Services and Accommodations

All requests for service based on barriers as a result of a disability are evaluated on an individual, case-by-case basis. Therefore, there is no way of guaranteeing what services or accommodations you may be eligible for until you have met with the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities to make your request and go over your documentation. Further, some students may simply want the security of knowing that they are eligible for certain accommodations, but may not choose to use them in every class. Once eligibility has been established, choosing whether to use it is up to the individual student.

Below is a sample list of the types of services and accommodations students with disabilities may find of interest. This list is not intended to be all inclusive.

Advising

As stated above, (Admission and Registration), advising is available to all COCC students. Ordinarily, students are assigned an academic advisor based on their major. Students with disabilities who are uncertain or feel a need for extra support may choose to receive supplemental recommendations by the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities. Examples of recommendations can include the number of credits/classes that are manageable in one term and courses for first time college students. Once you receive recommendations, it is best to get final advising approval from your advisor.

An academic advisor is available in CAP Services (Cascades Hall) to assist any current COCC student with the services listed below. Call CAP Services at 383-7200 to set up an appointment with an advisor.

Advisors are available to assist students to:

• navigate registration requirements
• access and use their online student account
• locate and understand degree requirements to develop a multi-term plan
• locate help COCC resources
• find resources to make decisions about majors, careers, and steps after COCC
• prepare academic warning petitions for their advisor's review
• transfer to another institution

Please note that the CAP advisor will not routinely clear advising requirements or provide signatures for other advisors.

Aides

The College does not provide personal care attendants or aides to assist persons with disabilities in carrying out personal functions. In certain cases, the College may provide a volunteer or paid class aide to assist a person with a disability in carrying out classroom activities. Examples are pairing a student with a visual impairment with a sighted student in a Science Lab or providing an aide to help a person with a mobility impairment move from station to station in a Physical Education class. (Ed,gov, OCR 104.44 Academic Adjustments, d. Auxiliary Aids, 2)

Assistive Technology/Equipment

The College does not provide equipment of a personal nature such as wheel chairs, hearing aids, or other personal equipment or personal care assistants. COCC does have some adaptive equipment available for student use on campus such as large screen computer monitors and for persons with visual impairments, and an FM loop transmitter/receiver systems for students with hearing impairments. We also offer various software including Dragon Dictate and Kurzweil. To view adaptive equipment available on the COCC campus, go to adaptive workstations. 

Other items available for us , which can be checked out through the SSD office include (as available):

• Comtek FM loop listening device
• Digital recorders
• Magnifier
• Color Overlays

Other available items for use:

• Basic Power Trainer in Mazama
• High support boots to use with power trainer in Mazama
• Specialized gloves for wheelchair users in circuit training class in Mazama
• IntelliKeys keyboard with classic overlays and Clickit software - ABE classroom.

Auditory Books

Books in Etext or on CD are available for students who are blind, physically disabled or learning disabled. COCC currently has institutional memberships with Learning Ally www.learningally.org, and Bookshare www.bookshare.org but you must qualify for these services by first meeting with the Services for Students with Disabilities coordinator. Students with disabilities wishing to use these services are required by the providers to furnish written verification of disability to establish eligibility.

Many textbook publishing companies also provide electronic versions of textbooks (Etext) with proper documentation of disability. As this is copyrighted material, it may be necessary for the student to sign a letter of agreement acknowledging certain restrictions imposed by the publishing company prior to receiving the electronic material. In most cases, the Etext is provided at no charge, with the requirement that a printed copy of the book be purchased in advance.

Classroom Adaptations

At times the built environment and/or the provided furniture may not be the most accessible for all students. COCC provides alternatives for those whom the set environment is not appropriate. This may include alternative seating/chairs, tables & chairs versus tablet desks, adaptive or movable desks, and modified work stations.

Counseling

For students with disabilities, the SSD Coordinator is available to provide guidance, advising, and problem-solving assistance in a confidential setting. Due to potential conflicts of interest, however, the SSD Coordinator will find it necessary to refer students to another counselor in certain instances.

Students may contact CAP Services, 383-7200, to schedule an appointment with a Counselor for guidance services as well as short-term and crisis counseling. The Counselors do not provide ongoing therapy/psychological treatment. When such services are needed, Counselors can suggest appropriate referrals. For more information, please visit the COCC CAP Services - Personal Counseling web page.

Enlarged Print

Large print is available in certain instances. Whether or not the College provides large print depends on several factors including the student's vision needs and other alternatives for getting access to print material. The College does not enlarge textbooks for students who are able to use magnification or book recording services. The College, does, however assume responsibility for providing enlarged print for materials used in class, including tests. We will also provide enlarged print copies of COCC policies and procedures, including this handbook, when requested. Requests for enlarged print text should be made to the office of Services for Students with Disabilities well in advance depending on the amount of text.

