Graduate and Professional Students

Equal Access and Opportunity

The Disability Center works with graduate and professional students to establish accommodations to ensure their equal access and opportunity while pursuing an advanced degree. Like undergraduate students, accommodations for graduate and professional students are determined on a case-by-case basis after a review of all relevant information.

Accommodations provided may be very similar to those utilized at the undergraduate level. However, as course design, research and program requirements, and engagement in assistantship and other professional opportunities are also a part of the graduate/professional experience, other factors related to accommodations may need to be taken into consideration.

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Assistantship Accommodations

Graduate students needing accommodations related to their teaching or research responsibilities should also connect with the Disability Center to discuss their needs further. These accommodations often require additional conversations between the student and department to ensure the accommodations are appropriate and do not fundamentally alter the assistantship. In some cases, the Disability Center may also collaborate with the Office of Accessibility and ADA.

Qualifying/Comprehensive Exams

Comprehensive or qualifying exams often are structured very differently than traditional exams. An access advisor will talk to the student about the unique barriers in their own situation and determine what is reasonable based on the student’s disability-related need and the learning objectives of the exam. In some instances, a student’s faculty advisor or department is consulted during the interactive process for these accommodations.

Clinical Accommodations

Clinical accommodations permit equal access to students in clinical clerkships, rotations, internships and fieldwork. Clinical accommodations are individualized and typically require more extensive planning and involvement of multiple parties. As such, students entering clinical rotations or fieldwork are encouraged to reach out to their access advisor well in advance of their experience to provide time for the interactive process.

Examples of clinical accommodations:

  • Adaptive furniture
  • Lifting restrictions
  • Breaks
  • Schedule to allow for disability-related appointments

    • Licensing Exams

    National licensing exams accommodations are available for students who qualify. This is a separate process done through the licensing entity with a different request process and different requirements for third party documentation. The student’s access advisor may be able to assist with this process.

    Professional School Contacts

    Professional students may need to follow a different process to implement their accommodations.

     

    While these students will work directly with the Disability Center to establish eligibility for accommodations, the process to request and implement accommodations may look different and require working with a liaison within their college or school.

     

    The contacts listed below are a resource for disabled students in professional programs and can be contacted for further assistance in understanding the unique processes for obtaining accommodations in these areas.

     

    School of Medicine

     

    School of Law

     

    College of Veterinary Medicine

     

    Licensing Exam Information