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Accessibility

Bard College Berlin is committed to providing an equitable and inclusive learning environment. In support of this mission, the College provides a variety of services to support students and their accessibility needs. 

Such services include reasonable accommodations to self-identified students who present the appropriate documentation, as well as support for students experiencing extenuating circumstances.

Students can avail themselves of different types of services, depending on their individual needs. Please direct any questions to [email protected]. 

Accessibility Services

  • Accommodations
    Bard College Berlin is committed to providing appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities in order for them to complete their program of study. In support of this mission, the College provides services and reasonable accommodations to self-identified students who present the appropriate documentation.

    To initiate the process, please complete this form:
    Disability Registration Form

     
  • Temporary Accommodations
    Temporary Accommodations follow the same processes as other Disability Accommodations, but are issued to students who need accommodations for a specified period of time. Examples of temporary disabilities may include, but are not limited to: broken limbs, hand injuries, or short term disabilities following surgery or medical treatments.

    To receive accommodations for a temporary disability, the student must submit the Disability Registration Form and appropriate documentation to the Disability Accommodation Coordinator indicating the type of disability, severity, limitations, prognosis, and estimated duration of the disabling condition.

    Disability Registration Form
  • Extenuating Circumstances
    Students may face extenuating circumstances related to various personal or external factors, which impact their academic performance. While these circumstances often do not fall within the legal framework of Disability Accommodations, Bard College Berlin is committed to supporting students experiencing such circumstances. 

    A student needing a short extension or a replacement assignment because of an extenuating circumstance is encouraged to make arrangements directly with instructors if possible. If further support is needed, students should complete this form:
    Extenuating Circumstances Form

Accommodations Overview

Students who would like to request services and/or accommodations must register with Disability Accommodation Coordinator (DAC) and provide documentation by a licensed professional attesting to the nature of their disability. The requirements for disability documentation and how to apply for specific types of accommodations are discussed below. 

The DAC utilizes an interactive process to determine accommodations, including documentation and information gathering through direct communication with individual students. We believe inclusion for disabled people is a social justice matter. Our approach to accommodations is to assess environmental barriers and limitations, not limitations of the disability or individual. 

Please note that requesting an accommodation does not guarantee that it will be granted and the accommodation provided is not required to match the requested accommodation. If a specifically requested accommodation alters fundamental course or program requirements or is otherwise unreasonable, the DAC may offer an alternative accommodation. If any and all accommodations would alter fundamental course or program requirements, or if the student and the DAC cannot agree on an accommodations plan for the student, the DAC may deny the accommodations request. 

The DAC requires at least five working days to process any accommodation request. This process can take longer depending on any necessary follow up or if documentation is not complete. Please ensure you are submitting documentation that includes all of the required information in order to facilitate the processing of your request. See “How to Document a Disability” for more information.

Academic accommodations:

  • provide students with disabilities with equal access to course instruction, materials, and evaluation
  • “level the playing field” by reducing/eliminating barriers caused by the interaction between a student’s disability and the learning environment.
  • have to be reasonable and cannot alter the essential requirements of a course or program
Academic accommodations cannot:
  • change the expectations for learning
  • reduce the requirements of the task
  • change what the student is required to learn
  • guarantee student success 
  • provide an unfair advantage
Academic accommodations are modifications, adjustments, auxiliary aids, and/or services that give a student with a disability an equal opportunity to benefit from the educational process. It is useful to think of accommodations as adjustments to how things are normally done.

Academic accommodations may include:
  • Changes to a classroom environment or task that permit a student with a disability to participate in the educational process
  • Modifications to policies, practices, or procedures (e.g., reduced course load, extended time to degree, etc.)
  • Provision of accessible instructional materials and effective communication services
  • Other adaptations or modifications that enable a student to enjoy the benefits and privileges of the university’s programs, services, and activities.
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must register with the Disability Accommodation Coordinator (DAC) and initiate their requests as well as provide a medical attestation corroborating it. Because accommodations are not retroactive, students should contact the DAC  as soon as possible in order to ensure timely notice and coordination. Similarly, it is the student's responsibility to notify the Disability Accommodation Officer as early as possible in the event of any problems or unexpected barriers experienced in the obtaining of academic accommodations and services.

