Disabilities Policy

Student Disability Policy

Lewis & Clark College is committed to serving the needs of its disabled students. The College provides a full-time Coordinator of Student Support Services in the Student Development Center who is available to ensure that disabled students receive all of the benefits of a comprehensive selection of services and a formal Student Disability Grievance Procedure which provides prompt and equitable resolution of any complaints arising out of the College’s responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and other pertinent federal, state and local disability anti-discrimination laws.

Lewis & Clark recognizes physical and mental disabilities that include mobility, sensory, health, psychological, and learning disabilities, and provides reasonable accommodations once the disability is adequately documented. While Lewis & Clark’s legal obligations only extend to disabilities of a substantial and long-term nature, it is also the College’s practice to honor reasonable requests for accommodations for temporary disabilities such as a physical injury, illness or pregnancy.

It is the responsibility of the student to make his or her disability and needs known in a timely fashion and to provide appropriate documentation and evaluations to support the accommodations the student requests.

A student with a disability who requires accommodations must notify the Coordinator of Student Support Services in the Student Development Center (in the case of undergraduate and graduate students) or the Associate Dean for Student Affairs (in the case of Law School students) of his or her desire for accommodations as soon after admission as possible. Students must not assume that this information is known to either of these offices because the student’s application indicated the presence of a disability. Once the College has been notified and specific accommodations are requested and appropriately documented, the College works with the student to obtain the approved accommodations to ensure the student has the best possible opportunity to succeed.

The procedures for obtaining accommodations differ among the Lewis & Clark Law School, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Professional Studies. However, the services each offers are quite similar and the procedures are all intended to effectively provide for the appropriate needs of the disabled student within the structure and policies of each school.

Law Students: All arrangements for accommodations for law students must be routed through the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Ms. Libby Davis, at the Law School. In some cases, the adjustments will be made in consultation with faculty but individual faculty members will not make accommodations directly with students.  Dean Davis can be reached at eadavis@lclark.edu

In a like manner, all exam modification requests from law students are also to be directed to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs of the Law School.

Because of the time required to make arrangements to accommodate these requests, Law School students with long term or permanent disabilities must make such requests no later than one month before the last day of classes. Exam accommodation requests must be renewed each semester.

Documentation of Disabilities

Lewis & Clark will honor requests for reasonable accommodations only for adequately documented disabilities except as provided below. The assessment documentation must provide data that supports the requests for any academic adjustments and must be submitted to the Coordinator of Student Support Services of the Student Development Center or the Associate Dean for Student Affairs of the Law School.

In the event that a student requests an academic adjustment or accommodation that is not supported by the assessment documentation, or if the initial verification is incomplete or inadequate to determine the extent of the disability, Lewis & Clark will provide accommodations on an interim basis for a reasonable amount of time while more detailed or timely documentation is being sought.

For learning disability or ADHD testing, Student Support Services can make arrangements with independent test specialists to come to campus for testing; Lewis & Clark’s health insurance provider will cover most of the cost of the testing if the student has purchased such coverage. Otherwise, the cost of obtaining professional assessment and documentation is borne by the student. Proper documentation includes the following:

1. Physical Disabilities

The documentation must reflect the student’s present level of functioning in regard to his/her disability and its impact on the need for accommodations.

2. Learning Disabilities

The student is responsible for providing professional testing and evaluation results which reflect the individual’s present level of processing information and present achievement level. Documentation verifying the learning disability must:

3. Psychological Disabilities

If a student has a psychological disability which affects academic performance or takes medication which causes a similar effect, documentation from a psychologist or medical doctor is required which details the effects of the disability and/or the medication on the student’s academic performance.

Reasonable Accommodations^**

Reasonable accommodations may include but are not limited to course load modifications, exam accommodations, readers, interpreters, note takers, taped textbooks, and additional time to complete assignments. Students may request specific accommodations and professional health care providers who verify the disability may recommend specific accommodations. However, Lewis & Clark will have the responsibility for making the final decision on accommodations.

This decision will be made on the basis of the documentation provided and the requirements of the particular academic program. Accommodations will not be considered reasonable if they fundamentally alter the nature of the program.

**Accommodations are also sometimes referred to as “auxiliary aids.”

Arranging for Approved Accommodations

All arrangements for accommodations for law students must be routed through the Associate Dean of Student Affairs for the Law School, as noted above in Section 1.