Communicating with Students About Accommodation: Tip Sheet

Instructor Tip Sheet Communicating About Accommodation (PDF)

Tip Sheet for Instructors: 1) Start the conversation early. Speak explicitly and as early as possible with all your students about setting up accommodations. Make announcements to your class and reach out confidentially to students when appropriate. 2) Stigma towards disabled people is real. Students may feel hesitant to come forward to discuss their needs. Create a safe space for your students to discuss their accommodations with you. 3) Students can organize accommodations and not use them. 4) Support students' accommodation learning. Students may not know what accommodations they will require in a new placement environment. Review with them the placement set up, environment or contextual issues that might impact student access, and learning objectives. 5) Connect with colleagues for guidance. Sharing successes of disability accommodation will build a culture of inclusion. Seek out training and identify resources. 6) Identify disabled students' strengths and weaknesses. Communicate both with your student and, when appropriate, the placement supervisor. 7) Be respectful of students who approach you later in the term about accommodations. There are lots of reasons why students may not request accommodations early. A student can request adjustments or new accommodations at any point during their program. and 8) Advocate for your disabled students. Diversity builds a profession. Disabled students have a right to education and a right to accommodation.

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ACTon: Disability Accommodation Stories in Placement Copyright © by ACTon, York University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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