Disability & Accessibility Resources

Examples of disability-related housing accommodations for students include:

• Single occupancy room
• Wheelchair-accessible unit
• Housing on ground level
• Flashing / visual emergency alarm in room
• Emotional support animal in on-campus housing
• Meal plan and/or food service modifications
• Exemption to the Reed Residency Requirement (for 1st and 2nd year students)

This list is not comprehensive. If you would like to request one of these or other accommodations, please see below for information on how to request housing accommodations.

Students can begin the process by submitting a Housing Accommodation Request Form, along with medical and/or mental health documentation of their disability, by the dates listed below.

From there, DAR staff and students engage in an interactive and individualized process to determine appropriate accommodations for each student. In some cases, we may request additional information or documentation, or an appointment may be needed so we can discuss a student's needs further and review available options. We will contact students via their Reed email if an appointment or additional information is needed.

When a student is approved for housing accommodations, DAR will send a notification email to both the student and to Residence Life. Please note that all students seeking on-campus housing must register for housing through Residence Life, including students with approved disability accommodations.

DAR works alongside Residence Life in accordance with their room registration timelines. To ensure that Residence Life receives adequate notice of any accommodations that have been approved by DAR, it is important that students submit their accommodation requests (and supporting documentation) to DAR by the following priority deadlines.

• Returning students requesting accommodations for the 2025-2026 school year should submit their housing accommodation requests to DAR in February/March 2025 (exact dates will be published in December 2024).
• Incoming students (new to Reed) should submit their housing acccommodation requests between May 1 - June 1, 2025. 
• Students seeking housing for the spring 2025 semester only should submit their housing accommodation requests to DAR between October 21 - December 2, 2024.

If the priority deadline has passed, we encourage students to submit their housing accommodation request form to DAR and schedule an appointment with us as soon as possible to discuss what options may be available.

Mid-year accommodation requests

At times, new or changing circumstances may create the need for students to seek housing accommodations outside of the timelines described above. If a student receives approval for housing accommodations mid-year or outside of the usual room registration timeline, Residence Life will strive to meet the student’s accommodation needs within the available housing inventory. Students are welcome to contact Disability & Accessibility Resources at any time of year to begin the housing accommodation request process. 

Housing accommodations are approved for up to two semesters at a time, after which students may submit a new accommodation request if they require continued use of disability housing accommodations. While we retain students' original disability documentation on file, in some cases updated or more recent documentation may be needed to help us assess a student's current needs and ensure their accommodations are a good fit for their current needs.

At Reed, all first-year students and sophomores are guaranteed to receive on-campus housing at Reed, provided they register for housing through Residence life.

Juniors and seniors are allotted campus housing through a lottery system. Receiving approval for a certain disability housing accommodation does not guarantee that a student will receive on-campus housing. Rather, it ensures that, if a student is offered on-campus housing, the space offered will meet their access needs.

If you are a current Reed student seeking on-campus housing during the summer break, you will need to apply to the Summer Housing Program through Residence Life.

If you are accepted to the Summer Housing Program, DAR will work with you and with Residence Life to determine reasonable and appropriate accommodations for Summer Housing.

Please note that the residential facilities used for Summer Housing vary from year to year, and the housing and accommodation arrangements available during the summer may differ from those available during the regular school year.

Students who are approved for an emotional support animal (ESA) as a disability-related accommodation may bring an animal to reside in their on-campus housing space. We encourage students to begin the accommodation request process well in advance of assuming care or ownership of an animal, as the accommodation process can take time and DAR cannot determine in advance whether a student will be eligible for this accommodation. In accordance with Residence Life's Pet & Animal Guidelines, students are asked to refrain from bringing an ESA to campus until and unless they have received approval through DAR for this accommodation. Students will need to review and agree to the terms of Reed's ESA agreement prior to receiving approval for this accommodation.

Service animals that are trained to perform a specific task to assist a person with a disability are not required to be registered with the College, and do not require accommodation approval through DAR. Some students voluntarily choose to register their service animal through Residence Life, so that Community Safety and Facilities can take into account the presence of the animal if routine or emergency entry needs to be made to a residence.

For additional information about campus-wide policies concerning service animals and emotional support animals, please review Reed College's Animal Policy.