How do I apply for disability accommodations?
To receive disability accommodations, you must speak with a person in the Office of Accessibility Services and apply for services. 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.
- Schedule an appointment with Accessibility Services and speak with them.
- Complete an application for services
- 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. You can download the treatment provider form by clicking on this sentence.
- If you do not have documentation, the counselor will assist you in finding a treatment provider or service to work with you.
- Once documentation is received, your accommodation letter will be written and emailed to your professors.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
You can find more information about Accessibility Services on the Berkeley College website, Information and application for Accessibility Services.
