Disability Policy

ArtCenter complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local requirements regarding students and applicants with disabilities. Under these laws, no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall be denied access to or participation in the services, programs and activities of the College.

Students who require disability-related accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids) are encouraged to contact the CSE immediately upon acceptance, after being diagnosed with a disability, and each semester that they are enrolled. For questions and required forms, please visit CSE on Inside ArtCenter, contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator or email CSE@artcenter.edu.

ArtCenter Disability Policy

ArtCenter College of Design complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local requirements regarding students and applicants with disabilities. Under these laws, no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall be denied access to or participation in the services, programs and activities of the College.

It is the policy of the College that otherwise qualified students who have disabilities shall be given reasonable accommodation, including academic adjustment and auxiliary aids where appropriate, to ensure access to the College’s overall educational program. Individual students shall receive reasonable and necessary accommodation, including adjustment and aids, based on specific information and assessment data provided by a qualified professional. Students with disabilities should not wait until they are struggling with course work or facing academic probation before notifying ArtCenter of their disability and seeking special accommodations. The Student Disability Services Coordinator should be notified of disabilities and requests for accommodations by the student as soon as he or she is admitted, or as soon as the student’s need for accommodations becomes known to the student.

Definitions

A person with a disability is any person who:

1. has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities,
2. has a record of such impairments, or
3. is regarded as having such impairment.

An otherwise qualified person with a disability is an individual with a disability who meets the academic and technical standards requisite to admission and participation in the College’s educational program and activities.

Admission

The College does not discriminate or give preference based on disability. Information provided by an applicant during the admissions process concerning his or her disability shall be provided on a voluntary basis and shall be kept in accordance with state and federal laws regarding confidentiality.

Documentation of the Disability

Applicants who wish to have their disability considered as a factor in the admissions process must identify the disability and provide an explanation of why it is relevant at the time of application. If the applicant wishes the disability to be considered, it may be necessary for the applicant to provide appropriate documentation of the disability. It is the responsibility of applicants to inform those who write letters of reference on their behalf if they want the letters of reference to mention their disability.

Reconsideration

It is not the College’s practice to reconsider applications that have been rejected, unless there was information that was not available at the time of the application through no fault of the applicant. For that reason, applicants are advised to make the disability known at the time of application if they wish to have the disability taken into account in the application process. In some cases, it may be necessary for the applicant to provide documentation verifying the disability.

Information on the Disability Retained in Applicant’s File

Information regarding a disability that is disclosed as part of the admissions process will be used by the College for admissions purposes only. Notification to the Admissions office does not constitute notification to the College for the purpose of requesting accommodations. Information regarding a disability and letters of reference are retained in the Admissions office for one year.

Applicants who do not need accommodations during the application process, but who anticipate the need for accommodations during their education, do not need to submit a request for accommodations until after admission to ArtCenter. At such time that the student is admitted, he or she should contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator to begin the accommodation process. Students are encouraged to meet with the Coordinator during the term prior to enrollment.

Responsibilities of Students

Identifying the Need for Accommodations

Students with disabilities requiring accommodations must make those needs known to the Student Disability Services Coordinator at the beginning of the start of each new term. Students are responsible for making their needs known in a timely fashion and for providing current documentation for the review process.

In appropriate cases, evaluations may also need to be provided. It is in the student’s best interest to make these arrangements with as much lead time as possible, as this will ensure that any accommodations determined necessary can be arranged prior to the beginning of the term. Please contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator for forms and deadline information.

Students not requiring accommodations do not need to make their disabilities known. The information on a student’s disability and accommodations is treated as confidential information under applicable federal and state laws and is only provided to individuals who are privileged to receive such information on a need-to-know basis. Faculty members informed of a disability only receive information regarding accommodation at the student’s request and are advised that this information is confidential.

In cases where only minor accommodations are required (such as requesting to sit in the front row because of a visual or hearing impairment), the student should feel free to simply make a request to the faculty member. If requests for minor accommodations are not responded to adequately, the student should make the request to the Student Disability Services Coordinator.

Accommodations

The College will provide reasonable accommodations, including academic adjustments and auxiliary aids, in a timely manner to ensure that students with disabilities have access to the College’s services, programs and activities. Accommodations will not be provided if they fundamentally alter the nature of the course or program, or if they would be unduly burdensome either financially or administratively. In general, the Student Disability Services Coordinator will request professional documentation, verify the disability, identify reasonable accommodations and inform a student’s faculty members of the reasonable accommodations required. The faculty member will review the accommodations recommended and, if needed, verify understanding and agreement with the Student Disability Services Coordinator or student. Students requesting accommodations should identify their needs as early as possible to the Student Disability Services Coordinator, as this will ensure that any needed accommodations can be arranged prior to the start of the term.

While attending the College, students are not required to disclose information about the nature of their disability to faculty members. In fact, this information is kept confidential unless the student elects to share the specifics of their disability on their own or the student signs an authorization for a release of information, requesting information sharing with another person or organization.

