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Contact Us

Katherine Wu
Director
44 Rifle Camp Road
Woodland Park, NJ 07424
212-986-4343 x 4211
Katherine-Wu@BerkeleyCollege.edu

Jose Serifi

Program Coordinator
44 Rifle Camp Road
Woodland Park, NJ 07424
973-581-7113
Jose-Serifi2@BerkeleyCollege.edu

What is considered a disability? What is not?

• A disability, as defined by the American with Disabilites Act, is any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, and communicating are considered major life activities under the law.

• At Accessibility Services we assist students with temporary, chronic, and enduring disabilities. Conditions that may be considered a disability include: visual/auditory impairments, migraines, fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder and other mood disorders, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, pregnancy and post-partum, cancer, learning disorders, sensory processing disorders, quadriplegia, seizures, and ADHD.

• Conditions that typically are not considered as a disability include: acute illnesses such as the flu, pneumonia, and COVID with symptoms lasting less than two weeks, care for other family members with disabilities, car accidents, death in the family, financial insecurity, housing insecurity, test anxiety, lack of transportation, and unforeseen circumstances.

• It is discriminatory by law for any institution to deny admittance to a student who meets the enrollment criteria and are otherwise qualified to participate in their degree program.

• It is discriminatory by law if reasonable accommodations are not granted to a student deemed as having a disability.

What are disability accommodations?

• Accommodations serve to help students overcome barriers caused by their disability that may prevent them from learning or participating in campus activities.  Unlike in the K-12 setting, accommodations are meant to level the playing field and provide access, but they do not guarantee student success.

• The requested accommodations must be “reasonable,” which means that the accommodations attempt to ease the impact of your disability, but that course requirements are not changed or altered. You still must complete the same learning objectives and demonstrate your learning in the course. Accommodations cannot fundamentally alter the nature of the course or program curriculum or cause an undue burden on the institution.

• Examples of reasonable accommodations include: assistive technology [such as text-to-speech software, speech-to-text software]; use of particular instructional strategies; extended time to take tests; extended time to submit assignments; breaks to leave a classroom as needed; preferential seating in a classroom; a reader; or an academic coach.

• Accommodations will not alter the amount of work you have to complete in your courses. Your instructor will also grade you according to the same standard as a student without accommodations.

• Accommodations do not allow you to make up work you have already missed.

• Instructors are not required to implement additional accommodations beyond what is listed in the letter, nor are they expected to modify the length, difficulty, or amount of work for the student.

How do I know if I’m eligible for accommodations due to a disability?

You may be eligible for accommodations if you have any documented learning issues or have chronic/episodic medical, psychological, physical, or sensory conditions.

You will need to provide recent medical documentation, IEP, or neuropsychological evaluation that describes how your condition impacts your learning and what measures remove the barriers created by your condition(s).

Here are some examples:

• Temporary conditions that students may be eligible for accommodations include broken bones, ligament damage, pain resulting from accident/incident that has lasted beyond 2 weeks, pregnancy, post-partum, surgery and other medical procedures, unknown cause leading to decrease in cognitive functioning, and changes in medication leading to decreased functioning.
• Chronic conditions that students may be eligible for accommodations include attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, arthritis, auditory processing disorders, back pain, bipolar, cancer, cognitive impairments, major depression, diabetes, hearing impairments, learning disabilities, migraines, post traumatic stress disorder, seizures, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment.

If you are unsure at all, please feel free to reach out to the Accessibility Services/ Counseling staff.

How do I apply for disability accommodations?

To receive accommodations for a disability, please follow the instructions below. You may speak with the specific campus ADA/Section 504 Coordinators: [NJ and online students] Sandra Coppola, Ph.D., 973-826-5598 or Sandra-Coppola@BerkeleyCollege.edu; [NY students] Vincent Mas, 914-377-5545 or Vincent-Mas@BerkeleyCollege.edu. You may also speak with the personal counselor at your campus. Accommodations often take 3-4 weeks to implement. They are not retroactive, meaning they do not enable you to make up class work that you have missed. Therefore, it is often easiest to apply and have them in place so that you can utilize them if/when needed.

1. Contact the ADA Coordinator or Personal Counselor at your campus.

2. Complete an Accessibility Services Application

3. Provide current documentation (within 3-4 years) of a diagnosis from a licensed professional, along with that professional’s description of the severity, limitations, and impact of your condition on your learning and for recommended accommodations to mitigate this impact.

4. If you do not have documentation, the counselor will assist you in finding a treatment provider or service to work with you.

5. Once documentation is received, your accommodation letter will be written and emailed to your professors.

6. Once you receive your accommodations through email, you must reply to the email confirming that you have received the accommodations. This is to confirm that you understand and agree to your accommodations for the semester. Your academic advisor and your instructors will be on the email.

7. You are responsible for contacting your professors and counselor immediately if any issues arise, for example, if your instructor is not implementing your accommodations or if the accommodations are not helping you. Disability Services may not be able to assist you after the fact.

8. You must renew your accommodations each semester to continue receiving them. Accommodations are *not* automatically renewed. Completing the Semester Renewal Form is how you indicate to the College that you wish to have your accommodations renewed.

9. For chronic/enduring/episodic conditions, you will be asked to renew your accommodations at the end of the semester. For temporary medical conditions, you must provide additional documentation from your treatment provider indicating in order for your accommodations to be implemented the next term.

10. The information you share with the College is completely confidential. Your documentation is kept confidential and separate from other academic files, the same way that counseling information is kept confidential and separate.