Need to know
Are there any guidelines as to when/if the administration of an institution should reach out to a faculty member regarding a disabilty a student may have?
James,
Yes and no. The institution is legally responsible for seeing to it that the student has full access to its programs and services. If the institution is going to expect faculty to help in fulfilling that responsibility, then it should be reaching out to them and making sure they have all the information they need to appropriately respond to student needs. If the institution chooses to have everything done by a third party (that is, without faculty responsibility), then I suppose they could leave faculty out of the loop. Truthfully. though, that is not likely to be effective. Does the law say they have to inform faculty? No. But I don't know of any other way they can be sure they are appropriately responding to what the law DOES say.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
I feel like it would be helpful for faculty and administration to function together in forums in order to educate and facilitate service to students. Whether students have disabilities or not, all students should be considered in accommodation of their learning needs.
Butch,
You need to be a little careful about how you use the word "accommodation" when the conversation touches on issues of students with disabilities. The term has LEGAL implications in the context of disability that do not exist for students without disabilities. You don't want to confuse the excellent arrangements and support that you are putting in place to facilitate learning for ALL students to be confused with the legally-obligated accommodations that you are providing for students with disabilities.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