Verification of Physical or Psychological Disability

A student with a physical or psychological disability must provide professional verification documentation certified by a licensed physician, psychologist, audiologist, speech pathologist, rehabilitation counselor, physical therapist, occupational therapist or other professional health care provider who is qualified in the diagnosis of the disability, is not related to the student and is not an employee of the College. The verification documentation must reflect the student’s present level of functioning of the major life activity affected by the disability. The assessment must provide data that supports the request for the particular adjustment sought.

The student shall provide the verification documentation to the Student Disability Services Coordinator. The cost of obtaining the professional documentation shall be borne by the student. If the initial verification is incomplete or inadequate to determine the present extent of the disability and appropriate accommodations, ArtCenter shall have the discretion to require supplemental assessment of a physical or psychological disability. The cost of and responsibility for the supplemental assessment shall be borne by the student.

Verification of Learning Disability

A student with a learning disability must provide professional testing and evaluation results that reflect the individual’s present level of processing information and present achievement level. The cost of and responsibility for obtaining the professional verification shall be borne by the student.

Documentation verifying the learning disability must:

1. Be prepared by a professional qualified to diagnose a learning disability, including, but not limited to, a licensed physician, learning disability specialist or psychologist who is neither related to the student nor is an employee of the College.
2. Include the testing procedures followed, the instruments used to assess the disability, the test results and a written interpretation of the test results by the professional.
3. Reflect the individual’s present level of academic functioning.
4. Reflect the individual’s present level of functioning in the areas of aptitude and processing skills.

The assessment must provide data that supports the request for the particular academic adjustment sought. In the event that a student requests an academic adjustment or accommodation that is not supported by the data in the assessment, or if the initial verification is incomplete or inadequate to determine the extent of the disability, then it is incumbent on the student to obtain supplemental testing or assessment at his or her expense.

If the College requires an additional assessment for purposes of obtaining a second professional opinion, as opposed to a supplemental assessment, then the College shall bear any cost not covered by any third- party payer.

Verification of Temporary Disability

Students seeking accommodations based on a temporary disability must provide documentation verifying the nature of the condition, stating the expected duration of the condition and describing the accommodations deemed necessary. Such verification must be provided by a professional health care provider who is qualified in the diagnosis of such conditions, is not related to the student and is not an employee of the College. The assessment of documentation of the disability must reflect the student’s current level of disability and shall be no older than 60 days. The cost of obtaining the professional verification documentation shall be borne by the student.

If the initial documentation is incomplete or inadequate to determine the extent of the disability and appropriate accommodations, ArtCenter shall have the discretion to require supplemental assessment of the temporary disability. The cost of the supplemental assessment shall be borne by the student.

Academic Dismissal and Readmission

Academically dismissed students sometimes raise disability as the basis for the academic difficulty. The burden is on the student to clarify why the disability was not brought to the attention of the administration if it was not previously, to explain why accommodations were not requested, or to explain why provided accommodations were not adequate. Please note that regardless of whether or not a student requests accommodations, he or she is required to meet all academic standards and maintain satisfactory academic progress.

Course Waivers or Substitutions

Students with documented disabilities may request waivers or substitutions of course requirements that they believe to be an insurmountable barrier due to their disability. Documentation must be provided to the Student Disability Services Coordinator and will be reviewed to determine qualification. Students requesting course waivers/substitutions will need to demonstrate that even with well- tailored accommodations (e.g., extended time, calculator use and assignment adjustments), successful completion of the course’s requirements would not be possible.

If the student is asking for a course waiver/substitution of a Humanities and Design Sciences requirement, the Student Disability Services Coordinator will act as facilitator and work with the Chair of Humanities and Design Sciences or designee, who will determine whether the course waiver/ substitution would fundamentally alter the nature of ArtCenter’s course requirements. If the course in question is deemed fundamental to the degree, the request will be denied. If the course is deemed not fundamental to the degree, the request will be granted. Where a substitution is granted, the aforementioned Chair will choose which course(s) would be an adequate substitute.

If the student is asking for a course waiver/substitution of a major requirement, the Student Disability Services Coordinator will act as facilitator working with the Department Chair or designee, who will review the student’s request. If the course in question is deemed fundamental to the student’s major, the request will be denied. If the course is deemed nonessential, the request will be granted. Where a substitution is granted, the Department Chair will choose which course(s) would be an adequate substitute.

Grievances

Students who request disability-related accommodations from faculty or staff members—after having been granted such accommodations by the Student Disabilities Services Coordinator—and who believe that such accommodations have been impermissibly denied, or who believe that they have been discriminated against on the basis of their disability, should bring this matter to the attention of the Student Disability Services Coordinator. If the Student Disability Services Coordinator is unable to resolve the matter informally, or the student is dissatisfied with the resolution, the student may pursue a grievance through the College’s grievance procedures process. Please refer to the Student Grievance Policy for additional information.

For additional support, the student may contact the College’s Americans with Disabilities Act compliance officer in the Human Resources department at 626.396-2270.

The student may also contact the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, San Francisco, California, at 415 556-4275 to file a disability grievance at any time in the process.

