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What We Do

Serving all UW campuses

Disability Resources for Students operates across all three University of Washington campuses: Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma. There is a distinct DRS office on each campus. While policies and procedures are shared, the implementation of accommodations often involves campus-specific details.

Students typically affiliate with and work directly with the DRS office located on their primary or home campus to ensure tailored support.

DRS’s primary functions include determining reasonable accommodations, addressing problems with accommodation implementation, and facilitating the implementation of more complex or specialized accommodations.

Establishing accommodations through an interactive process

Determining appropriate accommodations is an interactive process between the student and DRS and can include ongoing consultation with instructors and departments. This process ensures that accommodations are tailored to each student’s individual needs and are directly related to their disability-related barriers. Student disability information is kept confidential per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Accommodations can be reviewed and adjusted as needed.

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University of Washington Policy

In compliance with federal laws, the University of Washington has designated DRS to be the office that provides the interactive process for matriculated students. Having a designated office like DRS is standard among higher education institutions.

How it works

  • Student self-identifies and requests accommodations: A student with a disability initiates the process by applying for accommodations with DRS and providing documentation of their disability.
  • DRS engages in the process to determine accommodations: DRS reviews the student’s documentation and works with the student to verify their disability, discuss their access needs, and determine appropriate accommodations. When needed, DRS will consult with instructors and departments to learn more about the academic environment.
  • Accommodations are approved: Based on the documentation, collaboration with the student, and any necessary consultation with instructors/departments, DRS may approve accommodations that are reasonable and necessary to provide equal access.
    • Some accommodations – such as transportation, housing, reduced credit load, priority registration–are approved by DRS but managed by the specific office on campus associated with the accommodation. Implementation is dependent on their policies, procedures, and availability.
    • Some accommodations that are facilitated within the DRS – such as accessible instructional materials, assistive and adaptive technology–require additional assessment and processes to get set up.
  • Student activates accommodations: Students must activate the accommodations they would like to use every quarter for every class via myDRS for traditional classes. For non-traditional environments (study abroad, clerkship, clinicals, practicums, etc.), letters are sent manually and not through the activation process. DRS informs the student of the process for their specific department.
    • Some accommodations – such as testing, furniture, classroom relocation, disability related absences, accessible instructional material, reduced credit load, ASL/CART–require students to follow additional processes and timelines to utilize.
  • DRS coordinates accommodation preparations: Once activated, DRS works with campus partners and external services/vendors to set up accommodations.
  • Notification letter is issued: Once accommodations are activated by the student, DRS issues a Faculty Notification Letter (FNL) to the instructor for traditional learning environments or a separate notification letter sent to department contacts for non-traditional classroom environments. These letters outline the specific accommodations that the student has activated.
  • Instructor implements accommodations: Instructor implements the accommodations as outlined in the notification letter. If the instructor has any concerns with an accommodation, they consult with DRS to determine if an accommodation is reasonable in their specific learning environment. There are times when DRS must modify an approved accommodation.
  • Ongoing communication and support: DRS provides ongoing support to both students and instructors throughout the quarter, including resolving concerns about accommodations and/or making adjustments.
  • Adjustment of accommodation plan: If a student needs new accommodations, wants to revisit accommodations discussed in the interactive process, or believes that the approved accommodations are not working for them, they can reach out to their Access Coordinator through the AC Connect form in myDRS.

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Facilitating accommodations

DRS assists in the facilitation of more complex or specialized accommodations such as accessible materials, assistive technology, alternative testing, and furniture.

Accessible materials

For students, DRS assesses the need for accessible course materials. During this assessment, we teach students how to request and access remediated materials as well as what to do when they have difficulty accessing accessible materials. We also provide information on external resources for remediation.

For the instructor/University, we perform or facilitate the remediation of inaccessible course materials for specific students with relevant accommodations. This may involve:

  • Communicating with publishers to secure accessible versions of textbooks
  • Converting print materials to accessible formats
  • Captioning videos
  • Enhancing scale and size of print and images for low vision students
  • Converting content to be readable by screen readers (additional remediation necessary for tables, images, and STEM content)

Assistive and adaptive technology

DRS assesses students for the need for specific assistive and adaptive technology. During this assessment, we teach students how to access the assistive and adaptive technology they are given as well as how to request new services. Additionally, we share external resources they can use on their own.

Assistive and adaptive technology includes:

  • Note-taking software
  • Speech-to-text and text-to-speech software
  • Video captioning
  • Scribes and lab assistants
  • Image description software
  • Technology for Deaf and Hard of Hearing needs
  • ASL/CART captioning referrals
  • Any additional technology needs

Alternative testing centers

DRS manages testing centers as a service to instructors when they cannot accommodate a student who has testing accommodations. Instructors can proctor exams for students with testing accommodations in their course or send their students to the DRS Testing Centers to administer.

Facilitating testing accommodations includes:

  • Obtaining information on exam administration for each course at the beginning of the quarter
  • Providing scheduling systems for students to schedule exams based on instructor information
  • Collecting exams from instructors, administering exams, and returning exams to instructors
  • Staffing and maintaining dedicated testing spaces
  • Obtaining and servicing technology/materials used during testing including computers, accessibility software, timers, headphones, and MP3 players

Furniture

We purchase, assemble, place, and move approved furniture for students in their classrooms. We also facilitate this accommodation in nontraditional classroom environments such as study abroad, clinicals, clerkships, practicums, labs, and research if approved.

Classroom relocation

We move class locations when a student notifies us that the location is inaccessible. We coordinate with relevant campus departments to find an accessible space and relocate the class.

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