2 The Duty to Accommodate

The Duty to Accommodate

The Glenn Crombie Centre for Accessibility, Counselling and Wellness at Cambrian College offers voluntary academic accommodations based on students’ functional limitations, identified by healthcare professionals. Faculty receive confidential accommodation memos through Clockwork, ensuring privacy. Students independently decide whether to share accommodation details with other college services.

Let’s take a closer look at an overview of the services offered.

The Glenn Crombie Centre for Accessibility, Counselling and Wellness Services:

• To obtain academic related accommodations is a voluntary service and the decision to receive accommodations is made by the student

•  The student consents to the types of accommodations

• The Glenn Crombie Centre for Accessibility, Counselling and Wellness does not ask/nor does it need a diagnosis.  Our requirement is to provide accommodations based on the functional limitations presented by the disability.

• Functional limitations are provided to the accessibility advisor by a regulated health care professional

• Accommodations are not static, they can change

• Faculty receive notice of an accommodation memo for students through Clockwork: https://teaching.cambriancollege.ca/clockwork/ 

• The accommodation memo is a confidential document between the professor and student only.  It is not a shared document.

• Accommodated students who utilize student services elsewhere within the college such as the career centre, professional tutoring etc. make the decision to share this information or not.

Duty to Accommodate – Academic Faculty/ Instructor 

Once you receive the confidential accommodation memo, your role is to provide those accommodations up to the point of undue hardship. Students do not need to ask to have their accommodations provided for testing as an example. The faculty/instructor should automatically provide the student the appropriate testing accommodations outlined in their memo when it is being scheduled. Some accommodations do require the student to work with the faculty such as the accommodation for alternate assessment dates. Together the faculty member and student will agree to a mutually agreed upon time.

Duty to Accommodate – Cambrian College

As an institution also needs to be compliant with current legislation including the Integrated Accessibility Standards Legislation 2015 (AODA) and others.

For example –  A student who has low vision may require yellow reflective tape secured to corners and bricked columns so that they are visible for them as they navigate the college itself.