Reasonable Accommodations are intended to provide students with documented disabilities an opportunity to be evaluated on their ability, not their disability. UCCS adheres to the civil rights definition of disability. In order to be eligible for reasonable accommodations based on a disability, students must provide Disability Services with documentation that they have a physical or mental condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, reading and learning.
In addition to documentation of a disability, students must provide evidence of how their disability impacts participation in UCCS programs. Disability Services refers to this impact of a disability on program access as a functional limitation. The link between the functional limitation and program access must be established before Disability Services supports reasonable accommodations.
Disability Services provides no diagnostic services. If there is adequate documentation from other sources, DS reviews that documentation. In cases where there is no existing documentation, or the documentation is insufficient in some way, the student has the responsibility to provide documentation from an appropriate professional who can diagnose a disability and its impact on learning and/or access to UCCS programs.
Assistive Technology
Books on Tape or Alternate Format
Braille Print
Extended Testing Time
Interpreter
Scribe for exams
The University provides reasonable accommodations unless they fall under one of the following three categories:
Fundamental Alternation
Personal Service
Undue Hardship
It is essential to maintain the integrity of the UCCS academic environment. Therefore, if an accommodation reduces the academic standards of UCCS or fundamentally alters the nature or standards of a course, the accommodation is denied because it is unreasonable.
If an accommodation is impossible to administer or would create an undue financial hardship, the University denies the accommodation because it is unreasonable.
If a request for an accommodation falls under the definition of person service, the University denies the request because it is unreasonable. Personal services are those that a person with a disability must use regardless of attendance at UCCS. In addition, personal services are those for which no correlation between the disability and functional limitation and program access can be established.
Disability Services coordinates and provides reasonable accommodations to qualified students with disabilities. Accommodations are individualized to address specific functional limitations resulting from a disability. There must be a logical link between the functional limitation and the accommodation. UCCS charges no fee to students with disabilities for reasonable accommodations.
Once a student with a disability has been accepted to UCCS, such student should register with the Disability Services Office to begin the process for obtaining accommodations. Students are strongly encouraged to initiate the process well before classes begin. The following steps must be completed:
At the beginning of each semester, students requesting accommodations for their courses that semester must complete the following steps: