5114 Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Procedure

Procedure  

Policy Name: Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Policy Number: 5114  

Applicable Code/Law: Sections 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and ADA Amendments Act of 2008; Washington State Core Services Bill for students with disabilities, Washington Law Against Discrimination RCW 49.60 and RCW 28B.10.910, 912, 914; and SBCTC Policy on Access for Students with Disabilities, 3.20.30  

Definitions:  

Student - A person enrolled at Shoreline College.  

Qualified Student with a Disability – A student who, with or without reasonable accommodation, meets the academic and technical standards required for admission to, participation in, and/or fulfills the essential requirements for College programs and activities.  

Student with a Disability – Any student who: (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) being regarded as having such an impairment.  

Student Eligible for Reasonable Accommodations – A student who has an apparent or non-apparent disability, including symptoms or side-effects from medications, which creates barriers at school. 

Core services – Those services listed in State of Washington Laws of 1994, Ch. 105 that are necessary to ensure students with disabilities are reasonably accommodated at the College.  

Course substitution - The replacement of a specific course required for a degree program with another course that measures the same learning objectives/skills as the required course.  

Reasonable Accommodations – Reasonable modifications to College services, programs, policies, practices, digital and physical infrastructure, and/or procedures that enable qualified students with a disability to have an equal opportunity to benefit from and have access to College programs and services, and for provision of auxiliary aids and services.  

Program Accessibility – All programs and services, when viewed in their entirety, are accessible to persons with a disability.  

Health Care Professional – A person who has completed a course of study and is licensed to practice in a field of health care that includes the diagnosis and assessment of the particular disability, or disabilities, in question.  

Undue hardship – Any excessively costly, extensive, substantial or disruptive modification, or one that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the institution or any of its programs or services or threaten the health or safety of the College community.  

Documentation of Disability and Self-Report:  

Medical documentation is typically not required for academic or campus accommodations, though Student Accessibility Services may request verification of disability if needed. Per the Fair Housing Act, verification of the student’s disability is required for disability-related accommodations/modifications in the Residence Hall.  

  1. "Credentials of the evaluator": Documentation must be prepared by a professional qualified to diagnose and who has no personal relationship with the individual being evaluated. The credentials of the assessor and the condition being reported should match appropriately (e.g., an orthopedic disability may be documented by a physician, but not a psychologist).   
  2. "Condition": Title or diagnosis (if any) for the condition which is responsible for the impairment. In other words, does the condition have a name or is it best described by the clinical impact on the student? For example, Rheumatoid Arthritis is a condition that causes a movement disorder. However, in another example, pharmaceuticals used to treat a medical condition may have a significant impact on a student's learning. This, then, could be the disabling condition.  
  3. "Currency": Since assessment frequently constitutes the basis for determining reasonable accommodations, it is in a student’s best interest to provide recent and appropriate documentation to serve as the basis for decision-making about a student’s needs for reasonable accommodations in an academically competitive environment.  
  4. "Barriers": Description of current functional limitations; meaning, information on how the disabling condition(s) currently impact(s) the individual which could include a combination of the results of formal evaluation procedures and a clinical narrative. Documentation must be thorough enough to demonstrate how one or more major life activities is/are substantially limited. 
  5. "Duration": Description of the expected progression of stability of the disability. Documentation or student interview must provide information on expected changes in the functional impact of the disability over time and across contexts. Information on the cyclical or episodic nature of the disability, known or suspected environmental triggers to episodes, and potential opportunities to anticipate and plan for varying functional impacts. May include information on interventions for exacerbations and recommended timeline for re-assessment.  
  6. "History": Description of current and past accommodations, services, and/or medications; Please include comprehensive documentation of both current and past medications, auxiliary aids, assistive devices, support services, and accommodations, including their effectiveness in ameliorating functional impacts of the disability. A discussion of significant side effects from current medications or services that may impact physical, perceptual, behavioral, or cognitive performance should be included in the report. 
  7. "Recommendations": Suggested accommodations, adaptive devices, assistive services, compensatory strategies, or other support services; recommendations from professionals with a history of working with the individual will provide valuable information for determining and planning reasonable accommodations. Recommendations should be directly related to functional limitations, with a clear explanation of their connection to the disability. The extent to which a recommendation is deemed reasonable in the higher education setting will be decided by Student Accessibility Services. Recommendations do not guarantee the student has authorized use of accommodations. Rather, recommendations are taken into consideration to gain an understanding of the student’s functional limitations and are considered professional suggestions from an individual with credible knowledge of the student and their barriers.  
  8. “Self-Report”:A consideration in determining eligibility and/or reasonable accommodation is the student’s self-report on their condition; its currency; the manner in which it impacts that person; duration in terms of prognosis, stability and possible intermittency, history of accommodations, as well as that individual’s engagement in the interactive process of establishing appropriate accommodations.    

