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    Dear DPRC:

    I feel terrible! A student who is failing my class just told me she can't finish the tests on time because she has a disability, and here it is practically the end of the semester. I had no idea she needed any kind of extra assistance. She has failed most of the tests and quizzes. Can anything be done?

    Feeling Bad in Finance

     

    Dear Feeling Bad:

    Please don't feel too bad. It is a student's responsibility to ask for accommodations; faculty can't be expected to be mind readers. And once tests are taken, they generally can't be redone. But there are two things you can do. First, send the student to the DPRC ASAP to prevent problems in the future.

    And second, do what is one of the most useful things an instructor can do to assist students with disabilities: PUT A DISABILITY ACCESS STATEMENT IN YOUR SYLLABUS. Including a statement like "Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor", can be tremendously helpful. It informs students who don't know about the process, and it normalizes the issue for students who wonder if they should reveal a disability. It conveys the message, "Of course students with disabilities should be here in this class".

    The Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC, located in SSB 110, can be reached by telephone at 338-2724 (voice/TTY) or by e-mail at dprc@sfsu.edu

    Please visit the Faculty FAQ page for more information on Disability Access Statements.

    DPRC

    Back to Dear DPRC April 2006
 
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Disability Programs and Resource Center
Student Services Building 110
1600 Holloway Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94132-4046
Phone: 415/338-2472 (voice/TTY); Fax: 415/338-1041

Last Modified April 20, 2006, by the dprc@sfsu.edu