Reasonable Accommodations
Reasonable accommodations are intended to practically support students’ communications access needs, which often means that students have a choice regarding the type of service they receive. However, students’ preferred communication access is not guaranteed. For example:
- Students are typically offered a choice between ASL or CART services. Students are not usually offered both services for any single class.
- SAS tries to assign students’ preferred service providers to each requested assignment. Preferred interpreters or CART providers are not always available. Communication access services are in high demand in the DC area, and specific individual interpreters and/or CART providers may have other commitments.
Additionally, reasonable accommodations must directly mitigate the effects of the impairment itself, but not college readiness skills. For example, extra time for exams or projects are not offered to students whose deaf or hard of hearing impairment/s is their sole disability.
