Mission

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) serves as an advocate for student success by encouraging interactions between students, faculty, and staff that promote a campus climate of academic, personal, and professional development.

The office’s mission is to support the university’s commitment to equity and diversity by providing support services and academic accommodations to students with disabilities.

The ODS collaborates consortium-wide to promote awareness and strives to create an accessible community that empowers students and faculty with the tools to achieve their educational goals.

In accordance with guidelines proposed under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), Claremont Graduate University is committed to providing equal access to courses with reasonable accommodations for those with documented disabilities.

Claremont Graduate University’s Nondiscrimination Policy

The ODS works in collaboration with The Claremont Colleges’ Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) to support the goal of inclusion and full participation of students with disabilities. The ODS coordinates reasonable accommodations for students in collaboration with faculty and the SDRC. The SDRC Annual Report provides data for the evaluation and assessment of best practices.

Equal Access

The purpose of accommodations is to provide equal access for otherwise-qualified students with disabilities. The ODS determines appropriate accommodations and adjustments on a case-by-case basis. We encourage input from the student in order to inform reasonable accommodations and to understand functional impacts of the disability on the student’s ability to access courses, materials and activities.

All students must be able to meet essential academic, behavioral, and performance standards associated with a course or field of study. CGU’s procedure to identify as a student with a disability is based on guidelines provided by the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD).

Student Responsibilities

In order to best serve the student, we encourage early coordination with faculty upon completion of the intake process. Communicating with professors, interpreters and note-takers prior to the beginning of the semester is the responsibility of the student. Early action for academic accommodations improves the planning and implementation process. Many times, solutions to temporary and sustainable accommodations are collaborative.