Policy—Below are the highlights of the college policy. To read the full policy, click here.

• To arrange accommodations students should contact the ADA/disability support services coordinator, Nancy Callahan, and provide documentation that verifies the existence of a disability and supports the need for accommodation. Click here for documentation guidelines for learning disabilities or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• Special modification requests beyond the scope of authority of the disability services coordinator to decide are heard by a committee appointed by the academic dean.  For more information about the procedure for filing such requests, click here
• The college can best meet the needs of students if requests for accommodations are made as soon as possible after a master schedule is published.  For those students who have a disability requiring services from outside the college, such as taped texts or sign-language interpreters, we strongly urge three months advance notice.
• All disability related information is treated confidentially.

Types of Disabilities

A disabled person is defined as someone who:

• Has a physical impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities
• Has a history of such an impairment
• Is regarded as having an impairment

Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Visual impairment
• Hearing impairment
• Learning disability
• Mobility or orthopedic impairment
• Psychological impairment
• Health impairment

Services

Services can be arranged through the disability support services office.  Typical accommodations might include, but are not limited to:

• Readers
• Note takers
• Scribes
• Textbook taping
• Alternate testing formats, time limits, and locations
• Preferential seating
• Enlargement of written material
• Use of word processing for tests
• Use of adaptive technology

Adaptive Technology

JCC has been fortunate through the years to acquire several pieces of the latest technology for assisting students with disabilities.

• Computer workstation for visually impaired students with Zoomtext Level I enlarging software and a 21-inch monitor.
• Kurzweil 1000 text-reading software with scanner for blind students.
• Kurzweil 3000 text-reading software with scanner for learning disabled students.
• Computer workstation for blind students with JAWS for Windows voice-synthesis and a Versapoint Braille printer.
• Franklin Language Master, Special Edition: a talking dictionary that also reads definitions.
• Talkman IV: portable tape player for listening to the specialized tapes of Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic.
• Phonic Ear: a personal FM system that allows lecturer to transmit directly to the student's receiver or hearing aid.
• Franklin Spelling Aces, large-print calculators, talking 4-function calculators, and tape recorders.

Contact People

            Nancy Callahan coordinates services for all students with disabilities at JCC.  Regular office hours are maintained at the Jamestown, Cattaraugus and North County campuses and are posted at the beginning of each semester.  Office hours in Warren are by appointment.

Nancy can also be contacted via e-mail: NancyCallahan@mail.sunyjcc.edu

Accommodation requests for events that are open to the public may also be made to:    

NancyCallahan@mail.sunyjcc.edu

Miscellaneous

            The Disability Support Services Office is a voter registration site.  If you need assistance in becoming a registered voter, we will be happy to assist you. 

Transition Planning for High School Students with Disabilities

            Click here (pdf file) for the JCC version of Effective College Planning, the resourece guidebook for teachers and parents of a student with a disability.

            Click here (pdf file) for the companion guidebook Effective College Planning - A Student Guide.

Policy Statement for Students with Disabilities

          Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 state that qualified students with disabilities have the right to reasonable modifications in all on and off-campus academic programs and services, as well as in student services in order to make a college education truly accessible.  The philosophy of Jamestown Community College is to do its utmost to maximize the educational opportunities of all its students.  Thus, our policy regarding students with disabilities is a manifestation of our general approach to all students.  We believe in treating students as individuals and in doing our best to meet individual needs.

          To plan for necessary modifications and support services, students must contact the Disability Support Services Office coordinator and provide documentation that verifies the existence of a disability and supports the need for accommodation.  We can best meet the needs of students if requests for accommodations are made as soon as possible after the Master Schedule is published.  For those students who have a disability requiring services and/or equipment from outside the college, such as taped texts or sign language interpreters, we strongly urge 3 months advance notice.  All disability-related information will be treated confidentially.

            When a student requests a modification which is beyond the scope of authority of the disability support services coordinator to decide, the request will be decided upon by a committee appointed by the dean of academic affairs.  The procedure for filing such requests is available in the disability support services office and in the office of the dean of academic affairs, or by clicking here.

