Accommodation Process and Faculty Responsibilities

Below, faculty can find basic information about the procedure for students seeking accommodations. By reading through this page, faculty will gain a further understanding about what they are responsible for and what the students are responsible for.

Interacting With Students With Disabilities

Although we are making some progress as a society toward acceptance of disability as a part of the human experience, we have not yet reached the goal of full inclusion. Many people are unsure how to interact with persons with disabilities in a way that honors the dignity of everyone equally. This document about    Disability Etiquette provides some guidelines that you may find helpful.

The Accommodation Process and Notification To Faculty

First, the student with a disability provides documentation to ARC containing their disability diagnosis, which is kept confidential. Then the student meets with their assigned Accommodations Specialist to talk about what barriers the student has encountered in the academic environment related to the disability, and to determine reasonable accommodations that will remove the barriers, thereby giving the student equal access to their courses.

Each semester, the student makes their accommodations available by generating their accommodation letter using a specific website that ARC maintains for this purpose. Here is a sample accommodation memo for reference.

The accommodation letters are sent through e-mail to the assigned faculty for each class, with a copy to both the student and their ARC Accommodations Specialist. The letter lists all of the accommodations available to the student, but the student decides which of the accommodations to use in each of their courses.

Faculty Responsibilities In The Accommodation Process

• Being open to accommodating students
• Meeting with students and ARC to discuss the student’s needs
• Implementing reasonable accommodations to provide program access
• Maintaining confidentiality

Any questions regarding an accommodation, or concerns about an accommodation fundamentally altering the academic curriculum, should be discussed with the ARC Accommodations specialist. All involved parties will engage in an interactive process to determine if a request is reasonable and ensure that equal access is maintained.

Course Syllabi

Every instructor should include an official statement in their course syllabus. The suggested syllabus statement should include the following text:

"UNM is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for students with documented disabilities. As your instructor, it is my objective to facilitate an inclusive classroom setting, in which students have full access and opportunity to participate. To engage in a confidential conversation about the process for requesting reasonable accommodations for this class and/or program, please contact Accessibility Resource Center at arcsrvs@unm.edu or by phone at 505-277-3506."