Disability Accommodation
I. POLICY

The college provides equal access for students with disabilities and does not discriminate on the basis of disability or a serious medical condition in the admission and retention of students. A disability is any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or being regarded as having such impairment.

The covered disabilities and serious medical conditions include but are not limited to visual and hearing impairments, mobility impairments, learning disabilities, ADHD, Cognitive/TBI, psychological disabilities, and physical and systemic impairments. To ensure equal access for persons with disabilities to all academic and other programs, services, and activities of the college, as required by law, reasonable accommodations will be made. These may include academic adjustments and auxiliary aids. Persons seeking accommodations are required to provide current documentation, request specific reasonable accommodations, engage in an interactive process and update requests as needed. To discuss your needs, please schedule an appointment with the Disability Coordinator. Confidentiality is subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).

Southwest Acupuncture College will not fundamentally alter the nature or learning objectives of the program, lower student assessment standards, nor create an unreasonable risk to the security and health of the student with a disability or others as a result of accommodation implementation. In addition, the college will not fundamentally alter the delivery of patient care in the clinical portion of the program.

II. PROCEDURE

A. Responsibilities of the Student

The student begins the process by filling out an Accommodation Application and Request for Accommodations Form.

In accordance with law, in order to request accommodations a student must:

  1. Provide information pertaining to the disability or serious medical condition for which reasonable accommodation is being sought;
  2. Provide information regarding the limitations imposed by the disability or serious medical condition;
  3. Provide information about the impact of the disability or serious medical condition on the individual's ability to perform the essential functions in higher education and/or clinical environment;
  4. Document the frequency of the need for reasonable accommodation, if applicable;
  5. Provide information about previous reasonable accommodations in a higher education setting, if applicable;
  6. Provide information on the specific reasonable accommodations the individual believes would be helpful in allowing him or her to perform the essential functions of a student and make an appointment with the Disability Coordinator to discuss these requests;
  7. Engage in an interactive process;
  8. Update requests as needed.

B. Verification of Disability or Serious Medical Condition
The following information is required to support requests for an accommodation and/or auxiliary aid:

  1. Identification of the type of disability with an official diagnosis (physical, cognitive, psychological, learning or serious medical condition) from a qualified evaluator;
  2. Credentials of the evaluator;
  3. Description of how this disability creates an impact to a major life function and academic performance;
  4. Information of previous accommodations received in a higher education setting can be submitted, if applicable;
  5. Individual education plans (IEPs), summary of performance (SOP) or Section 504 plans from K-12 institutions may be submitted, however, these alone may not provide sufficient information and additional documentation may be needed.
  6. Additional Recommended Disability Specific Requirements:

A. Learning Disability, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Cognitive Disorders

  •     Current aptitude, as derived from a recognized intellectual assessment, including scores of subtests.
  •     Current academic achievement scores, as derived from a recognized age normed battery of achievement tests, including the current levels of functioning in areas such as reading (decoding, fluency, and comprehension), mathematics (problem solving and calculation/fluency), written expression and fluency, and spelling.
  •     Current ability to process information, including short and long term memory, sequential memory, auditory and visual perception/processing, processing speed, executive functioning, divided attention, and motor ability, as appropriate to the specific learning or cognitive disability.
  •     Recommended accommodations with rationale.
 

B. ADHD

  •     Procedures used to diagnose the disability, including a list of all assessment instruments including rating scales and continuous performance tests.
  •     Age at diagnosis.
  •     Summary statement addressing substantial limitations caused by this condition, any side effects from medications that may impact a student, and recommended accommodations in an academic environment.

    C. Psychological

  •     DSM-IV or DSM-V diagnosis.
  •     Summary statement addressing substantial limitations caused by this condition, any side effects from medications that may impact a student, and recommended accommodations in an academic environment.
  •     Description of whether the condition is stable, improving, or progressive.

    D. Physical/Systemic

  •     Summary statement addressing substantial limitations caused by this condition, any side effects from medications that may impact a student, and recommended accommodations in an academic environment.
  •     Description of whether the condition is stable, improving, or progressive.

Documentation must be from a professional, unrelated to the student, who is trained and qualified (i.e. certified and/or licensed) to evaluate/ diagnose/ assess the particular disability or health condition.  These professionals include, but are not limited to, medical doctors, psychologists, audiologists, ophthalmologists, and educational diagnosticians.

Documentation must include the letterhead of the professional providing the evaluation/ diagnosis and date of diagnosis/ assessment and include the name, address, and qualifications of the professional.

Where the nature of the disability or serious medical condition is obvious (e.g. amputation, blindness, quadriplegia) the Disability Coordinator may not need to verify the disability or serious medical condition. In other cases, the student shall provide the verification documentation.

C. Responsibilities of Southwest Acupuncture College

  1. Once the responsibilities of the student have been met, the Disability Coordinator will determine student eligibility for reasonable accommodations, taking into account the documented impacts of the disability, interview of the student, and recommendations of qualified professionals. The Disability Coordinator may set up a meeting or series of meetings with the student to review the request for accommodations and how the reasonable accommodation can be implemented.

    Southwest Acupuncture College will maintain records identifying its students with verified disabilities. These records shall include the student’s name, address, disability documentation, and a Disability Accommodations Determination Form (signed by the student and the Disability Coordinator). This information will be kept segregated from all other student records. FERPA allows release of information from these records to SWAC staff who have a legitimate educational interest. The Disability Coordinator will utilize professional judgment in releasing only the minimum amount of information that is in the student’s best interest to facilitate accommodation administration. No information shall be released to a third party not employed by SWAC without the student’s signed consent.

  2. The Disability Coordinator will provide the student with a copy of the Disability Accommodations Determination Form.
  3. Administrators will make public the Accommodation Policy and will discuss related procedures with faculty. Also, administrators will ensure that the faculty and staff understand the college’s commitment to implementing law and policy assuring nondiscrimination on the basis of disability or serious medical condition.
III. POLICY ON EXAM ACCOMMODATION

All exam facilities will be physically accessible to candidates.

A student seeking a reasonable accommodation for examinations is responsible for making the request. All requests for reasonable accommodations must be submitted, with documentation, in writing, to the Disability Coordinator or Academic Dean. The Disability Coordinator will evaluate each request individually, in accordance with the guidelines set forth herein, to provide an appropriate and effective accommodation.

To protect the integrity of the testing process, the student is required to provide documentation of the existence of a disability or serious medical condition and how the requested reasonable accommodation is necessary to provide the candidate with an equal opportunity to exhibit his/her knowledge, skills and ability through the examination.

Examinations administered with reasonable accommodations will be taken at the same time the class takes the exam as much as possible. Students are responsible for adhering to the Honor Code and to the instructor’s policies on exam attendance and punctuality.

Questions?

Email the Disabilities Coordinator or call 303-581-9955 x1111.