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Arranging for Accommodations and steps to Follow:

North campus students with disabilities or suspected disabilities should contact Joyce O'Neill (JONeill@mtech.edu) and South Campus students should contact Cricket Pietsch (CPietsch@mtech.edu) confidentially as a first step in arranging accommodations. Again, both coordinators are available for both campuses.

The coordinator verifies the disability and determines how functional limitations affect academic work. This is accomplished through discussion with the student and review of documentation provided by the student. Students with insufficient documentation may be referred to physicians, psychologists or other qualified diagnosticians for complete assessment before accommodations are provided.

After the disability and its functional limitations are verified, the coordinators provide information about the various reasonable accommodations, which address the student's functional limitations.

The student then chooses the reasonable accommodations that best apply in a given course or semester.

Frequently, students arrange follow-up meetings with their coordinator. Coordinators are available to assist with ongoing problem solving.

When are accommodations not provided?

Montana Tech provides accommodations unless they fall under one of the following three categories:

• Fundamental Alteration: If an accommodation reduces the academic standards of the College, its schools, departments, or its courses, Montana Tech denies the accommodation and deems it unreasonable. Academic standards are essential for any student. It is unreasonable to alter these fundamental standards as an accommodation for a student with a disability.
  
• Undue Hardship: If an accommodation costs too much or is impossible to administer, the College denies the accommodation and deems it unreasonable. An undue financial burden applies to the College as a whole. Therefore, decisions regarding undue financial hardship can only be made by the Chancellor and cannot be made by a department, school or college. If a University division feels it cannot afford an accommodation, which would be reasonable otherwise, it should seek assistance through appropriate channels. An undue administrative burden occurs when the College doesn’t have enough time to respond to the request, or when it would be impossible or infeasible to administer. In every instance, the College reserves the right to offer other, equally effective accommodations.
  
• Personal Service: If a request for an accommodation falls under the definition of a personal service, the College denies the request because it is unreasonable. Personal services are those that a person with a disability must use regardless of attendance at the College. In addition, personal services are those for which no correlation between the disability’s functional limitation and program access can be established. The College, for instance, does not purchase wheelchairs or other assertive technologies used in every setting to compensate for mobility impairment. Other examples of personal services may include independent living, mental health, rehabilitation, remediation and tutoring.

Steps to Follow for Receiving Accommodations

The following list generally applies to most students who register with DSS. Specifics vary depending on the student's disability, functional limitations and accommodations that will be requested and provided.

First, Montana Tech must verify the student's disability and the functional limitations that result. Medical or psychological records are used in this process. Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 Plans are not adequate to demonstrate the functional limitations of a disability. In some cases, DSS may determine that the records provided are too old to be considered accurate. In such instances, the DSS coordinator will recommend that the student obtain current assessment. This must be done by the student and at the student's expense, though DSS maintains a list of qualified professionals in the Butte community who can provide appropriate assessment.

Next, the DSS coordinator and the student discuss the limitations of the disability and decide on the appropriate accommodations. These accommodations, such as readers, sign language interpreters, etc., may be provided by DSS. Others require the student to make the request of the instructor.

Contact between the DSS coordinator and the student is a crucial part of determining how the student will obtain accommodations. Students remain with the same Coordinator throughout their Montana Tech experience.

DSS recommends that students identify and request accommodations with plenty of advance notice to ensure their accommodations will be there when they need them. Ideally the student should contact their instructors prior to the first day of class to discuss test formats and the possibility of test accommodations. They will need to remind the instructor again at least a week before each exam, and then confirm the arrangements before the test day.