Students with Special Needs

Students requesting accommodations have to schedule an appointment with Disability Support Specialist (DSS) and provide disability documentation which should include the date of the most recent evaluation; the diagnosis and the date of diagnosis; the current impact of the condition (including the educational limitations); treatments, medications, devices or services currently prescribed; the expected duration, stability or progression of the condition; a list of the accomodations arranged for the student at his/her home university.
Based on the documentation, DSS and the student will discuss and determine what the appropriate accommodations are.

Some of the services provided for students with disabilities are:

1. Course registration

Students with a disability (excluding freshman and School of Languages students whose course registrations are done directly by Student Resources) that puts them in an inferior position when doing the course registrations online, are entitled to priority registration.
Students who are eligible for priority registration have to send their course registration requests until the deadline announced by DSS. Requests after the deadline will not be considered. Students having registration holds due to financial obligations or unreturned book(s) to Information Center, etc. have to remove the hold for registration to be completed.

2. Informing the course instructors

Based on student’s request, the support specialist can inform the course instructors regarding the student’s condition and the necessary arrangements required for classes and exams.
 

3. Alternate format materials

Course materials can be provided in alternative formats (large print, scanned texts, audiotapes, etc) for students’ accessibility.
Students requesting course materials in alternative format are advised to see the instructors of the courses they are planning to take, preferably at least 2-3 weeks before the course registration period, and see if there is any material that should be converted in another format. Depending on the material and the format requested, DSS will determine the time of delivery.

4. Exam Arrangements

The course instructor are responsible for providing the arrangements.The student should meet with each instructor to reach agreement on appropriate exam accommodations for that course. The instructor may contact DSS for consultation. Some of the special arrangements in exams could be:

• Offering the exam in alternative format (like giving oral exams, essay, etc.)
• Enlarged print
• Assigning a scribe or reader
• Extended exam time
• Private Space

5. Assistive Technology

Students requesting assistive technologies can borrow them from DSS. Students are not charged for this service.
In line with the current needs of our students, we can provide the following assistive technologies:

• Zoom Text _screen magnification software
• CCTV Traveller _ a portable device that can be used for both reading and writing.
• Mimio_ an interactive teaching tool that helps partially-sighted students to follow the whiteboard in class. For classes held in auditoriums, students can use the ‘Starboard’, ‘Netmeeting’ programs to access the written material on the electronic whiteboard.
• Voice recorder
• Screen Reader Program_GVZ

6. Assigning peer assistants

Depending on the student’s needs, some students are provided with peer asisstants who help them with course assignments and readings.

• Students using wheel-chairs can move independently throughout the campus.
• All faculty buildings and classes are accessible. There are elevators suitable for wheel-chair access in each building.
• There are accessible toilets on each floor of the buildings.
• Special parking areas are reserved for people with disabilities.
• There are special rooms at the dormitories designed for students using wheelchairs.
• Students requesting physical accommodations have to apply to DSS. DSS will facilitate the coordination for physical arrangements.