Disability Services Coordinator
51 Brattle Street
voice: (617) 495-0977
TTY: (617) 495-9419
fax: (617) 495-3662
Disability Services
The Extension School is committed to creating an accessible academic community where students with disabilities have equal opportunity to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from its academic programs. The disability services coordinator works with students, faculty, and staff to provide appropriate services to ensure the student has a rich and rewarding academic and campus experience.
- Defining a disability
- Eligibility
- Accommodations, auxiliary aids, and services
- Adaptive technology
- Temporary disabilities, injuries, and temporary services
- Accommodation requests
- Clinical documentation
- Confidentiality
- Grievances
Defining a disability
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 define a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits or restricts a person from performing major life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, or caring for one’s self. An impairment or diagnosis does not necessarily constitute a disability; it must substantially limit these activities.
Eligibility
An eligible student is one who otherwise meets the academic and technical standards necessary for admission into a program or participation in a course.
Accommodations, auxiliary aids, and services
Accommodations may include extended time on in-class exams, the use of adaptive technology, and other appropriate accommodations that do not fundamentally change the nature of the course. Extended time for examinations is generally time and a half.
Auxiliary aids and services may include note-takers, reformatted materials, readers, and scribes. CART (communication access real-time translation) services and American Sign Language interpreters are available for students with hearing impairments. Requests for interpreters must be made at least 2 months before the start of the term. Texts in alternative formats such as e-texts, as well as enlarged print materials, are available for students with vision impairments. On-campus van services and accessible parking are available to students with mobility impairments. The disability services coordinator reviews all requests for van services.
For information about accessible parking, students should contact Marie Trottier, University disability coordinator, by phone (617) 495-1859 or (617) 495-4801 (TDD), or e-mail marie_trottier@harvard.edu.
Comprehensive tutorial services are not available; nor are personal attendants, personal adaptive technology, readers and scribes for private use; or other services of a personal nature. The disability services coordinator maintains a list of qualified professionals to assist with metacognitive issues and other concerns. Students who use these services assume financial responsibility for them.
Adaptive technology
An adaptive technology laboratory at 53 Church Street is equipped with software and hardware to assist students with disabilities. Students may have access to voice recognition software, text-to-speech software, screen magnification applications, and a closed-circuit television or video magnifier.
- Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9 is speech recognition software that allows students to dictate to the computer and interact with a computer using their voice instead of a keyboard. The student can open icons, browse the Internet, and work in Windows applications. Students train the system to recognize their voice. They are responsible for creating their own voice file and maintaining it on their own storage device.
- Kurzweil 3000 version 10 is a PC-based text-to-speech system designed for students who struggle with reading. It allows the student to view a scanned page on the computer screen while listening to the text as it is read aloud. It speaks and highlights the text simultaneously and enables the student to insert typed or spoken notes anywhere in the document. It also contains study skills and reference tools. Files can be stored in Word, Kurzweil, Daisy, and MP3 formats.
- Kurzweil 1000 is a text-to-speech software designed for students who are blind or have low vision. The software reads dialogue boxes as well as materials that have been scanned. The student can also type within scanned documents while the software reads what is being typed. Files can be stored in Word, Kurzweil, and MP3 formats.
- JAWS (Job Access Windows with Speech) is a screen reader that enables students who are blind or visually impaired to navigate the Internet and most Windows-based applications by using keystrokes to input data and commands.
- MAGic screen-magnification software helps students with low vision view information on the computer screen. Students can customize backgrounds and font colors, the appearance of the cursor, and the level of text magnification. MAGic also has speech output that announces events as they display on screen.
- Video Magnifier (closed-circuit television) enables students with visual impairments to magnify printed materials by placing them under a camera, which then projects a magnified image onto a screen.
Temporary disabilities, injuries, and temporary services
Students with a temporary disability or injury are not considered disabled by the law; however, they may need services or accommodations to complete their courses. These students should call the disability services coordinator as soon as possible to discuss their options.
Accommodation requests
Services and accommodations are approved in advance and coordinated by the disability services coordinator. Students interested in accommodations should contact the disability services coordinator as soon as possible for a confidential appointment. Appointments may be in person or by phone. Students must complete a request-for-accommodation form and include supporting clinical documentation for each course in which they request accommodation. Requests for accommodations and accompanying documentation are needed before classes begin to ensure enough time to review the request, evaluate the documentation, and coordinate the accommodation.
Clinical documentation
All requests for accommodations must be supported by recent clinical documentation. Individual education plans such as those developed during high school are insufficient documentation. Download the guidelines below for specific requirements for documentation.
- Brief Guidelines for Medical Documentation
- Brief Guidelines for Documentation of Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder AD(H)D
- Complete Guidelines for Documentation of Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder AD(H)D
- Brief Guidelines for Documentation of Learning Disabilities (LD)
- Complete Guidelines for Documentation of Learning Disabilities (LD)
- Brief Guidelines for Documentation of Psychiatric Disabilities
- Complete Guidelines for Documentation of Psychiatric Disabilities
Confidentiality
Documentation and information regarding requests for accommodations and disabilities are confidential. Information is shared only with those who have a legitimate need to know. The disability services coordinator may share some information with instructors and others to coordinate the students’ accommodations.
Grievances
The Extension School makes every effort to provide equal access to its programs and courses by providing reasonable and appropriate accommodations. Students who disagree with the approved accommodation, or who have a concern involving discrimination on the basis of a disability, should promptly provide a written statement of their concern, with supporting medical documentation, to the disability services coordinator. If the disability services coordinator cannot resolve the grievance independently and promptly, he or she will convene a committee to review the matter. The committee will comprise the associate registrar, the director of undergraduate degrees, the dean of students, and, as a nonvoting member, the disability services coordinator. The committee may contact the instructor, program managers, or other appropriate personnel to discuss the requested accommodations, as needed. The committee may also request additional medical documentation or an independent medical evaluation on the request for accommodation. In cases where timeliness of an accommodation is important, every reasonable effort will be made to complete each stage of the process set forth above within 10 working days, unless the circumstances require a more rapid response. In some situations, it may be appropriate to provide the requested accommodation on a provisional basis, without obligation to continue the accommodation if it is found to be unreasonable or inappropriate.
A student who is dissatisfied with the decision of the committee may appeal in writing to the University disability coordinator, Marie Trottier, Holyoke Center 547, Cambridge, MA 02138, (617) 495-1859, TTD (617) 495-4801, marie_trottier@harvard.edu. Information about the University grievance process is available at www.accessibility.harvard.edu. In most circumstances, the University disability coordinator will not overturn the decision of the committee unless presented with new information or other grounds that warrant a different outcome.