Understanding Accommodations and Accessibility

Guidelines for Ensuring Equitable Academic Access

Creating equitable educational opportunities is a collaborative effort between the student, faculty and instructional staff, academic units, and Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). These guidelines have been created to outline the important roles and expectations each member of the university community has in creating an equitable academic environment for all students with disabilities/disabled students.

How Accommodations Are Determined

SSD uses an interactive process to determine accommodations necessary for equitable access, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008. During a Welcome Meeting, students share their experiences and any academic barriers they face with their disability access coordinator. This coordinator then reviews the student’s requests and evaluates which accommodations may be appropriate, taking into account the course, program, or activity. Accommodations that would not be effective or would significantly change the nature of a course or program are not considered reasonable under the ADA and Section 504 guidelines.

Instructors and staff are required to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and all state and local laws regarding individuals with disabilities.

Accessing Accommodation Information

SSD uses Accommodate to streamline the process of providing and tracking accommodations. The platform is linked to official course information from M-Pathways Curriculum and updates overnight. Only courses with students connected to SSD are imported into Accommodate. If you do not see your course listed, it means there is no student affiliated with SSD in your class. If your course is listed but there are no students shown, no students have requested accommodations or completed the process for your course, and no action is needed.

Instructors associated with a course will receive an email when a new accommodation letter is submitted by a student and can log in to Accommodate to view these letters. GSIs and Course Coordinators officially connected to a course can also use Accommodate to view Accommodation Letters, and should select "Faculty/Staff" when logging in. Instructors and coordinators can download a complete list of students and their approved accommodations from the Accommodate portal.

It’s important for instructors to check their course roster in Accommodate when joining a new course or at the beginning of the semester. You will only receive accommodation letters for students added after you join. If you need access to a letter for a student added earlier, contact SSD only if instructed to do so in the accommodation letter.

Accommodation letters are part of a student’s educational record and are protected under FERPA. Share these letters only with others who need to help arrange accommodations and are not already listed as instructors for the course.

To learn more about Accommodate, instructors and staff can use our online tutorials or contact our office at SSDOffice@umich.edu to request support from an SSD staff member. 

Digital Accessibility Expectations

In addition to implementing individual student accommodations, faculty and instructional staff are expected to ensure all digital materials used in their courses meet requirements for digital accessibility. Digital course materials include course websites, lecture notes and slide decks, syllabi, readings, and videos. Learn more about expectations and available resources in U-M’s Digital Course Content Compliance Roadmap.

Student Concerns

Instructors who are concerned about a student's well-being should contact the Dean of Students (DOS) office. DOS staff members are available to individually support students and help manage any disruptions to their Michigan experience. 

Digital Accessibility Resources