Requesting Accommodations

Provide a copy of your documentation to the Student Disability Services Coordinator. For new students, documentation should be received as soon as possible after the student receives his or her acceptance to the College, or as soon as he or she is diagnosed with a disability. The process for arranging and receiving accommodations can be lengthy; the sooner the student contacts the Student Disability Services Coordinator, the more likely it is that accommodations can be arranged prior to the start of the term.

To schedule an appointment with the Student Disability Services Coordinator, please call the Center for the Student Experience at 626 396-2323.

If the student has already registered for classes, he or she should bring the class list to this meeting.

General Guidelines for Documentation of a Disability

In order to fully evaluate requests for accommodations or auxiliary aids, ArtCenter will need documentation of the disability consisting of an evaluation by an appropriate professional and describing the current impact of the disability as it relates to the accommodation request. All contact information and documentation received is kept in separate confidential files by the Student Disability Services Coordinator. Documentation is used to evaluate requests for accommodation or auxiliary aids. The evaluation process includes a review of the documentation itself and the context of documentation on the fundamental goals and essential standards of the program, course, service or benefit in question.

The evaluation process will generate a list of potentially reasonable accommodations that will be reviewed based on potential effectiveness, preferences of the requester, maximum level of integration and the potential for an undue financial or administrative burden.

The guidelines below were developed to assist students in working with their treating health care professional(s) to prepare the information needed to evaluate the request for accommodations:

• • For individuals who have recently been receiving services from a public school system, the information requested would most likely be contained in the psycho educational evaluation from their most recent review. Some of the information may also be contained in an IEP 504 Plan or Transition Plan; however, the IEP and 504 Plan are considered supplementary. This information must be requested separately from high school transcripts.
  • For individuals transferring from another college, information related to their disability will not be sent with a transcript request. That information must be requested separately. Additionally, the information requested by ArtCenter may or may not have been a part of their previous college’s evaluation process. Check the information against the following guidelines.
  • As appropriate to the disability, documentation should have:

• A diagnostic statement identifying the disability, the date of the current diagnostic evaluation and the date of the original diagnosis. The diagnostic systems used by the Department of Education, the State Department of Rehabilitative Services or other state agencies, and/or the current editions of either the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) from the World Health Organization are the recommended diagnostic taxonomies.
• A description of the diagnostic criteria and/or diagnostic test used. This description should include the specific results of diagnostic procedures and diagnostic tests utilized. When available, both summary and specific test scores should be reported as standard scores and the norming population identified. When standard scores are not available, the mean, standard deviation and the standard error of measurement are requested as appropriate to the construction of the test. Diagnostic methods used should be congruent with the disability and current professional practices within the field. Informal or non-standardized evaluations should be described in enough detail that a professional colleague can understand their role and significance in the diagnostic process.
• A description of the current functional impact of the disability. The current functional impact on physical, perceptual, cognitive and behavioral abilities should be described either explicitly or through the provision of specific results from the diagnostic procedures. Currency will be evaluated based on the typical progression of the disability, its interaction with development across the life span, the presence or absence of significant events (since the date of the evaluation) that would impact functioning, and the applicability of the information to the current context of the request for accommodations.
• A description of treatments, medications, assistive devices, accommodations and/or assistive services in current use and their estimated effectiveness in ameliorating the impact of the disability. Significant side effects that may impact physical, perceptual, behavioral or cognitive performance should also be noted.
• A description of the expected progression or stability of the impact of the disability over time. This description should provide an estimate of the change in the functional limitations of the disability over time and/or recommendations concerning the predictable needs for reevaluation.
• Information describing the certification, licensure and/or the professional training of individuals conducting the evaluation. The individual providing the evaluation should be licensed for practice in the United States and should not be a relative or family member of the individual who was evaluated.

Beyond the six elements expected to be included in documentation, recommendations for accommodations, adaptive devices, assistive services, compensatory strategies and/or collateral support services will be considered.

Based on the context of the diagnostic evaluation, recommendations for specific accommodations, adaptive devices and/or assistive services that may ameliorate the functional impact of the disability and provide fuller access should be described. As appropriate, recommendations for collateral medical, psychological and/or educational support services or training that would be beneficial may also be included.

Recommendations from professionals with a history of working with the individual provide valuable information for the review process. They will be included in the evaluation of requests for accommodation and/or auxiliary aids. Where such recommendations are congruent with the programs, services and benefits offered by the College, they will be given deference. When recommendations go beyond services and benefits that can be provided by ArtCenter, they may be used to suggest potential referrals to area service providers beyond the College.

Any student with a professionally verified disability that manifests in an educational limitation meets eligibility guidelines.

International Students

In addition to meeting with the Student Disability Services Coordinator, international students requesting accommodations must meet with the International Student Advisor to discuss immigration issues and to have any medically authorized reduction in course load documented on the student’s SEVIS I-20.

Access for the Physically Challenged

ArtCenter complies with all state and federal laws regarding access for persons with disabilities. Ramps and elevators are provided throughout campus. Any student with a disability who encounters difficulty accessing any facility on campus should notify the Student Disability Services Coordinator at 626.396.2323. The Student Disability Services Coordinator and the Director of Facilities will work together to ensure that no student is denied access to any ArtCenter facility due to a disability.

FAQ