The Academic Success and Accessibility office provides services & accommodations for students with diagnosed disabilities. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, individuals with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations in order to ensure access. The definition of a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one of more major life activities. These include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. Civil rights laws protect students with disabilities from discrimination. The ADA and Section 504 protections also extend to students who have a record of or are regarded as having such an impairment, even if no such impairment currently exists.
Students with disabilities have a right to reasonable accommodations in the classroom as long as the accommodation does not fundamentally alter the nature of the course, program, or result in undue financial or administrative burden for the institution (i.e. grading standards; quantity of information).