Current Students
Contact
Center for Disability ResourcesKagin Commons 651-696-6748
651-696-6698 (fax)
disabilityresources@macalester.edu
Admitted or current Macalester students with disabilities may request accommodations for academic courses or other programs/services. It is the responsibility of the student to make their disability status and subsequent need for accommodations known to Macalester via the Center for Disability Resources. Our goal is to make the accommodation process easy to access via these steps:
1. Complete New Student Application Form
Prior to your meeting with Disability Resources staff, please complete the new student application in our AIM Database using your Mac ID. This application provides staff basic information on your request, keeps sensitive information separate from other academic records and is the basis to provide Faculty Notification Letters. It will also allow you to access your accommodations for individual courses, services, or programs at a later date.
2. Complete an Intake Appointment with Disability Resources
Accommodations start with an appointment. Intake appointments are essential to the process of determining disability, getting to know you, ensuring you understand the roles and rights of all parties in the “interactive process”. It is also important students understand policies and procedures, confidentiality and referral to other potential campus resources. . Intakes typically take about 30-40 minutes and can be done via phone, Zoom or in person.
3. Provide Documentation
The student appointment is the priority source of information disability impacts, but at times more information is needed. Please refer to our Documentation Guidelines which specifics on what documentation is, how it’s helpful to establish accommodations, especially in situations where the disability and need for accommodation are not clear. Don’t have documentation? Don’t worry, we’ll discuss it with you!
Students can provide documentation by uploading to the AIM database by logging in with their 1600 Grand credentials or through the Disability Resources Secure Upload link.
Reasonable Accommodation Determination
After these steps have been completed, Disability Resources staff will make a determination about what, if any, accommodations are appropriate based on the student’s functional limitations. Students should be aware that accommodations vary and determining what is reasonable for a course or program is based on what is essential in the course collaboratively with faculty, there may be timelines or additional information. Accommodations can take time to set up, so students should do this as early in the semester as possible.
What are reasonable accommodations?
Accommodations are adjustments to courses, programs or activities that provide equitable access, improve a student’s ability to fully engage in the college experience and mitigates the impact of a disability.
Accommodations determined via an interactive process between the student, the Center for Disability Resources, faculty member and/or program. They may vary from student to student, or different from what is provided at other institutions (e.g., from high school to college and from institution to institution); accommodations that are reasonable may even differ from class to class).
Reasonable Accommodations:
- Provide access to the course or program–your success is up to you!
- Reduce an impact of a disability barrier
- Does not fundamentally alter the requirements of the college’s standards, course, or program requirements.
- Does not modify the content or rigor of a course. All students are held to the same standards (e.g., providing fewer homework assignments is not reasonable)
- Accommodations are requested and implemented in a timely manner.
Requests for accommodations require the student to complete the accommodation process with the Center for Disability Resources early in the semester or as soon as possible after disability has been determined. Accommodation requests received late in the semester may be limited or declined.
Faculty Notification Letters/Follow Up
Academic accommodations will show up in AIM when courses are registered and/or about a month prior to courses starting. The accommodation process is an interactive one; students should communicate with Disability Resources and faculty/program early in the term about their accommodations and follow up on any concerns in a timely way.
After your accommodations have been approved and updated, student are responsible for logging into AIM at the start of each semester and renewing your accommodations. We reccomend student renew their accommodations prior to the start of each semester.
Once your accommodation letters have been sent, we strongly encourage students to meet with your faculty to discuss your accommodations and how they can best support you. While it is important to keep an open line of communication between the student and the faculty about accommodations, students are not required to discuss confidential information about their disability or personal medical information.
Renewing Course Accommodations in AIM
Students who already have approved accommodations in place will need to renew their accommodation prior to the start of each semester. To do this, students will need to log on to their AIM profile and follow the steps provided below. Early communication is critical to successfully implementing accommodation requests and coordinating services. Accommodations will need to be renewed each semester, the Center for Disability Resources does not automatically provide this information to faculty.
Steps to Renewing Course Accommodations via AIM
- Evaluate the course. Students should review their course syllabi prior to requesting accommodations and determine if accommodations are needed and what the general policies and expectations are of the course. Faculty have already considered
- Request time-sensitive accommodations early. For example, Note-taking and books in an alternative text take time to arrange.
- Renew class accommodations through the AIM system
- Login to the AIM system with your Mac credentials.
- Select any courses that require accommodations.
- Select/check approved accommodations for each course.
- Select/check “email to faculty” for each course.
- Hit “submit.” Please allow 48 hours to process.
- You should receive a copy of your accommodation form via your Macalester email. If you do not receive this within a week, please contact us.
- Meet with Disability Resources staff to review accommodations or discuss your plans for a successful semester. We are happy to find a time to meet. Some accommodations such as extensions of time on assignments or additional absence considerations may require meeting with Disability Resources and/or faculty to determine the scope of these accommodations in courses. Faculty determine what reasonable extensions mean for their courses.
- Meet with your instructor and request a time to go through accommodations with them to ensure timely implementation.
- If you have any concerns about accommodations, the Center for Disability Resources can assist in collaborating effectively with faculty on your accommodations and how they fit into a course.
Housing and Food Accommodations
Information on requesting housing or dining accommodations can be found on the Residential Life Housing/Food Accommodations page.