The differences between UDL and Accommodations

Students at Centennial College requiring individualized academic accommodation to fully engage in their learning and overcome barriers associated with disability have access to the Centre for Accessible Learning and Counselling Services (CALCS). The process for navigating and accessing academic accommodations could include the following steps:

  • Student accesses a drop-in or schedules accessible learning intake appointment (generally booked within 2 business days)
  • Student meets with a CALCS counsellor to discuss their goals, strengths, disability and associated functional limitations.
  • Through narrative, semi-diagnostic clinical interviewing, formalized assessment using validated clinical tools, and/or medical or health documentation, the counsellor assesses the student’s functional limitations, which could cause barriers within the learning environment. Many of these assessments would take place through the completion of virtual assessment tools and might require a follow-up appointment with the counsellor.
  • Balancing anticipated academic / program demands, the student’s identified strengths and strategies that have worked well in the past, and the student’s functional limitations.
  • Reasonable academic accommodations which would assist the student in overcoming barriers to learning are identified, and the student and/or their faculty are provided with an Individualized Student Profile (ISP) identifying their accommodations.
  • The student and their faculty, alongside representatives from the CALCS team when needed or desired by the student, work together to identify how to best implement individualized accommodations in the learning and testing environment.
  • Should the student’s disability, condition, or functional limitations change, or if they receive an interim accommodation due to a disability being fluid in nature (e.g. a mental health condition), the process above would be revisited as needed.

The CALCS team has strived to increase the responsiveness of services for students, including prioritizing intake appointments by offering same-day appointments when onsite and booked virtual appointments within a 2 business day window in virtual environments. However, the process from assessing functional limitations through to implementing accommodations in the classroom or virtual learning environment can take several weeks to a month. Additionally, the process can create additional stress associated with ongoing needs to self-advocate for students, and significant work for faculty who might have several students with unique accommodation profiles in a given class. Implementing universal and inclusive design approaches in your teaching and learning strategies can significantly reduce barriers for students with disabilities and reduce work for faculty in individually accommodating multiple unique needs when applying accommodations individually.

This guide is intended to support faculty in identifying robust inclusive and universal design approaches that would address common accommodation needs students might be facing and connect faculty with hands-on tools and resources to implement these approaches in your course design.

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