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The Accessibility Procedures and Forms section is designed to ensure transparent, collaborative approaches to supporting students with disabilities. By making information readily available in one place, the Office of Accessibility Services aims to foster open collaboration and conversation regarding practices in our ever-evolving field. 

The Office of Accessibility Services is committed to providing our faculty with up-to-date, relevant information.  If you have requests for additional information or resources that you would like to see added to this section, please email adaoffice@saintleo.edu.

 

All courses at Saint Leo University must include a statement informing students with disabilities of the process to obtain accommodations. Including an accessibility statement can help:

  • Signal to all students in a course (not just those with disabilities) that you welcome discussion about individual differences in learning, encountered barriers, and ways to maximize access
  • Send a message that you value diversity and an inclusive learning environment
  • Open the door to communication and help students feel more comfortable approaching you
  • Normalize the accommodations process as just another part of the course
  • Inform students about college procedures and available resources

The following are approved sample ADA statements that faculty can copy and paste into course syllabi:

Example 1

Saint Leo University is committed to creating a learning environment that meets the needs of its diverse student body. If you have a disability, or think you may have a disability, and are in need of accommodations, please contact the Office of Accessibility Services at (352) 588-8464 or adaoffice@saintleo.edu.

Example 2

Students with disabilities who qualify for academic accommodations must provide a Letter of Accommodation from the Office of Accessibility Services before academic accommodations can be initialized for the semester. Accessibility Services works interactively with students to determine appropriate accommodations based on documentation of disabilities.

The Office of Accessibility Services is based on the University Campus; however, the staff serve all Saint Leo University students regardless of class modality. You can contact Accessibility Services by visiting them in room 112 in Kirk Hall, calling (352)588-8464, or e-mailing them at adaoffice@saintleo.edu.

Making an Announcement in Class

Please consider reading your accessibility statement or discussing it in class at the beginning of each semester. Such discussions can further normalize the accommodations process and encourage students to feel comfortable approaching faculty and staff about their needs.

AIM is the digital platform that manages all of Saint Leo University’s student accommodation information. All faculty members have an AIM profile where they can view accommodations requested in their classes, students who have signed up to take exams in the testing center, etc. Faculty can log in to their profiles using their Saint Leo single sign-on credentials via this link or by visiting the Accessibility Services Website. Additional information about AIM faculty profiles can be found in the Accessibility Services Faculty/Staff Handbook.

Alternative formatting accommodations can refer to assessments, books, and/or supplemental materials that need to be provided to a student in an atypical format. Although they typically pertain to students with visual impairments, they may also be utilized by students with learning disabilities who struggle with print-based text and benefit from the use of screen-reading software or some other auxiliary aid. If a student receives this accommodation, his or her Letter of Accommodation will specify what format the materials need to be in and indicate any implications for testing.

The Office of Accessibility Services acquires or develops alternatively formatted copies of any required textbooks for students after the student purchases the book; however, if faculty members receive a Letter of Accommodation indicating this accommodation and they intend on using supplemental materials that are not in the required format, they will need to provide those supplemental materials to the Office of Accessibility Services for formatting. This should occur within a week of using the material in class or as soon after a faculty member receives notification of this accommodation as possible. Quizzes and exams that need to be formatted should also be provided to Accessibility Services 1 week in advance of the assessment date.

Faculty members are responsible for ensuring that the media content of their courses are captioned. If faculty members work with the department of Learning Design to create new courses, the learning designer can guide the faculty in the creation of captions. If a faculty member wishes to show a video in class that does not have captions, he or she can create captions by uploading the video to YouTube.com and following these instructions to create subtitles or captions from scratch or to use the automatic captioning feature. If using automatic captioning, please be sure to review the video prior to using it during your course as caption quality can vary widely when using automatic captioning.

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) of the National Association of the Deaf notes quality captions are:

  • Accurate – free of errors to the maximum extent possible
  • Consistent – uniform in style and presentation to aid understanding
  • Clear – contains a complete textual representation including speaker identification and non-speech information
  • Readable – displayed with enough time to be read completely, in synch with the audio, and not obscured by, or obscuring, the visual content
  • Equal – all meaning and intention of the material is completely preserved

Students are expected to follow established classroom attendance and deadline policies; however, some students may have disabilities that are episodic or cyclical in nature which may occasionally prevent the student from attending a class session or meeting an assignment deadline. It is important to note that faculty have the right to establish attendance and late work policies. Flexibility regarding these policies will depend on the nature and impact of the student’s disability as well as the requirements of each course in which the student is enrolled. An example of when one or both of these accommodations may be appropriate would be for a student with a seizure disorder who has seizure episodes that unexpectedly prevent him or her from attending class or submitting assignments on time. Not all disabilities meet this definition and these accommodations are considered uncommon when compared to other accommodations such as extended time on assessments or notetaking assistance. Additionally, non-disability related deadline issues such as illness or family emergency are not covered by this accommodation. It is important to note that the accommodation of deadline extensions never applies beyond the final day of a class. 

The following process occurs when students are approved for one of the above accommodations:

  1. Faculty receive a Faculty Notification Letter from Accessibility Services

  2. Student completes an Agreement with Instructor via his/her AIM Profile and a copy is sent to relevant faculty member

  3. Accessibility Services reviews the agreement

    1. If the student requests 48-hours or less of a deadline extension and/or 4 days or less of flexible attendance, no further action is needed unless the faculty member has concerns about the impact of the request on course requirements

    2. If the student requests more than 48-hours and/or more than 4 days, Accessibility Services will contact the faculty member to assess the impact of the request on course requirements

  4. Approval is sent to the student including any needed adjustments based on discussions between Accessibility Services and the faculty member

When faculty members receive a Letter of Accommodation, they should begin implementing any listed accommodation other than flexible attendance and deadline extension immediately. Faculty should wait until the Agreement with Instructor is complete prior to providing flexible attendance and/or deadline extensions. If the faculty member has concerns that the accommodation may cause a fundamental alteration to the course and/or the faculty member receives communication from Accessibility Services, he or she must contact Accessibility Services within 48 hours. If Accessibility Services does not receive any communication within 48-hours, the student’s request will be automatically approved. For more information about these accommodations, please see the Flexible Attendance and Deadline Extension Procedures and the Flexible Attendance and Deadline Extension FAQs.

If a faculty or staff member feels that a particular student may have a substantially limiting disability, he or she should refer the student to the Office of Accessibility Services. This referral should be done with care. The faculty or staff member should not ask if the student has a disability, label him or her with a specific disability, or express any thoughts or feelings of the student being incapable or inferior. Instead, he or she should express a concern that the student may need some additional assistance and ask if they would like for him or her to establish contact with Accessibility Services. If the faculty or staff member is on the University Campus, he or she may choose to physically walk the student to Accessibility Services in Kirk Hall 112. If the student prefers to be introduced, the employee may also send an e-mail to adaoffice@saintleo.edu or call (352)588-8464 to make that introduction. If the student expresses the desire to reach out on his or her own, the employee should provide the student with that contact information.