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Teaching Students with Disabilities

Since at least 400 BYU students have disabilities, it is likely that from time to time you will have students in your classes who will need special accommodations in order to learn effectively. As a resource for these students and their teachers, the University Accessibility Center has been set up to promote understanding about disabilities and to support students who have disabilities. UAC maintains a website at http://uac.byu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3357&Itemid=4360; the UAC office (1520 WSC; 2-2767, v/tty) also provides information. The following general facts are provided to give you a more complete background to work from.

• Academic standards. Some teachers wonder if standards, requirements or grading should be changed for a student with a disability. No. A student with a documented disability and functional limitations should be held to the same academic expectations as other students; however, that student is legally entitled to reasonable academic accommodations that ensure that s/he has equal access to course material, tests, lectures, classroom environment, audiovisual presentations, etc.
• Reasonable accommodations. A student who self-discloses to a faculty member that he or she has a disability and requests academic accommodations should have a letter from SSD verifying that he or she qualifies for academic accommodations. If the student does not have this letter, then it is appropriate to refer that student to the UAC office to obtain documentation.
• Disclosure. If a student appears to have a disability but does not visit with you about it, you may want to ask the student in private if he or she is or wants to be involved with UAC. UAC will provide assessment of the nature and extent of the disability and will recommend appropriate accommodations to each of the student’s teachers. Temporary accommodations may be offered during this process. A student can choose not to disclose a disability or not to seek accommodations. Above all, you should uphold the student’s legal right to privacy and confidentiality.
• Liability. Although it may be time consuming for a student to go through SSD, doing so is advised for the legal protection of both of you. The teacher can be considered personally liable if a student claims to have been unfairly or inappropriately accommodated. The University can offer very little legal protection if the University disability experts have not been consulted.