Documentation Guidelines

In recent years there has been a tightening up at colleges and universities in what documentation they require students to present in order to access support services.  This has been due in part to major lawsuits like the Boston University case in which university administrators revoked students’ accommodations because administrators believed the disabilities office had been too lax in gathering documentation that supported the need for accommodations. Ultimately the courts decided against BU’s administrators, and services to many of these students resumed. However, the court made it clear that colleges need only serve students who are truly disabled, meaning that documentation needs to be recent, relevant, and must establish a clear link between the disability and the need for specific accommodations, like calculator use, extended time for tests, etc.  The Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) have published guidelines for LD and AD/HD documentation that are in wide use throughout the country.  Though IEP’s and 504 plans are helpful, they don’t paint a complete picture and they don’t provide a rationale for accommodations.  For learning disabled students AHEAD maintains it is critical that a complete psycho-ed evaluation report accompany these plans.  Reports should have these components:

• Diagnostic interview summary
• Assessment
1. Aptitude-- complete intellectual assessment with all subtests and standard scores reported,
2. Academic achievement-- with all scores reported and including current levels of functioning in reading, math, and oral and written language,
3. Information processing-- relevant areas of specific information processing should be assessed.

• Specific diagnosis-- individual “learning styles,” “learning differences” and “test difficulty or anxiety,” by themselves, do not constitute a learning disability. 
• Clinical summary-- should include:
1. demonstration of the evaluator’s having ruled out alternative explanations for academic problems as a result of poor education, poor motivation and/ or study skills, emotional problems, attention problems, and cultural/ language differences,
2. indications of how patterns in the test results reflect the presence of a learning disability,
3. indication of the substantial limitation to learning or other major life activity presented by the learning disability,
4. indication as to why specific accommodations are needed.  Any record of prior accommodation or auxiliary aids should also be included.

Similarly, ETS recommends documentation for students with AD/HD must be comprehensive exhibiting

• Evidence of early impairment
• Evidence of current impairment
• Alternative diagnoses or explanations ruled out
• Relevant testing provided
• Identification of DSM-IV criteria
• Specific diagnosis
• Interpretive summary
• Rationale for each accommodation recommended

Both sets of guidelines emphasize that accommodation needs can change over time and are not always identified through the initial diagnostic process.  Conversely, a prior history of accommodation does not, in and of itself, warrant provision of a similar accommodation at the post-secondary level.  The complete LD guidelines contain appendices listing tests for assessing adolescents and adults and the AD/HD appendices list the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.  If you would like copies of these guidelines, please contact Nancy Callahan (click here for contact info).

Special Modifications Request Procedure

            When a student requests a modification which is beyond the scope of authority of the disabled student service coordinator to decide (e.g. course substitutions), the request will be decided upon by a committee appointed by the dean of academic affairs.  In such instances, these procedures will be followed:

            The student will submit the request for the modification in writing to the disability support services coordinator.  The coordinator will review the request and the process with the student, request additional supporting information from the student, as needed, and, based upon a review of these documents, will write a summary and recommendation to the committee.  The student’s request should state reasons for seeking the modification and include documentation of disability from a certified professional.  Documentation for students with a learning disability or attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder should adhere to the guidelines published by the Association on Higher Education and Disability and/ or the Educational Testing Service.  Both sets of guidelines are available in the disability support services office.  Documentation that includes specific recommendations for academic adjustments will be helpful.  Letters in support of the request from instructors, learning specialists, or tutors are strongly encouraged.  Upon review of such documentation, the college may request additional information.  In order to obtain further substantiating support for the request, the coordinator will request written permission to speak with the diagnostician and relevant tutors or instructors.  Where information from external sources is needed to evaluate the request, it shall be the student’s responsibility to see that the college receives the information. 

            Upon receipt of the student’s request and supporting documents from the disability support services coordinator, the dean of academic affairs will call together a committee with the following composition for matters that involve course substitutions.

• The academic dean
• Faculty member from the area in which the disputed course is housed
• Faculty member from the student's major area of study
• Coordinator of the learning center for the student's campus

The disability support services coordinator shall be present, but shall not vote.

            In cases not involving course substitutions, the dean of academic affairs will call together an appropriate committee which will include the appropriate learning center coordinator and the disability support services coordinator.

Committee Procedure

            Normally, the committee will decide on the request within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the written request and documentation by the academic dean.  Minutes of the meeting will be kept. If the modification request is denied, the minutes will reflect either:

·         the student did not provide substantiating documentation,

·         or, that the only available alternatives to the course at issue would either lower academic standards or require substantial program alteration.  The student may appeal the decision.  

If a decision to grant a course substitution is made, the committee will decide what course or courses will be accepted as appropriate substitutions.  The dean of academic affairs will notify the student of the decision in writing within seven calendar days of the committee meeting.  If a course substitution is granted, the academic dean will also notify the registrar in writing.

Appeal Process

            In the case where the student is not satisfied with the committee decision, the student may appeal that decision in writing within 30 calendar days to the dean of student development.  The dean shall review the student’s request, documentation, and committee action, and may request additional information.  The dean shall render a decision within 30 calendar days of receipt of the student’s written appeal and shall communicate this decision in writing to the student and chair of the committee.