Faculty FAQ

A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a course, program, service, or activity that enables a qualified student with a disability to have an equal opportunity to access and participate, without fundamentally altering the essential nature of the program.  

Student eligibility for accommodation is determined through an interactive process on a case‐by‐case basis after considering student self-report, history of accommodation, documentation, and ADRC staff professional expertise.   

Please encourage the student to reach out to our Center and refer the student so that we can discuss the registration process and answer any questions they may have.   

No arrangements, promises, or other manifestations of individual accommodation should be made by any University employee (faculty, administrative, or other) prior to consultation with the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center, unless the arrangement or accommodation is offered to all students in the class.  Only those accommodations authorized by the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center should be implemented after notification is received.  

Though students are strongly encouraged and expected to request accommodations prior to or at the start of classes, they can request them at any time during the semester. Late accommodation requests can occur for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to a newly diagnosed disability, or the student planned to attempt a class without accommodations, but the barrier created by their disability requires accommodating. 

For an immediate direct threat to self (the student) or to others, please dial 911 to reach OUPD.    

The ADRC is not an emergency response team, so we encourage you to contact the Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) when concerning behaviors are observed in a student, faculty, or staff member, as they are best equipped to respond to reports of disruptive or troubling behavior.   Keep in mind that disability never excuses behavior that violates the Student Code of Conduct.  

University Counseling Center is available for same-day crisis appointments should a student express the need for immediate mental health services.   

The OU Testing Center is responsible for facilitating accommodated testing.  Please contact the Testing Center at Testing@ou.edu for additional information. 

Faculty are responsible for creating and maintaing all course materials in accessible format for assistive technology. This includes but is not limited to: Canvas materials, course presentations, exams, quizzes, etc.

All course materials, including exams/quizzes should be accessible in time for them to interact with them when necessary. Accessible exams/quizzes should be delivered to the OU Testing Center prior to the students' scheduled exam. 

Faculty are not responsible for providing assistive technology to the student, but should work with their department to ensure their materials are accessible. 

The ADRC takes confidentiality very seriously and our Center adheres strictly to the confidentiality guidelines as set forth by FERPA.  Below are general guidelines for following FERPA in the classroom:  

1. To respect students’ confidentiality, we ask that you please do not include all ADRC students in one email regarding accommodations or registration with the Center.  Some instructors have found a way to navigate this by sending emails to each registered student individually or by making a general ADRC statement on their syllabus, Canvas announcements page, and/or other related pages.     
2. Students are not required to disclose their diagnosis or diagnoses to faculty and should never be asked to do so. Students may choose to share information with you about their disability and how it may impact them in the classroom. If a student discloses any information about their disability to you, this information is confidential. 
3. The ADRC firmly believes in and encourages students to self-advocate, however, if you have questions regarding a student's accommodations, please contact the ADRC at adrc@ou.edu.
4. If an accommodation discussion is necessary, the instructors should identify a time and place which is both private and safe for the student to discuss their accommodations, whether that be during office hours or a scheduled appointment. 

All accommodations provided by the ADRC must be honored.

If a college/department has the ability and the inclination to record the courses on behalf of the instructors that would be advisable.However, not all colleges/departments have the ability to do so.

In these cases, the student must be allowed to record or the professor can record the class for the student. However, professors doing so should be aware that if there are problems with the professor doing the recording (e.g. accidentally doesn’t record), the professor will have to provide an alternate resource to provide the student with the content (e.g., reteach the day’s course, etc).

If the student is audio recording the class then the student provides you with a signed copy of our Audio Recording Service Agreement, and they use their own personal device to audio record class content in line with the agreement. 

If you are audio recording the class for the student then the student provides you with a signed copy of our Audio Recording Service Agreement. You notify the student you will be providing the audio recordings of the course content. The audio recordings are released to the student in a reasonable amount of time and available to the student until the end of the semester. The only course content not recorded and released for the student's use is if a classroom discussion starts that includes personal identifying information from other students.