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Student Tribune

CORONAVIRUS AND ACCOMMODATIONS

CORONAVIRUS AND ACCOMMODATIONS:

President Douglas recently shared MCC's plan to transition to online learning. During this transition, faculty and staff are hard at work preparing for these changes. This transition to an online learning environment can pose unique challenges for people with disabilities, and we are working to anticipate needs, educate faculty, and support students to the very best of our abilities. Accessibility and support for students with disabilities is a priority in our planning conversations and the Disability Services office staff are focused on access.

It is important to highlight the following:

  • Students registered with the Disability Services office have the right to reasonable accommodations, regardless whether classes are in-person or online.
  • Accommodations for students currently registered with the Disability Services office remain in place.
  • It may be beneficial for you to reach out to your faculty to discuss and reiterate your access needs at this time, even if you have had conversations with them about accommodations in the past. If you encounter a new access barrier in the online learning environment, please reach out to the Disability Services office for further assistance.

Approved accommodations:

  • Extended time on tests, exams, and quizzes applies in the online environment. Be sure to remind your faculty of this approved accommodation so they can manually adjust your allotted test time. Note: Faculty are receiving guidance on how to do this, and can reach out to the MCC Virtual Campus for support, if needed.
  • Emphasis is being placed on communication accessibility (e.g. captioning or ASL interpreting) in real-time virtual sessions. In addition, faculty are receiving resources related to other accessibility strategies, including high color contrast, accessible PDFs and PPTs, alternative text for images, and more.
  • This significant disruption to routine and format may cause great stress and anxiety for some students. Please reach out to the Disability Services office for support and assistance.
  • The Counseling Center is also planning to be available to students in distress and/or connect them to mental health providers in their home communities.
  • Students may request accommodations at any point during their education. This means that students who have never worked with the Disability Services office may request accommodations at this time. It also means that students already registered with the Disability Services office may request new/additional accommodations, if needed.
  • You may find you have different accommodation needs as we make the shift to virtual course delivery. If you encounter disability-related barriers in the weeks ahead, please contact the Disability Services office to talk about accommodation possibilities and other ways we can support you.
  • Students do not need to be on campus to request accommodations or work with the Disability Services office. You may reach out by email to our general email address disabilityservices@monroecc.edu or by phone at 585-292-2140.
  • For the most up-to-date information regarding the Coronavirus, please refer to the college website.

Zamiara, Aubrey
Counseling Center & Disability Services
03/13/2020