Instructors or other University employees who have been notified of a student’s request for accommodation have a responsibility to implement the accommodation.
This means receiving the request, maintaining the student’s confidentiality, engaging with staff from the Centre to ensure the accommodation is implemented in an appropriate manner, treating the student with professionalism and respect, and providing any required information or materials.
They may be required to complete one of the following:
- Provide course readings in advance so that these materials can be converted into alternate formats to ensure a student with a print disability has equal access to these materials
- Talk to a student about the potential need for extensions to assignments or deferrals for exams
- Assist the Centre to deliver exams centrally by providing to the Centre copies of the exam and any other information relevant to sitting the exam
- Work with the Centre or other University staff to determine if the implementation of a specific accommodation will cause undue hardship
University instructors and staff have a right to request confirmation that the accommodations a student is requesting have been determined by the Centre in accordance with Policy LR7. In the case of academic accommodations, instructors or designated academic program staff have a right to receive a current copy of the Letter of Accommodation produced by the Centre in a timely manner. A similar letter is produced by the Centre for clinical and other practical components of academic programs. For other activities such as participation in an orientation event, extracurricular activities or study abroad experience, this confirmation may be an email or meeting to confirm the range of accommodations to be considered.
University instructors have a responsibility to respect and maintain the student’s confidentiality in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. In this context, this means that instructors and other University staff should not ask a student to disclose a diagnosis or other personal information. The student has already disclosed this information to the Centre as required by Policy LR7. The Centre will determine whether individual instructors or other employees have a need to know specific information in order to consider or implement an accommodation. For example, the Centre might need to provide additional information about a student’s vision loss, with the student’s permission, if an instructor is asked to consider an alternative means of evaluation or a change to the structure of a lab activity.