Self-identify as a student with a disability and request accommodations within the Accommodate software platform.  Accommodations can be offered for academics, dining, and/or housing.

You will need your SMCM username, ID number, and SMCM email to make the request.

  Be prepared to gather and probably share third party documentation that gives us information about your diagnosis, the limitations it creates, and ideas for how those needs could possibly be supported on campus.  The following documents from our office may be useful:

• SMCM Documentation Guidelines for Accessibility Eligibility May 19 (please consult this document before downloading any of the verification forms)
• Verification form professional must complete if your diagnosis is ADHD
• Verification form professional must complete if your diagnosis is related to mental health
• Verification form professional must complete if your diagnosis is related to physical health

Important: If you do not have documentation yet, do not stop the accommodations process! Accessibility Services will still reach out to schedule a meeting to discuss your request.

Complete an intake interview with personnel in Accessibility Services. Our office will reach out to schedule this meeting after we have completed the initial review of your paperwork (which can take up to 4 weeks). We will still schedule meetings with students who have not submitted all of the supporting paperwork.

In this meeting, you can provide any additional documentation about your request. Please be prepared to share information about your learning experiences to date; we are very interested in hearing about the conditions/supports which have been most helpful to you in your learning and how you have navigated challenges you have encountered. In this interactive meeting, we will discuss which accommodations may or may not have been supportive to you in the past.

The information contained from the student’s interview and in the information/documentation will be used to determine eligibility for various accommodations.

1. We will notify you via your SMCM email of our decision as soon as we have completed our review; this can take several weeks in the summer months.
2. Accommodations are determined on a case by case basis and may include, but are not limited to:
   • Priority registration
   • Testing accommodations
   • Use of Testing Services Center
   • Note-taking assistance
   • Caption services
   • Alternate formats for print materials
   • Assistive Technology
   • Para-transit registration
   • Internship accommodations
3. Once eligibility has been established, Accessibility Services will determine reasonable accommodations required by the student
4. Accessibility Services may find that the accommodation is not appropriate given the requirements of a course
5. Accessibility Services may propose an alternative accommodation that would be appropriate for the student, but which neither the student nor evaluator has requested

Students must share their Semester Notice of Accommodation Eligibility (located in their portal for Accommodate) with the instructor of each course in which they want their accommodations to be active.  Students should get their instructors to sign the Acknowledgement of Accommodations SignOff Form when they meet to review/discuss the accommodation letter.This process is further detailed in this document.  If students have questions about this process, or believe this process presents a barrier, they should contact the Office of Accessibility Services as soon as possible.

Students can choose to renew their accommodations on a semester basis. In order to have active accommodations each semester, a student must do a Semester Request in Accommodate. After they have received their current semester letter from our office by email and their Accommodate portal, a student must share their letter of accommodation with each course instructor they wish to have accommodations in. If the letter sharing process is a barrier, a student may reach out to our office to identify an alternate means to letter sharing.

1. It is the responsibility of Accessibility Services to work with the student and the professor (and Department Chair or Dean as appropriate) to facilitate effective and timely implementation of reasonable accommodations.
2. The student should contact Accessibility Services immediately if they feel they are being denied reasonable accommodations or that reasonable accommodations are not being implemented in an effective and timely manner.
3. All parties will prioritize accommodation implementation meetings as requested by Accessibility Services.
4. The College will use good faith efforts to resolve outstanding issues within 5 business days.
5. If the student is not satisfied with the results of the good faith efforts, they may file a complaint with the Office of the Associate Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion.