Kalamazoo College’s Disability Services seeks to equip the College community with knowledge and available resources needed to support full, equitable access to and engagement in every aspect of college life for students with disabilities.

Serving as the central resource, the student Disabilities Services Accessibility Coordinator supports students from initial disclosure and submission of documentation, through active participation in the interactive process, to coordinating implementation of accommodations. As part of the self-advocacy process, the Accessibility Coordinator provides ongoing support as students’ needs evolve, ensuring that modifications and auxiliary aids continue to meet students’ requirements over time.

If you have been accepted or are currently enrolled at the College and have a documented disability, the Accessibility Coordinator is here to assist you.

To get started, register with the office by completing the online Request for Disability Accommodation form. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.

Policy

The College is committed to ensuring that no qualified student with a properly documented disability is excluded from participation in, subjected to discrimination in connection with, or denied the benefits of any College program or activity due to the student’s disability. To that end, the College provides reasonable accommodations to enable qualified students with properly documented disabilities equal access to University programs and activities. The Policy and Procedures for Student Disability Accommodation Requests (the “Policy”) sets forth the policy and procedures applicable to student disability accommodation requests. It applies to any disability accommodation request made by any College student regardless of the type of disability involved and regardless of the College program or activity in which the student is enrolled and/or participating.

Kalamazoo College has the right to deny a request for accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services if the documentation demonstrates that the request is not warranted, or if the individual fails to provide appropriate documentation.

Please direct questions to Kate Paul, Accessibility Coordinator, kate.paul@kzoo.edu, 269.337.7480

Procedure

• Complete the online Request for Disability Accommodation form. This needs to be initiated by the student. Parents cannot initiate or complete the accommodations process on behalf of a student.
• Provide documentation (guidelines for documentation are on the accommodation form) and any recommendations about necessary accommodations that are included. If the assessment does not provide the necessary information with which to determine accommodations, the Director, Institutional Equity and Access may ask the student for additional assessment. IEP and 504 Plans from high school are not considered as documentation for college accommodations. However, they may be included as supplemental documentation.
• The Accessibility Coordinator will review the accommodations form and documentation, and will then reach out to the student to schedule an appointment to meet to discuss their needs in more detail. One should not assume that specific accommodations offered in high school would necessarily be offered by the College.
• The Accessibility Coordinator will communicate in writing to the student the approved accommodations.
• At the beginning of each academic term, Accessibility Coordinator will email a letter about the accommodation(s) to the faculty of courses in which the student is registered (copied to the student and their academic advisor) or will work with the student to provide the letter to each faculty member. It is the responsibility of the student to communicate with their faculty when they need to utilize their approved accommodation(s).
• If the accommodations do not seem to be working or modification need to be considered, the student should contact the Accessibility Coordinator, as soon as possible to develop additional or different accommodations.