Student Disability Resources

Student Disability Services logo

Student Disability Resources (SDR) is the designated office that provides reasonable accommodations and services to students with disabilities enrolled at the University Park campus.

Penn State has a disability services office at every Penn State campus that provides accommodations and services for students with disabilities. Each designated office requests and maintains disability-related documentation, certifies eligibility for services, and develops plans for reasonable accommodations as mandated under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The purpose of reasonable accommodations is to mitigate the impact of a student’s disability on their academic functioning. There are some commonly provided accommodations, such as extended exam time or note-taking assistance, that are approved for students with high incidence disability types. There may also be times when SDR contacts faculty for help creating and delivering accessible classroom materials for students with low incidence disability types, like blindness, low vision, deafness, or hard of hearing. Faculty may interact with SDR and students to determine whether certain accommodations are reasonable, given that accommodations are not intended to fundamentally alter or compromise the essential elements of any course.

Students approved for academic accommodations will receive an accommodation letter from SDR each semester. It is the students’ responsibility to present their accommodation letter to faculty teaching courses in which they want to use the approved accommodations. Once faculty receive an accommodation letter from a student, typically via email, they should work with the student to determine how to best implement accommodations in their specific course. Faculty are encouraged to contact SDR if there are any questions about the nature of the accommodation, the reasonableness of the accommodation, or how to provide the accommodation.

SDR provides academic accommodations to both undergraduate and graduate students at Penn State. Accommodations may be for ongoing disability-related need or for temporary impairments, such as concussions or broken limbs. Academic accommodations for graduate students may be highly individualized given that they are available for all components of graduate programming, including course work; qualifying exams; dissertation research, writing, and defenses; and graduate assistantships.

In addition to its main office, the University Park SDR operates an exam center to administer exams with select accommodation types, including double time exams or use of assistive technology. SDR also has a student center available at University Park for students to study or socialize with peers. With a goal of supporting students beyond the traditional academic focus, SDR offers different student-organized peer groups for students across campuses to connect around shared experiences; University-wide virtual workshops focusing on areas like study skills, time management, and wellness; and in-office resource connections with on- and off-campus partners like CAPS, Career Services, and Pennsylvania Vocational Rehabilitation.

Primary Strategic Office Goals

Ensure equal access and provide reasonable academic accommodations to students with disabilities in accordance with applicable federal laws.
Impact persistence and retention of students with disabilities by eliminating disability-related barriers to educational pursuits.
Bolster sense of belonging in and to higher education among students with disabilities.
Foster social integration and support systems among students with disabilities.
Expand the University’s knowledge regarding data and best practices for serving students with disabilities.

New faculty may want to contact Student Disability Resources to:

Discuss how to provide or implement approved academic accommodations, such as extended time exam accommodations, permission to record for note-taking assistance, flexibility accommodations, or captioned classroom materials.
Collaborate on determining whether approved accommodations are reasonable given a course’s specific learning objectives; if they are not, then partnering to determine possible equally effective alternative accommodation options.
Seek guidance on responding to possible concerning student behaviors/performance or challenging use of academic accommodations.
Inquire about an animal accompanying a student in the classroom setting and any related policies, guidelines, or best practices.
Request meetings with or data from SDR to better understand the needs and experiences of students with disabilities at Penn State.

How to talk to your students about accommodations:

The Top 5 Items Faculty Should Know about Student Disability Resources

*Top Items faculty should know about SDR*
	The number of enrolled students with disabilities at Penn State across campuses continues to increase, which means the number of classroom accommodations requested within courses continues to grow. SDR is available to partner with and support faculty in their work to provide reasonable academic accommodations to students with disabilities. SDR disability specialists at University Park are assigned to serve as liaisons to the different academic colleges, which means that each academic college and its corresponding programs and faculty have primary points of contact for assistance in SDR as needed.
	Consistent with federal laws, SDR requests disability documentation from students' qualified, treating healthcare professionals to determine eligibility for reasonable academic accommodations. SDR disability specialists use this documentation and their professional judgement to approve academic accommodations that are included on accommodation letters faculty receive from students.
	Students can register with SDR at any point during their time at Penn State. This means that students may provide faculty with academic accommodation letters throughout the entirety of a semester. Regardless of point of receipt of an accommodation letter in a semester, faculty are obligated to provide academic accommodations unless they are unreasonable regarding their specific course objectives. Notably, faculty are not expected to provide retroactive accommodations; accommodations are meant to be implemented at the point of the receipt of student's SDR accommodation letter moving forward.
	SDR at University Park has seven disability specialists working with students with disabilities. Some disability specialists have caseload sizes upwards of 600 students. Disability coordinators at Commonwealth Campuses are often working independently to support all students with disabilities on their campuses, and they also may have job responsibilities external to SDR. For these reasons, disability specialists are prevented from individually reviewing students' course syllabi each semester as part of the accommodation determination process. Subsequently, SDR provides registered students with a single academic accommodation letter each semester that students give to faculty at their discretion. Faculty should consider these letters as starting points in conversation if they have concerns about whether any accommodation is reasonable for an individual course's essential requirements. SDR is available to connect on any accommodation concerns experienced by faculty.
	SDR is the designated University office for collecting, reviewing, and storing students' disability documentation. Faculty should avoid seeking information on the specifics of a student's disability diagnosis or informally accommodating students with reported disabilities who have not formally registered with SDR. Faculty are encouraged to refer students to SDR for assistance. Guidance to faculty on referring students to SDR is dependent on whether it is known that a student has a disability. If a student has disclosed a disability but is not working with SDR, then faculty are advised to recommend for the student to connect with SDR to discuss disability-related need and possible reasonable accommodations. If a student has not disclosed a disability but faculty suspect one exists, then faculty are advised to focus on observed behaviors and then refer to multiple available resources including SDR (e.g., CAPS, Penn State Learning, Student Care and Advocacy, SDR, etc.). Related to this, faculty are encouraged to remember not to automatically assume that unusual behavior is due to a disability.

Relevant New Faculty Programming

Student Disability Resources Fun Facts

Fun facts about student disabilities, accommodations, and visibility at Penn State and in higher education.

Fun Facts Alt Text

The image shows four fun facts for Student Disability Resources. 1. Currently 1-in-15 undergraduate students at University Park, with a similar rate across campuses, are approved for academic accommodations through SDR., 2. According to national data, currently 1-in-5 undergraduate students on campus may have a disability, regardless of whether they have connected with SDR, meaning that it is highly likely faculty will interact with a student with a disability in their classes even if they do not use SDR-provided accommodations., 3. Most disability types (over 85%) identified by students to SDR are invisible or not readily apparent in nature, meaning faculty may not always know when they are interacting with a student with a disability., 4. Federal disability laws pertaining to education and accommodation change when a student exits the K-12 school system and enters college (IDEA to ADA), which may contribute to the number of students with disabilities choosing not to seek SDR services.

Additional Resources and Contact Information

Resources

Student Disability Resources Contact Information

116 Boucke Building
upsdr@psu.edu
814-863-1807