Faculty

Welcome to the Disability Resource Center (DRC). The DRC’s role at UF is to ensure access for students with disabilities as outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The DRC created a resource for faculty about increasing the accessibility in the online learning environment. These principles can easily be applied to support learners with various needs. For more information about increasing the accessibility of your course, please email accommodations@ufsa.ufl.edu.

Your Role at the DRC

As a UF instructor you share a very important role in promoting and providing an accessible learning environment for students with disabilities. When students request disability-related accommodations, instructors should refer them to the DRC so that the DRC can identify suggested reasonable accommodations. If the DRC determines that reasonable accommodations may be necessary for the student to access their course, the DRC will create a suggested reasonable accommodations plan. DRC students are required to collaborate with their instructors to discuss this plan within the context of the course, the barriers they experience, and ways to create access in the course.

If faculty need assistance in creating access or providing accommodations or have concerns that they interfere with the essential requirements of the course, they should contact the DRC to collaborate about how to best serve the student. In no circumstances should faculty deny an accommodation without communicating with the DRC about the situation.

DRC staff members encourage instructors to contact us for consultation and presentations on disability related topics. For questions regarding a specific student’s accommodations, please contact the Accessibility Specialists listed on the student’s accommodation letter.

DRC Accommodation Letter

The Disability Resource Center has enhanced our file management system for academic accommodations. DRC students will be able to send accommodation letters to their instructors the same day they request the letter via our file management system. This also allows instructors to be reassured that the email and accommodation information accurate and coming directly from our office. Thanks to our partnership with UFIT, Gator360 and Salesforce, this new system will also allow us to track accommodations requested for any given course and facilitate a more streamlined communication between our office, UF students, and instructors.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have any questions or concerns DRC@ufsa.ufl.edu or 352-392-8565.

syllabus Statement

The University of Florida is committed to providing equal educational access to students with disabilities. As you are developing and/or updating your syllabi, please take a moment to review the university’s Policy on Course Syllabi which specifies including the following recommended statement related to accommodations for students with disabilities:

“Students with disabilities who experience learning barriers and would like to request academic accommodations should connect with the Disability Resource Center by visiting our Get Started page. It is important for students to share their accommodation letter with their instructor and discuss their access needs, as early as possible in the semester.”

Please take the time to review this syllabus statement with the class and to specify preferred ways that you would like students to communicate with you about their accessibility needs.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is very important to maintain for students with disabilities. Not all students will want to disclose their disability, although some may choose to share this information with you. Please be mindful and respectful of the students’ decision regarding self-disclosure because they are not required to disclose the nature of their disability or any medical documentation with instructors. A students’ disability and/or the fact that they use accommodations should not be announced in class. Individual conversations about students’ accommodations should be held in a respectful and private setting.

Governmental mandates, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) all support the protection of privacy.

Communicating about access and accommodations

DRC students will provide instructors with their DRC accommodation letter. The letter will arrive by email.

Students are encouraged to communicate with their instructors to confirm receipt of their letter and discuss how their accommodations may look in that course.

Faculty members are asked to work to provide the accommodations that are listed on the accommodation letter; they should refer students who request other accommodations to the DRC. Please reach out to the students’ assigned Accessibility Specialist, accommodations@ufsa.ufl.edu, for any further questions about this accommodation.

For more details on facilitating accommodations and accommodation descriptions visit our Facilitating Accommodations Page.

For more information on using our G-ATR testing portal visit our Accommodated Testing: Instructors Page.

Concerns about accomodations

Occasionally, a student’s accommodation may cause confusion or concern for instructors either in understanding how to provide it or how it will work within the essential functions of the course.

If you are concerned that the accommodation may constitute a fundamental alteration to the course, then that accommodation may not be considered reasonable and appropriate in that course. Faculty should immediately contact the student’s accessibility specialist, accommodations@ufsa.ufl.edu. The DRC will respond promptly with support, suggestions, or reasonable alternative accommodations.