Procedural Guidelines  

Pursuant to federal and state requirements, students with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodations to ensure access to programs, services, activities, and facilities at Shoreline College. To receive reasonable accommodations, students are responsible for requesting accommodations, and for providing appropriate written documentation in support of those accommodations as defined in the attached implementing procedures in a timely manner when requested. Students should direct their requests for reasonable accommodation to the Student Accessibility Services (SAS) office, which is responsible for implementation of this policy and related procedures.   

  1. Offices of Responsibility Within the College:  
    1. Students should direct requests for accommodations due to disability to Student Accessibility Services (SAS) when related to admission, enrollment, curricular or cocurricular activities unrelated to employment. SAS will determine reasonable accommodations, as appropriate, on behalf of the College. The Director of SAS is ultimately responsible for authorization of student accommodations. That is, SAS is the designated office for the College that makes all student-related accommodation decisions. 
    2. Student employees should direct employment-related accommodation requests to Human Resources (HR). HR, at its discretion, may consult with/enlist assistance of SAS in providing accommodations that HR has determined are employment appropriate for the student. The Executive Director of HR, or their designee, is responsible for authorization of employee accommodations.  
    3. The Section 504/ADA Coordinatoris responsible for public access (e.g., outward facing electronic information, path of travel across campus, events, and access to facilities).   
    4. The AccessibleInformation Technology (IT) Coordinator leads College efforts to ensure accessibility of information technology and electronic content. See the Shoreline Accessible Information Technology policy. 
  2. Obligations of the College 
    The College has the following General Obligations to maintain Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and with regard to reasonable accommodations and modifications: 
    1. Comply with relevant statutes and policy, including: 
      1. Sections 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended January 17, 2017; 
      2. Section 202 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;  
      3. ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008;   
      4. Washington State Core Services Bill for students with disabilities, RCW 28B.10.910;   
      5. Washington State Law Against Discrimination, RCW 49.60; and,  
      6. SBCTC Policy on Access for Students with Disabilities, 3.20.30.  
    2. Publish the College’s policy of non-discrimination on the basis of disability, Policy 5114 and of the steps students may take if they believe disability-related discrimination has taken place. This notice shall be included in all formal correspondence that communicates decisions or policies adversely affecting the individual’s status or rights with the institution of higher education. This notice shall include the name and contact information for the Shoreline Community College Section 504/ADA Coordinator, as well as the contact information for the United States Department of Education, U.S. Office of Civil Rights, and the Washington State Human Rights Commission.
    3. Work with the students, faculty, and staff, on a case-by-case basis, to select and provide those reasonable accommodations/core services appropriate for each qualified student with a disability. Engage in the interactive process with the student and, as appropriate and with the written permission of the student, with the relevant instructor/staff to determine appropriate accommodation(s).  
    4. Student Accessibility Services may request that the student provide verification from a health care professional that they have disability-related barriers (“diagnoses”) if the Director of SAS determines that more information is needed to approve disability-related reasonable accommodations. The College may obtain a second opinion at its own expense from a health care professional of its selection. Such inquiries must be limited to verification of the student’s claims, except that Student Accessibility Services may also request that the health care professional suggest possible effective alternative reasonable accommodations.  
    5. The Collegehas no obligation to provide the exact accommodation(s) or modification(s) requested by the student or their treating/assessing professional. For example, requests for accommodations that would fundamentally alter essential course elements known as "core learning outcomes" may be deemed unreasonable. If this occurs, there may be more feasible alternatives that are or close to equivalent to the original request and would appropriately and fairly accommodate the student's disability needs. It is the obligation of the College to attempt to find an alternative accommodation or modification to the initial request for the student.
    6. Generally, the College will respond to requests for reasonable accommodation within ten instructional days.  A decision will be rendered and communicated to the requesting student.  At this same time, a second copy of excerpts from College Policy 5114:  Reasonable Accommodations of Students with Disabilities will be provided to the student, detailing information on how they may seek review (appeal) of the decision on their request, if in dispute (Section IV.E.). 
    7. The College shall develop an internal grievance procedure for addressing disputes related to requests for reasonable accommodations. Such procedure shall:   
      1. Explain the method for submitting a grievance; 
      2. Describe any internal appeals process(es); 
      3. Identify an individual responsible for overseeing the process(es);  
      4. Set forth reasonable time frames for review and resolution of the grievance; and, 
      5. Provide for documentation of complaints submitted and the steps taken to attempt resolution.
        The College has Specific Obligations for maintaining non-discrimination related to reasonable accommodations and modifications for students, as follows:
        1. Make information available on the services offered to students with disabilities, including the name and location of the Student Accessibility Services office and the means for accessing those services on all Faculty syllabi, in all student-facing department offices, and on the college website. 
        2. Maintain the academic integrity of its programs.  
        3. Never make pre-admission inquiries as to whether a student applicant has a disability, except as required by law. With any such question, notification that any disability-related questions are optional. 
        4. Develop procedures to protect the confidentiality of information regarding the nature and extent of the student’s disability, including whether they are registered with SAS.  Such records of disability-related barriers, whether temporary or permanent impairment, while not qualifying the student for accommodations will be protected as confidential information, will be kept securely, and will not follow the student outside of Shoreline College without their explicit, written permission and a letter signed by the Director of SAS.. 
  3. Responsibilities & Rights of the Qualified Student 
    The College is obligated to provide reasonable accommodation to a student who is registered with SAS and has followed the appropriate procedure of that office to request accommodations, including participating in the interactive process with their assigned Access Specialist. Appropriate accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis. It is the student’s obligation to seek reasonable accommodations and maintain an interactive dialog with college stakeholders who would implement it. A student who seeks reasonable accommodations under policy 5114 is responsible for documenting the nature and extent of the disability for which accommodations are sought. The College will work collaboratively with the qualified student in determining the appropriate reasonable accommodations. 
    Responsibilities of the Student 
    To ensure that needed reasonable accommodations are provided in a timely manner, the student must complete the following responsibilities:   
    1. Apply for services with SAS, to set up an Access appointment (initial meeting), and to attend that meeting to engage in the interactive process. 
    2. Provide documentation if their Access Specialist determines after registration that this is necessary. 
    3. Submit documentation to SAS with their application, which includes the following information if seeking accommodations, or modifications of policy, practice or procedure: 
      1. Name of the provider. 
      2. Relationship of the provider to the student. 
      3. Why the provider believes the accommodation request is necessary due to the stated diagnosis (i.e. the connection between accommodation and disability). 
    4. Students who need American Sign Language interpreter services will contact SAS with the appropriate request a minimum of seven (7) business days before the need for the interpreter. 
    5. Promptly notify the Director of Student Accessibility Services of any problems encountered in receiving the agreed-upon reasonable accommodation.
      A student has the right to not utilize approved accommodation(s). However, if the student cannot meet the academic and technical standards required for admission to, participation in, or fulfillment of the essential requirements of college programs or activities without the accommodations, they may not be considered a “qualified student” for that course or program, per that specific program’s specific policy.  
  4. Obligation of Student Accessibility Services 
    1. The Student Accessibility Services (SAS) office is responsible for the coordination of services to qualified students with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations or modifications of policy, practice, and procedure in the classroom, on campus, and in the Residence Hall. 
    2. As a part of the interactive process, all Access Specialists will review with students in their first meeting, the following: 
      1. Confidentially and information about releases; 
      2. Mandatory reporting requirements; 
      3. Potential accommodations and any caveats pertaining to said accommodations; 
      4. Student Affairs resources. 
    3. The Student Accessibility Services office is committed to a reasonable approach in the identification of students with disabilities. 
    4. Information regarding a disability will be kept confidential according to federal and state privacy regulations, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), unless a student signs a Release of Information specific for the SAS office. Information is available to appropriate college administrators, faculty, and security personnel on a need-to-know basis. All SAS employees are Mandatory Reporters and will report any concern about a student who they believe may harm themselves or others. 
    5. The Student Accessibility Services office will assist and advise each qualified student with a disability who requests accommodations under this policy, identifying those reasonable accommodations appropriate for the student, and facilitating the provision of agreed-upon accommodations. SAS will engage in an interactive process with the student and as appropriate with the relevant instructor / staff to determine appropriate accommodation(s).  
    6. Shoreline College students with a disability, either permanent or temporary, can receive information and assistance from the Student Accessibility Services office. 
  5. Reasonable Accommodation 
    The process of selecting reasonable academic accommodations for each qualified student with a disability shall be made on an individual basis and gauged as appropriate relative to the functional impact of the student’s disability. Academic modifications may include, but are not limited to:  
    1. Priority Registration 
    2. Extended testing time 
    3. Adaptive equipment 
    4. Ergonomic classroom furniture 
    5. Classroom relocation 
    6. Notetaking software  
  6. Course Substitutions Procedures 
    Shoreline College recognizes that certain disabilities may preclude a student from successfully completing a specific course requirement for a degree even with appropriate reasonable accommodations. In addition, the College recognizes its obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities without compromising the integrity of the academic program, as this may be a fundamental alteration to the program.
    Under the ADA, the College is not required to waive essential requirements of a student’s program of instruction. Therefore, every student enrolled in a degree program at the College is required to meet the essential requirements of a degree program.
