repeated
- Alternate test format (e.g., true/false, multiple choice, essay)
- Extensions for specific assignments
- Reduced course load and extended time to complete the degree
Students should become familiar with the assistive technology that is accessible on college campuses in addition to accommodations.
You’ll most likely have access to various resources, including screen readers and speech-to-text applications. Depending on the needs of each student, auxiliary aids and services might come in various shapes and sizes. Here are some illustrations of auxiliary aids:
- Qualified interpreters
- Class materials in alternative formats, e.g., texts in braille, recorded or as digital files
- Access to text-to-speech programs
- Access to voice recognition software
- Making audio recordings of classes
- Regular meetings with an accessibility counselor or learning specialist
- Alternate ways to evaluate, e.g., projects or oral presentations instead of written tests
Reasonable Accommodations
Small changes like letting students use smartphones or tape recorders to record lectures or extending test times are examples of reasonable accommodations.
Some accommodations may entail removing physical obstacles, such as dimmed lights, allowing students to take exams in different settings, such as quiet rooms, or using different test formats.
For instance, instructors can let students utilize assistive listening equipment or take oral exams instead of written ones.
For written exams and study materials, students can ask for different formats, such as braille, large print, or audio tape readers. For assessments that aren’t meant to assess spelling abilities, instructors may allow the use of spell checkers, dictionaries, or thesaurus.
How Do College and High School Disability Services Differ?
The transition from high school to college for teenagers with disabilities and their parents might be challenging because accommodations are handled differently at the collegiate level.
For instance, unlike high schools, universities are not obligated to offer individual Education Plans (IEPs) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Also, unlike college, where it is the student’s responsibility to come equipped with a diagnosis and knowledge of the necessary accommodations, high schools are required to identify and evaluate all children who may have disabilities under the Child Find mandate.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act includes the Child Find mandate.
Additionally, colleges often don’t pay for personal student assistants that some students might need or designate a case manager specifically for each student. The difference between high school and college can be big.
The goal of college disability services is to ensure that all students have access to resources. Colleges place the responsibility for obtaining accommodations and advocating for services in the student’s hands, which can help them gain valuable experience advocating for themselves.
Tips on Using Accommodations
You want to be certain that you make the most of the amenities and services provided by your college and are prepared to succeed in a university environment. Consider the following advice for students using accessibility services:
1. Be Proactive
You should obtain your accommodations before you need them because they cannot be used retroactively. The work it takes to ask for and obtain them upfront can help you in avoiding significant issues later in the semester.
2. Connect With Your Professors
You should arrange a private meeting with your instructors at the start of each semester to review your accommodations. Additionally, be sure that each instructor is capable of meeting your accommodations. You may later benefit from telling them upfront about your condition.
For instance, if you’ve already discussed your disability and any modifications with your professors, it will be much simpler to excuse or explain if you miss class due to your disability. Additionally, throughout the semester, check in with your professor frequently to see how you are doing and to ensure that you are on track.
3. Don’t be Afraid To Ask
Ask the student accessibility service office at your campus if you need assistance or have any questions.
Accommodations vs. Modifications for College Students
What if, to succeed in college, you don’t require accommodation but rather modifications to help you adapt to learning? After that, if you do need them, you could discuss adjustments with the disability services office.
Changes to the curriculum are known as modifications for students with impairments. For instance, giving the student more time on a test would be a reasonable accommodation. A test modification would involve reducing the number of questions the student has to answer correctly.
Colleges are not required to make modifications, even though ADA-guaranteed accommodations are available to students with disabilities. But that doesn’t prevent you from inquiring about them. Even if your college declines to make modifications, they might offer other helpful adjustments.
What to Do if Your Accommodations Change
While many disabled students arrive at school with the necessary paperwork and resources to access the services they require, some may not become aware of their needs until they are in college. Similarly, the modifications that were effective for you in high school or earlier could no longer be adequate.
Speak with your academic advisor, the office for disability services at your institution, or an instructor if you enroll in college and quickly realize you need more assistance. Professors can be a valuable resource in assisting you in getting access to help or accommodations to obtain academic achievement. They may be more aware of the accommodation that would be most helpful to you.
Most colleges mandate that instructors provide information about utilizing disability services and reasonable accommodations on their course syllabuses. Many instructors emphasize this information early in the semester to encourage students to approach them should a situation develop.
What to Do if Your Disability Accommodations Are Denied?
To find out why your request for accommodations was denied, speak with your disability services representative. You should get assistance from disability services to remedy this issue.
Students who don’t provide adequate information about their difficulties are frequently denied accommodations. Documentation from your doctor or a previous school where you got accommodations may be required.
If you require a reminder of what has previously worked for you, speak with your high school, parents, mental health practitioner, or physician.
Additionally, you can also reach out to the SSA to get some accommodations directly from them. The SSA can help you with medical coverage and benefits other than SSDI and/or SSI, including providing a sign-language interpreter, as already mentioned above.
When to Apply for Disability Accommodations?
When students receive their admission letters, they should immediately submit a request for accommodations. It could take some time for disability services to plan these accommodations. If disability services rejects your request, you may also need additional time to file an appeal.
Or perhaps you need some time to speak with your parents, providers, or high school. In any case, students need to start gathering their materials and looking into colleges early.
On the colleges’ website, look for disability services, particularly for students receiving SSDI or SSI benefits. Accommodations or the ADA are some other possible search terms to get relevant search results.
A good first step in assuring access to educational resources is starting the process of requesting disability accommodations on campus in a timely manner.
While the responsibility for requesting accommodations may vary between high school and college, it ultimately gives students the power to speak out for their needs and succeed academically.
Students can make the most of accessible services and establish a positive learning environment by taking the initiative, interacting with instructors, and being aware of what resources are available. Remember that getting the assistance you deserve requires early action and persistence.
