Requesting Academic Accommodations

Before you may request academic accommodations, you must first establish eligibility (see Establishing Eligibility) and be registered with Accessibility Services.  Once you are registered with Accessibility Services and accommodations are approved, you may request accommodations for your courses at the start of each term.

When to request

Term requests for academic accommodations take 3-5 days to process, so you should submit a term request in Accommodate as soon as possible at the beginning of each term (ask the instructors for syllabi in advance). If you are planning to request alternative text, please allow 6-8 weeks advance notice.  We will try to assist you as soon as possible, but it may take several weeks to receive alternative texts.

Approved accommodations will take effect only for current and future assignments and exams and will not apply to any work already completed or past due. Please request testing accommodations, if they are approved, more than one week prior to an exam date.

If you find you need accommodations after a course is underway, the Accessibility Services Specialist will work with you to establish eligibility and make requests.

Instructor notification

Once your accommodation request is processed, the specialist will send a letter to you and each of your instructors identifying the accommodations to be provided for that course and the support available in the Center for Academic Success. Your disability is not disclosed in this letter. You are responsible for communicating with your instructors that you intend to use your accommodations for the term. To practice the skill of self advocacy, you are encouraged to discuss your learning needs with your instructor so that your accommodations can be provided in a way that works best for you. The Accessibility Services Specialist is available to help you communicate with your instructors; you can email accessibility@lawrence.edu or stop by Room 233 in the CAS (located on the second floor of Mudd Library) for help.

Follow up

The Accessibility Services Specialist may check in with you and the course instructor to see how the accommodations are working. If problems arise, please contact the Accessibility Services Specialist right away so that issues can be resolved early in the term before they affect your academic progress.

Temporary accommodations

If you are in the process of being evaluated for a diagnosis, Lawrence may grant temporary academic accommodations for the current term. You must provide appropriate documentation to be eligible for accommodations in future terms. Refer to Establishing Eligibility for more information.

How to Request Accommodations

After you have established eligibility and are registered with Accessibility Services, you will complete the following steps every term to request your academic accommodations for your courses.

  1. Log into Accommodate and complete a Term Request for the courses you are requesting academic accommodations for the term. All requests must come from the student themselves. Contact the Accessibility Services Specialist via email at accessibility@lawrence.edu if you require assistance to submit your Term Request.
  2. Request academic accommodations at the beginning of each term. Accommodations are not retroactive and a new Term Request must be submitted for each academic term at Lawrence.