Faculty & Staff Information

Suggested Syllabi Statement:

Accommodations for Disabilities

Students with Disabilities Services’ (SDS) mission is to ensure that students with disabilities have the academic support necessary to achieve academic success at the University of South Florida. Course related assistance and academic accommodations are provided to eligible students with documented disabilities. Services may include advocacy, reader services, interpreters, alternate exam administration, note takers, adaptive equipment such as FM systems and large print computer access, etc. Students are encouraged to contact the SDS office (SVC 1133, V: 813-974-4309) to make arrangements for appropriate services. Documentation of a disability and significant current functional impact resulting from that disability are necessary for accommodations to be provided. Any student with a disability is encouraged to meet with the instructor during office hours by the end of the second week of class to discuss accommodations and present their Memo of Accommodations from SDS. (See www.sds.usf.edu).

Suggested Instructor announcement:

If one of the student's accommodations is "This student will need your assistance in identifying another student from the class to be a note taker." Please make the following announcement with other announcements at the beginning of class:

“I need someone to volunteer to take notes for another student in class. If you take good notes and would like to make a little bit of extra money ($125) just for sharing your notes, see me after class.”

Before class is dismissed:

“Remember, if you’re interested in becoming a note taker, come see me now.”

At that point introductions can be made and arrangements set up between the student and the note taker. If more than one person is interested in note taking, the student may peruse the notes and select the person whose note taking skills best matches the student’s needs.

Interactive Faculty Information Website

ASD:Accommodating Students with Disabilities, Utah State University

More Links for Faculty and Staff

Accessibility: An Overview Course in Accessibility for the Web and Digital Media

Ohio State University: Fast Facts for Faculty (including syllabus statements and Universal Design for Learning)

Rochester Institute of Technology: Promoting access to learning for deaf and hard of hearing students in postsecondary classrooms

Frequently Questions Asked (FAQ) About Services for Students with Disabilities by Faculty

How does the University respond to requests for accommodations?

• The student must identify herself/himself as a person with a disability and register with Students with Disabilities Services (SDS).
• The student is responsible for providing documentation of the disability to SDS , and it typically takes five working days for SDS to review the application.
• If the documentation is adequate, the student will be approved for accommodations and a memorandum will be provided for each professor for that semester.
• The student will be given guidelines for accessing services.
• Early in the semester each student will present a memorandum of accommodation to each faculty member and ask each faculty member to sign a receipt for that memorandum.
• Faculty members will be provided guidelines for accessing exam accommodations for their students.
• Faculty questions, concerns, and comments are welcome by SDS .

To whom should faculty direct their questions and concerns?

Faculty are encouraged to communicate with Students with Disabilities Services if there are any concerns about accommodations for students with disabilities (974-4309).

Course Examinations with Accommodations

Some students with disabilities require accommodations when taking classroom examinations. The faculty members are responsible for providing these accommodations. However, there are times when faculty members cannot provide accommodations and refer the students to Students with Disabilities Services (SDS) for the accommodated examinations. In these situations the students are responsible for communicating in writing with the faculty members and SDS in order for the examinations to be administered by SDS. This is done by following a process involving the "Exam Proctor Form".

The "Exam Proctor Form" serves as formal notice of the faculty members' directions for administering the examination. The Exam Proctor Form is on NCR paper so the faculty members keep one copy after signing it. The student then brings the other two copies to SDS in order for SDS staff to schedule an exam.

Please note that accommodated examinations are administered in SDS at times when equipment and rooms are available, which may not coincide with the time the examination is scheduled for the class.