    Shoreline College recognizes that altered methods of course delivery and/or providing core services will enable most students with disabilities to successfully complete course requirements, except in unusual circumstances. Typically, the student with a disability will attempt to successfully complete the required course with reasonable accommodations prior to requesting a substitution. If compelling, current documentation (e.g., clinical assessment revealing a significant relevant impairment) exists to support a substitution without the student first attempting the course, Student Accessibility Services may grant an exception upon written request by the student. If SAS grants an exception, the student must then follow established course substitution procedures to ensure its proper implementation. 
    If a student is unsuccessful in completing the course, the student may request course substitution under this policy. Request for course substitution may be approved only if the proposed substitution is consistent with the essential degree requirements of Shoreline Community College. Furthermore, when appropriate, the student will be advised, if transferring, of potential deficiencies in fulfilling four-year degree requirements.
    Requests for substitutions for a particular course or program are considered only when a qualified student with a disability has demonstrated that, even with academic adjustments and auxiliary aids/services provided by the College, they will be likely unable to successfully complete the course solely because of the disability. Consideration when evaluating a course substitution request involves balancing several of the following factors:  
    1. Whether the student took a manageable/reduced course load while making prior attempt to complete the challenging course; 
    2. Whether the student engaged in available campus resources, such as tutorial support;  
    3. Whether the student engaged with their Academic Advisor and considered equal and appropriate courses, such as alternate modes or classes at another college. 
    4. The clinical description of the severity of the disabling condition and how its impact may or may not allow a student to successfully complete a course given their significant effort, as well as use of generous academic support.   
      All requests for course substitution must be submitted in writing by the student to SAS and must contain an explanation of the relationship of the student’s disability to the lack of success in completing the course, including: 
      1. A statement that they have made a good faith effort to complete the required course with appropriate accommodations;  
      2. If a current Release of Information form is not on file, an SAS-specific release signed by the student, or their legal/medical Power of Attorney, confirming that the Student Accessibility Services office may make the student’s accommodation and verification of disability available to the appropriate division dean.
        The student makes an appointment with the appropriate division dean to submit, in writing, their request for the substitution. The division dean may ask the student to provide any of the above documents. At the request of the student, a staff member of Student Accessibility Services may accompany the student to the meeting or any subsequent meetings.
        The division dean shall respond in writing to all requests for course substitutions with a summary of the basis for the decision within 10 business days of receiving the request. “Business days” business days do not include weekends, holidays, or any day that the College is closed to students.
  7. Reasonable Accommodation – Dispute Resolution
    A student may make a complaint at any time to the local Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights by phone at (206) 607-1600 or by email at OCR.Seattle@ed.gov; or at the Washington State Human Rights Commission, via phone at 1-800-233-3247 or by email at frontdesk@hum.wa.gov.  However, it is highly recommended that the student first utilize the College's dispute resolution process. Often, student concerns can be resolved informally by speaking directly with the Director of Student Accessibility Services. However, students are not required to follow this process. If students would like to submit their concern formally, they should follow the process below.  
    1. If a student believes that Student Accessibility Services has notidentified or provided reasonable academic adjustments or auxiliary aids to their satisfaction, the student may seek review of the staff's actions. In such a case, the student will take the following steps in order to submit a written appeal to the College’s 504/ADA Coordinator. The appeal should, at a minimum, address the following points: 
      1. The nature of the disability and its current impact(s) and functional limitations in the academic setting;  
      2. Details of the academic adjustment and/or auxiliary aid(s) being requested and why;  
      3. A description of all academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids presently or in the past provided and/or offered by the SAS office. Include an explanation as to why these adjustments and/or aids are insufficient or ineffective.
        The Section 504/ADA Coordinator or an appropriately assigned Deputy ADA Coordinator will review the student’s appeal and respond within seven (7) business days. If the student and the Section 504/ADA Coordinator do not reach resolution, the Section 504/ADA Coordinator will refer the appeal to the Vice President of Student Affairs (VPSA).  The VPSA will respond within seven (7) business days. The decision of the VPSA is the final decision of the College. 
    2. If a student believes that a faculty member is not providing them with their approved accommodations, they will first contact the Director of Student Accessibility Services. This person will give guidance, ask questions, and potentially reach out to that instructor with the permission of the student.
    3.  If resolution is not found within seven (7) business days, the student should take the following steps: 
      1. Email their concern to the department head/supervisor of the instructor in question, and 
      2. Email their concern to the Dean of the instructor in question.
        If the student has still not found resolution after taking the above steps, they should file a written complaint with the College’s ADA Coordinator, detailing the names of all parties, the incident(s), and the nature of the impact that the instructor’s behavior has had on them and their academic performance. The ADA Coordinator will respond within seven (7) business days and will investigate as appropriate.  

Approved  

Procedure Adopted: 06/18/2019
Reviewed and Approved by Executive Team: 07/14/2026