Disability Services and Accommodations

Priority Registration

Students with a disability related need may receive priority registration. This provides students and the DRP with advanced notice of classroom accessibility and accommodation needs and allows advanced planning for students’ scheduling needs.

Academic Counseling

Students may take advantage of specialized academic counseling available through DRP. The counseling, as determined by the DRP Director, may include course planning, learning strategies, review of legal skills, review of exams, bar exam strategies, and disabilities management.

Seating

Students with specific seating requirements may be eligible for reserved seating. Examples of reserved seating include ergonomic chairs for students with mobility impairments, or seats in the front of the classroom for students with low vision, difficulty hearing or ADHD. If you believe you need an ergonomic chair or you need a seat in the front of the class, please contact DRP prior to the start of classes. Eligibility for this accommodation will be determined in a meeting with the DRP director.

Reduced Course Load

Students at UC Hastings must be enrolled full time. However, students with disabilities may qualify for scheduling accommodations that do not fundamentally alter the nature of the program. Although the law does not require the College to waive courses considered essential to the program, students may reduce their course load if there is a disability related need. Scheduling changes to reduce course load must be approved by the DRP Director and the Academic Dean.

Class Notes and Audio Recordings of Class

Note-takers or audio recordings may be provided for enrolled GPA lecture courses. Note-takers take notes for all qualified students in a course; recipient student names are not disclosed to the note-takers or professors. Students receiving class notes or audio recordings as an accommodation are still expected to take their own class notes if possible. Read the Conditions of Receiving Class Notes and Audio Recordings as an Accommodation.

Receipt of class notes and audio recordings indicates your agreement with these conditions.

Electronic Texts

E-texts can also be ordered by DRP from the publishers. This format is available at no extra charge to eligible students with disabilities who purchase the standard textbooks and submit their receipts to the DRP. The DRP must certify student eligibility. All e-texts are sent to UC Hastings in an electronic format.

Enlarged Prints

Students may request enlarged prints of course materials. These include, but are not limited to: books, handouts, syllabi and other course related materials.

Audio Texts

Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) provides digitally recorded textbooks to students with documented disabilities (such as vision loss, ADHD or dyslexia) that would affect reading standard print. Students are responsible for applying for RFB&D services via DRP. Please contact the Resource Coordinator if you require this accommodation.

Assistive Hearing Devices

Assistive technology includes videotext displays, or other effective methods of accommodating aurally delivered material for deaf or hard of hearing students.

American Sign Language Interpreter (ASL)

This accommodation is provided to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. This accommodation must be requested at least two months before classes commence so that appropriate arrangement for an ASL interpreter may be put in place in a timely manner.

CART/Real Time Captioning

CART, often referred to as real time captioning, instantly translates spoken words into English text for deaf or hard of hearing students. This accommodation is an alternative to using ASL interpreters.

Exam Accommodations

Students with disabilities may qualify for nonstandard testing accommodations. These accommodations are intended to mitigate the impact of the student’s disability and maintain parity in the exam process.

Individualized accommodations are determined in an interactive process that involves the student, the DRP director and the Academic Deans Office. This determination is made before the student’s first graded exam period (mid-terms or finals). A student’s use of testing accommodations is not disclosed to the instructors or other students.

Accommodated Time

An extensive review of the current documentation and an assessment of the present condition of the student’s disability are done before accommodated time on exams is provided. This review is done on a case by case basis.

Assistive technology

Students who have difficulty using standard exam software may use one of several alternative types of software, e.g. speech output software that converts text to speech, or voice recognition software that converts speech to text.

Sample software is available at DRP. However, students must provide their own software. Financial aid is available. In some instances purchases may be covered by insurance or by the Department of Rehabilitation.

Private or semi-private testing rooms

Students who have trouble taking an exam in a standard classroom may have exam accommodations in private or semi-private rooms. Exam rooms can be adjusted for special lighting needs, for example natural light instead of fluorescent lights.

Scribes

Students with vision loss, problems with manual tasks or who otherwise have difficulty completing scantrons may have a scribe transfer their answers from the exam to the scantron.

Alternate exam format

Final exams may be recorded, Brailled, enlarged, or otherwise presented in a nonstandard format depending upon the student’s need. If you believe you need such accommodations, please contact DRP no later than three weeks prior to final exams. The DRP Director determines the formatting for each exam.