In compliance with Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the American Disabilities Act of 1991, RVCC does not discriminate against students with disabilities in terms of program admissions and/or opportunities for academic success.
What We Do?
- Develop a plan to reach your academic goals
- Ensure accommodations are in place to meet students’ individual needs.
- Provide information and referral
- Serve as a campus partner and advocate
Getting Started
Meet with the campus Accessibility Coordinator.
Provide documentation of the disability. The documentation must be from a licensed professional (doctor, psychiatrist, etc.) and be current (within 3 years in most cases). A recent IEP with accompanying testing may also considered when developing a plan.
Complete application forms for accommodations provided by the Accessibility Coordinator.
An Individual Reasonable Accommodation Plan (IRAP) is developed based on documentation and the student application. Once complete, the student and Coordinator sign the IRAP. The student is responsible for providing the IRAP to each course instructor.
Meet with your instructor(s) and present a copy of your accommodation plan to discuss how your needs will be met. The instructor will sign an acknowledgment form that you present and is returned to the Accessibility Coordinator. Email documents to any online faculty.
The plan is renewed prior to the start of each semester and is not automatically updated without contacting the Accessibility Coordinator.
Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals Information
Service Animal Information from ADATA (PDF)
Service Animal Information from ADA.gov (PDF)
In the Classroom
- A student has the right not to disclose a disability and may enroll without an accommodation plan.
- If the student and instructor are unsure how to implement the IRAP or are unable to agree on implementing the IRAP as written, the instructor will contact the Accessibility Coordinator and, in consultation with the Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs, to make a determination of whether the recommended accommodation(s) will fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program or activity
- The Coordinator (or other staff so identified by the College) will work with the student and faculty to resolve such concerns, including ensuring that agreed-upon academic adjustments/auxiliary aids and services are provided;
- If a note-taker is indicated, the service will be provided by a fellow-student selected by the instructor. The student receiving the service has the option to disclose their identity to the student volunteer along with logistics on receiving the notes or to remain anonymous and having the volunteer leave the notes with the instructor for pick-up.
- If the student and instructor are unable to agree on implementing the IRAP as written, the instructor will contact the Accessibility Coordinator and, in consultation with the Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs, make a determination of whether the recommended accommodation(s) will fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program or activity.
- Resource Guide for Students with Disabilities for additional information and resources for college students and accessibility
FAQs
- Reduced course load
- Extended testing time
- Separate reduced-distraction location for testing
- Recording devices
- Note taker
- Preferential seating
- Audio versions of textbooks
- Access to voice to text and text to voice software
- Sign language interpreter
No. Students are required to meet the essential requirements of academic departments to enter a program and to remain in a program. All students must show mastery of course materials to earn college credit.
- When a request is denied
- The College will explain the reasons for the denial, in writing, to the student;
- The College will consider whether effective alternatives exist that would allow the individual with a disability to participate without lowering essential requirements or fundamentally altering the nature of the program; and
- If the request is denied because the College deems the documentation that the student provided is deficient, the College will explain why it is deficient so that the student can resolve any such deficiencies.
- Staff or faculty shall be notified of approved adjustments/auxiliary aids and services in the following manner:
- Meet with your instructor(s) and present a copy of your accommodation plan to discuss how your needs will be met. The instructor will sign an acknowledgment form that you present and return it to the Accessibility Coordinator. Online faculty will receive documents via email.
- The College, through all of its faculty and staff, is obligated to implement approved academic adjustments/auxiliary aids and service.
RVCC Service Animal Policy
-The ADA defines service animals as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability, regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government.
-Service animals are permitted to accompany the individual with a disability to all areas of campus where members of the public are permitted except where prohibited due to health, environmental, or safety hazards (e.g. certain laboratories, mechanical rooms, areas where protective clothing is necessary, or areas where there is a danger to the animal).
-Individuals with disabilities who are seeking to use a service animal are encouraged to notify Accessibility Services. The handler will be asked to complete a voluntary Service Animal Registration Form. Completed Service Animal Registration Forms shall be kept by Accessibility Services, separate from all other records held by RVCC. If the animal qualifies as a service animal, the handler must comply with this policy at all times while the animal is on RVCC property.
-If it is not obvious what service the animal provides, it is not permissible to ask about the person’s disability, request documentation, or a demonstration of the work the animal can perform. Permissible inquiries are limited to:
1) Is the animal a service animal?
2) What work or task is the dog trained to perform?
-Members of the campus community shall avoid:
-Petting, feeding, or distracting the animal. Remember, it is a working animal.
– To assist the campus community in identifying the animal as a service animal, the service animal should wear a harness or other gear that identifies it as a working animal.
-The service animal must have an owner identification tag, current license and tags from local authorities.
– Service animals must be properly immunized and vaccinated.
-The handler is financially responsible for any damage the service animal causes including bodily injury and property damage beyond reasonable wear and tear.
–Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls at all times.
-The service animal must be housebroken. The handler is responsible for all clean up and waste disposal. Animal waste must be immediately picked up by the owner, placed in a plastic bag, securely tied, and disposed of in an outside trash dumpster.
-The school is not responsible for any harm to a service animal while on campus, including but not limited to injury to the animal caused by pest management or lawn care products.
-The animal may not be allowed on campus, regardless of training or certification
-When the animal’s behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others
-Exhibits behavior that interferes with the educational process
-Behaves in an unacceptable way and the handler does not control the animal
-Is not housebroken, licensed, or properly vaccinated
-If the animal is excluded from the property, RVCC shall still afford the individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in its programs or activity without having the service animal on the premises.
Service animals are not permitted in laboratories:
- Utilizing risk group 2 or higher biological materials
- Using radioactive materials
- Requiring protective clothing (sterile facilities or containing hazardous pathogens)
- If the animal is trained to pick up items or alert the user and materials used in the lab could be harmful
Laboratory classrooms where the service animal is permitted may still require appropriate protective equipment i.e. dog goggles, booties, or a mat to lie on. Further, service animals can be excluded from laboratory classrooms when the animal’s behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, exhibits behavior that interferes with the educational process, or behaves in an unacceptable way given the environment and the handler does not control the animal.
Service animals permitted in a laboratory classroom should be placed out of the way of hazards, should not create an obstacle to other students, and should allow the service animal to keep the student in their line of sight. Possible locations must be discussed with the handler first and may include a location at the end of a bench, in a corner, under a lab bench, under a table, against the wall and/or under a coat rack.
Please discuss the nature of any lab sciences you may be enrolled in with your instructor in order to determine if the lab is a safe environment for the service animal.
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