Disability & Accessibility Resources

Students are expected and encouraged to attend class regularly. Faculty have the right to establish attendance policies. However, flexibility with regard to attendance policy may be considered an appropriate accommodation when a student has a chronic physical or mental condition/disability with brief, periodic flare-ups that legitimately impact course attendance on occasion. 

The number of absences that are appropriate as an accommodation will vary by course, depending on the course curriculum, pedagogy, and the interactive or participatory nature of the course. Faculty input is essential for determining how many absences are reasonable for a particular course without compromising course objectives or learning outcomes. 

When determining reasonable modifications to an attendance policy, faculty are encouraged to consider the role that attendance plays in the design of their course and its impact on the learning experience of all students. Faculty are encouraged to consider the following points before they meet with a student to discuss accommodation arrangements: 

• What is identified in the syllabus as the course attendance policy?
• Are there essential in-class activities that cannot be replicated or accessed outside of the classroom setting? (eg, use of equipment only available during class, collaborative group work)
• Do student contributions constitute a significant component of the learning process?  
  • Does the design of the course rely on student participation as a significant method for learning?
  • How much interaction is there between the instructor and students and among students and their peers? 
  • To what degree does a student’s failure to attend class compromise the educational experience of other students in the course? 
• Is the attendance policy applied consistently? Are there exceptions to the policy made for extenuating circumstances, such as family emergencies or religious observation? (If so, this suggests that similar modifications could be made for disability reasons as well, without constituting a fundamental alteration of the course).

If you are concerned that an attendance accommodation may not be reasonable for your course, contact DAR as soon as possible to discuss your concerns. Together, faculty and DAR will engage in a deliberative process to determine whether an attendance modification is a reasonable accommodation. If it is determined that a modification to the attendance policy is an unreasonable accommodation, DAR staff and faculty may then consider other possible accommodations for an individual student. For more information on what constitutes a reasonable accommodation, please refer to the Accommodation Reconsideration Requests page.

Faculty should meet with students shortly after they receive notification that a student has been approved for an attendance accommodation. Alternatively, faculty may send the information outlined below to the student via email. If the information is sent via email, the instructor should include an invitation to discuss the student’s accommodations further, if the student is concerned that the accommodation arrangements described will not meet their disability needs. 

• The number of absences allowed for that particular course, taking this accommodation into account (eg, “The standard policy for this course allows for # absences; with this accommodation, up to # absences are allowed”).
• How and when the student should inform the instructor if they miss class for disability-related reasons (eg, “If you will be absent for disability-related reasons, please let me know via email–ideally, as soon as you know you will be missing class, or within 24 hours of the class session”). 
• The procedures and timeline for completing an assignment or an exam that was missed due to a disability-related absence (eg, “If you are unable to turn in an assignment or take a test due to a disability-related absence, you will have 48 hours from the original date/deadline to complete the exam or assignment”). 

DAR encourages students to request their accommodations and speak with their faculty as early in the semester as possible. At times, however, students may be approved for accommodations mid-semester (for example, if they have a newly-developed condition or have only recently been able to secure disability documentation).

There is nearly always a minimum attendance requirement to successfully complete a course. Depending on the student’s individual situation, and the number of classes they have already missed, for some students it may still be feasible to develop an accommodation plan for the remainder of the semester. If a student has already exceeded the maximum number of allowable absences under this accommodation, however, then allowing further absences may or may not be possible, depending on the nature of the course. Faculty should contact DAR immediately if they have concerns about an attendance accommodation that is approved mid-semester.

Students with this accommodation have already provided medical documentation to DAR verifying that they have a qualifying disability that may impact their attendance. Often, these are long-standing, chronic medical conditions that students have learned to self-manage under the care of a medical professional. The student may need time to rest, administer self-treatment, or wait for a medication to take effect, for example, but they may not require direct professional care during each flare-up or acute episode.

Students are therefore not required to present their instructors with a doctor’s note in the event of a disability-related absence, nor to share any personal health information about the nature of their disability; it is sufficient for a student to notify their instructor that an absence is/was “disability-related.”

• This accommodation does not allow an unlimited number of absences.
• This accommodation is meant for occasional and not regular use.
• In courses where some degree of attendance flexibility is already offered, additional policy modifications may not always be needed.
• This accommodation is designed to build in a degree of flexibility around attendance in order to address the impact of a brief, periodic health or medical experience that interferes with attendance. It is not designed to support a substantial number of missed classes, chronic tardiness, lengthy assignment extensions, or lengthy delays in taking an exam for reasons beyond brief, periodic flare-ups. In such extenuating, lengthy situations, an individualized assessment may be needed to determine whether additional accommodations or arrangements may be appropriate.
• Absences that are not related to the effects of a disability are not included in this accommodation (i.e., absences due to a common illness, car trouble, etc.) and should be addressed according to the syllabus’ stated attendance policy. In accordance with the Honor Principle, students are responsible for following the faculty member’s syllabus and stated procedures regarding absences that occur for non-disability reasons.
• Faculty are not obligated to re-teach material missed when a student is absent from class, whether or not the absence is disability-related.
• Students retain responsibility for completing all course work and should be held to the same assessment standards as all students in the course.