As it is well known, diagnosis and awareness concerning disability and the possibility of accommodations are privileges of only a few of our students. Faculty are encouraged to point students with difficulties in this regard to the DAC for consultation and clarification regarding eligibility for accommodations. The DAC is able to assist those students with locating the right resources for diagnosis and provide other resources.

Temporary Disability and Medical Accommodations

Temporary Accommodations follow the same processes as other Disability Accommodations, but are issued to students who need accommodations for a specified period of time. Examples of temporary disabilities may include, but are not limited to: broken limbs, hand injuries, or short term disabilities following surgery or medical treatments.

To receive accommodations for a temporary disability, the student must submit the Disability Registration Form and appropriate documentation to the Disability Accommodation Coordinator (DAC) indicating the type of disability, severity, limitations, prognosis, and estimated duration of the disabling condition. It is also helpful to know any adverse side effects caused by medication and recommendations for accommodations. The documentation should be recent enough to identify current limitations. Additional documentation may be requested to verify the need for continued services after the estimated duration of the condition has expired. 

In situations where services are needed immediately but documentation may not yet be available, the DAC will make every effort to work with the student to provide accommodations.

How to Register for an Accommodation

  • Registering an Accommodation
    To avail of such services and accommodations, students are asked to complete the disability registration form and submit it along with the accompanying documentation. Students wishing to provide information in advance or discuss the disability registration process should email [email protected]. Following submission of the disability registration form and the required attestation, the student has the opportunity to have a counseling session with the Disability Accommodation Coordinator at Bard College Berlin for a better understanding of needed accommodations. 

    Provided the relevant documentation supports it, the accommodation approval letter will be sent to the student via email or post upon request. For better documentation and transparency the College Registrar will be informed and in the case of academic accommodations, the relevant members of the committee. In the case of residential accommodations, the relevant members of Student Life will be notified.
     

How to Document a Disability

  • Documenting a Disability

    Students requesting disability-related accommodations should provide current documentation that outlines the existing disability and need for disability accommodations. In addition to documentation, BCB uses an interactive process of ongoing engagement and dialogue with students to determine their accommodations.

    If the submitted documentation is inadequate in content or scope, additional documentation may be required. Although an IEP or 504 Plan is helpful in understanding the types of accommodations that have been provided in the past, the original evaluations should be provided.

    We recognize that barriers to documentation may exist for a variety of reasons. If you do not have documentation or have concerns about documentation guidelines, please complete the Disability Registration Form and provide as much information as possible. It is possible that you will be issued Temporary Accommodations while you wait to receive the necessary documentation.

    Documentation Guidelines:
    Disability documentation should be written in English or German on official letterhead, signed and dated, by an appropriate licensed professional. It must describe: 
    • Nature of the disability, diagnosis, diagnostic criteria, and evaluation methods;
    • Functional limitations of condition;
    • History of disability symptoms and treatment; and
    • Prognosis;
    • Identify how the disability and/or related medication(s) or treatment(s) interfere with or limit a major life activity for the student, such as learning or walking;
    • Outline past accommodations that were helpful; 
    • Recommend accommodations for the student’s disability; and
    • Explain how the requested accommodation will mitigate the student’s disability and if the requested accommodation is an integral component of treatment for the student’s disability.
    Please note: The licensed professional cannot be related to or have a personal relationship with the student. 

Student Responsibilities

After acquiring an accommodation approval the students are required to attend to their responsibilities as follows:

  • Attend
    Attend the first day of classes and review the syllabus for each course to be aware of course requirements. Regardless of disability or accommodations, all students are held to the same evaluation standards and responsible for meeting the essential learning objectives of the course, as specified in the course syllabus.
  • Notify
    If you opted in to have your instructors automatically notified of your accommodations, then BCB will take care of notifying your instructors on your behalf automatically at the start of each semester.

    If you opt out of notifying instructors automatically, then you are responsible for notifying your instructors of your accommodations at the beginning of the semester or as soon as possible after receiving accommodations. Timely notice of accommodations is critical as accommodations are not retroactive.
  • Follow Up
    Regardless of whether or not you opted to have your instructors automatically notified or not, it is still highly recommended that you meet with your instructors early on in the semester to review your accommodations to ensure that they are reasonable given the specific course learning objectives, as accommodations may not fundamentally alter any essential elements of a course.
  • Contact
    Contact your Disability Accommodation Coordinator at [email protected] if you have questions or concerns at any point during the process.

Examples of Accommodations

Campus Quick Links

Campus Quick Links

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