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ARC Rights and Responsibilities

Accessibility and Resource Center

The University of the District of Columbia extends a warm welcome to applicants, undergraduates and postgraduates with disabilities. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy your academic studies and university life to the fullest. Our many students and alumni with disabilities who have gone before you have made us proud of their academic and personal achievements.

At The University of The District of Columbia, both students and the university have accessibility rights and responsibilities.

Students Have the Right To

  • An equal opportunity to access courses, programs, services and activities at UDC.
  • Request reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments or auxiliary aids and services.
  • Appropriate confidentiality of information regarding their disability, except when disclosures are required or permitted by law.

Students Have the Responsibility To

  • Maintain institutional standards for academic performance and conduct.
  • Register with Accessibility Services, and request an accommodation.
  • Provide appropriate documentation of a disability, including the functional limitation(s) of the disability and its impact on the access to and participation in courses, programs, services and activities at UDC.
  • Follow procedures for requesting accommodations, academic adjustments or auxiliary aids and services.
  • Request academic accommodations for each term in which the student is registered.

UDC Has the Right To

  • Request and receive, through Accessibility Services, current documentation that identifies the existence of a disability and explains the functional limitations of the disability.
  • Suggest appropriate and reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments or auxiliary aids and services based on documentation submitted to the office.
  • Establish essential requirements and standards for courses, programs, services or activities at UDC.
  • Select equally effective accommodations, adjustments or auxiliary aids and services.
  • Deny an accommodation, adjustment or auxiliary aid that fundamentally alters a course, program or activity.

UDC Has the Responsibility To 

  • Review submitted documentation without bias and seek appropriate relevant professional expertise when necessary.
  • Confer with the student and other relevant parties when determining accommodations, academic adjustments or auxiliary aids and services.
  • Provide information in accessible formats, upon request.
  • Respond to requests in a timely manner.
  • Maintain appropriate confidentiality of documentation and information.

Self Advocacy and Accessibility

Advocacy skills are needed in many areas of our lives, including school, work and home. Becoming an effective self-advocate means having the ability to effectively communicate your needs to others.

Here are a few tips to assist you in reaching the goals you have set to accomplish at the University of the District of Columbia.

  • Know your rights so that you may ask for what is available to you.
  • Know your strengths and challenges and how they affect you.
  • Plan to make your semester a success.
  • Work to find solutions to overcome barriers to reaching your goals.
  • Identify your needs and come up with a plan to support those needs.
  • Identify your support system.
  • Get to know the instructors and administrators in your program.
  • Know how to communicate about your disability and how it impacts your academic performance.
  • Know how to ask for help and seek out resources when difficulties arise.
  • Recognize that long-term goals are reached by meeting many short-term goals.
  • Recognize and celebrate your successes.
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