Take Action 4 Accommodations

By Princess Rehman, Youth Advocate, CFILC

 

Did you know that many community college students with disabilities around California are not getting their accommodation needs met? They registered with Disability Students Services. They followed the proper protocol. Yet many students are having their requested accommodations delayed. Some students are not receiving their accommodations at all. Instead, they receive a letter from their college stating that they will not be receiving accommodations due to budget cuts.

The California Community College system received cuts to disability services that provide accommodations to students who need them to access higher education. Although system-wide the community colleges have experienced average cuts of about 2.5%, they have cut disability services more than 40%, according to the California Association for Postsecondary Education and Disability.

As a result, accommodations are being delayed up to 7 weeks, and in some cases, denied altogether. Mobility assistance, readers, note takers, large print books, audio books, sign language interpreters, captioning, campus transport services and other essential accommodations are being delayed or denied, putting the academic careers of students with disabilities at risk.

The Take Action 4 Accommodations Campaign is working to make sure that students with disabilities are getting their reasonable accommodations met in California’s community colleges. Also, we are working to make students with disabilities aware that they can make a complaint if their accommodation needs aren’t being met. By law, students with disabilities are entitled to have their reasonable accommodation needs met after they have registered with disability student services.

Many students with disabilities are receiving letters in the mail stating that they aren’t able to get their reasonable accommodation needs met due to state budget cuts. If you or someone you know is not getting their reasonable accommodation needs met at their community college, and they have registered with Disability Student Services, you can file a complaint simply by clicking here.

Have you or anyone you know been denied accommodations at a community college recently? How was it resolved? Or was it?