Academic Accommodation Letter

If you think you may need academic accommodation for issues such as vision problems, hearing problems, etc., the burden is on you to go to the Student Accessibility Center and go through the process with them. Teachers do not initiate the process, even if we think you are having some sort of trouble in class.

The most common result, after they have assessed your needs, is for the office to issue an Accommodation Eligibility Letter, addressed to your instructor, which discusses the changes needed to help you in this course. You must actually give the letter to the instructor; if you simply hold on to it, the instructor has no way to know you have it. (These letters are, by Federal law, quite secret.)

All through the letter, there is a very strong emphasis upon talking things over with your instructor. I will not assume that having the letter in hand means I will cut you all sorts of slack. I need you to talk with me. The letter which you receive will probably be a form letter which lists six or eight possible accommodations. Talk with me and let me know which ones, specifically, you need.

Accommodation Eligibility Rules

The “Accommodation Eligibility Letter” is not a permanent “Get Out Of Jail Free” card. Specifically, it does not give a blanket exemption from such things as due dates and so forth. Here are a couple of the rules contained in the letter—and if you have provided this letter, these apply to you:

To access the accommodations [for example, extended time on tests/quizzes], the student has been instructed to contact you [the instructor] to discuss their request for specific accommodations.

The student can request accommodations at any point during the semester with reasonable notification.

It is the student’s responsibility to request accommodations, and Ashland University’s responsibility to accommodate reasonable requests.

Please notice what all this means:

1. The idea here is that the student initiates the request before the assignment’s due date—and a “reasonable” time before at that. If you think you will not be able to complete an assignment on time, talk with your instructor before the due date. Don’t assume that because I have an Accommodation Eligibility Letter in hand, I will always waive due dates for you.
2. The burden is on the student’s shoulders. I will generally treat all students the same unless you make a point of talking with me.
3. When the letter says “specific accommodations,” I take that to mean, for example, that we will discuss exactly when an assignment will be completed. A generalized “some time in the future” doesn’t help you too much.

Final due date for written work

This course has a final due date for all written work, which is announced in the syllabus class schedule. The main reason for this absolute due date is that the instructor must submit grades by a specific deadline. If you feel you cannot hit that final due date deadline, you must apply for an Incomplete. Here are the basic rules:

1. The student must initiate the request. This is not something the instructor can do.
2. The request must be approved by the instructor’s supervisors.
3. You would do well to have substantial, documented reasons for your request. Last-minute emergency surgery would be likely to get your request approved; “I just couldn’t get all the work done” is not as likely to get approved.
4. The university academic calendar lists a date for clearing of Incompletes. If you do not submit your work by that date, the course grade becomes an “F.”

For those who do not have an official accommodation letter

Things come up all the time in everyone’s lives—death of a loved one, unexpected hospitalization, and so forth—and most teachers are willing to work with you. The key here is exactly the same as it is for students with an official Accommodation Eligibility Letter: communicate as early as possible with your teacher. If you know you must have surgery in a week, talk to me. We can usually work things out.