Housing

Housing accommodations can assist students who are living in our Residential Hall while attending credited courses. 

• Housing Accommodation Instruction Sheet (pdf)- Please note, availability is based on the housing application deadline for the term.  Please review this information on the housing accommodation webpage.

Note Takers

Physical disabilities prevent some students from taking notes; learning disabilities hinder others from listening and taking notes simultaneously. In these cases, note-taking assistance can be provided through the office of Services for Students with Disabilities. Once you have established eligibility, some instructors may be willing to allow you to copy their personal notes or lecture outlines. SSD will ask the instructor to assist in locating and hiring a classmate who takes good notes to work with you. SSD can provide special, lined "carbonless copy" paper to be used by note takers, or you can photocopy your note taker's notes if you wish.

Students using note takers have responsibilities, too. They need to request note-taking assistance from SSD as early in the term as possible, communicate with the instructor for help in locating a good note taker, attend each class, read and review the notes regularly and carefully, give the note taker helpful feedback, and rework or add to the notes, writing things that will help understanding and remembering. Your note taker will pick up a supply of the "carbonless copy" paper from the SSD office and to bring it to each class.

Realtime Captioning

Remote
Realtime Captioning converts the spoken word into instant text which is simultaneously shown on a laptop screen at the student's desk. A highly skilled stenocaptioner hears the lecture via wireless microphone and types the text to be displayed to the student's screen. This technology is widely utilized by the deaf and hearing-impaired community as an alternate to American Sign Language. It is important to notify the office of Services for Students with Disabilities with advance notice, preferably three to four weeks, if this service is desired so proper scheduling of service can be made.

Typewell
TypeWell is a transcription system that allows COCC to hire and train its own transcriber to provide communication access and note taking services for students and others who need such support. It is an effective learning tool for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and staff, as well as those with visual, physical or learning difficulties.

How it works: A hearing transcriber uses a notebook computer with abbreviation software to transcribe meaning-for-meaning what is said in class lectures and discussions. The students read the transcription in real time from a second computer. Students can also type questions and comments to the transcriber during class, and even take their own notes on the reader computer.

In addition to communication access during class, TypeWell transcribers usually provide notes for after-class use. These notes can be given "as is" to the student or edited to be useful educational notes. For example, any behavioral control remarks can be removed, along with educationally irrelevant comments. Spelling and grammar can be corrected, and confusing structures clarified. This leaves the students with printed notes that are readily approachable in length and relevancy.

Recording Lectures

Recording class is useful for many students. You will need to notify instructors if you wish to record their lectures. Occasionally an instructor may be reluctant to let you record a class. This is the instructor's right unless you have established eligibility through the office of Services for Students with Disabilities to record classes as a reasonable accommodation based on disability. Upon approval and before you can request this accommodation for your courses, you will be required you to sign a waiver every term:

• Background:  Under Section 504, Subpart E Postsecondary Education, of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, institutions of higher education must provide reasonable accommodations to a student’s known disability and may not deny equal access to the institution’s programs, courses, and activities. As directed by the Services for Student of Disabilities department, you have been approved for the accommodation to record lectures as a reasonable accommodation. 

  The format of recording may vary based on student need and additional services provided by the recording, such as live and post production captioning.  These format can include recording remote via platform (Zoom), smart device, smart app, digital recorder, etc. 

  Student responsibility:  It is instructor discretion on the general allowance of recording lectures.  To be given permission to record lectures as a disability accommodation, you are subject to the following conditions for every class and every term you are enrolled at COCC:

  1. Inform the instructor of your intention to record class lectures.
  2. Do not copy or share audio recordings with anyone, except for additional accommodation needs as agreed upon by the Services for Students with Disabilities Department. Lectures recorded for educational purposes may not be shared with other people without the consent of the lecturer.
  3. At the conclusion of the course, you will confidentially dispose of audio recordings from all the classes (delete, erase, etc.)

  Sensitive Content:  Occasionally, instructors object to the use of a recorder in classes that involve a great deal of self-disclosure from students as part of the class, fearing that the recorder will inhibit students from freely sharing.  The use of a recorder is to replace the student’s note taking ability.  If these open discussions are not appropriate subject matter for any student to be taking notes, the instructor may request the recording device be turned off during class discussions as long as non-disabled students in class are likewise prohibited from taking notes during discussions. 

  Instructor Responsibility:  The instructor is subject to the following conditions:

  1. Instructors may inform all students in the class that permission to record the class has been granted, while keeping the identity of the accommodated student confidential.
  2. If the instructor is concerned that recording of the class activity, discussions, and lectures by a student registered with DSS will fundamentally alter the classroom experience, they should contact DSS to conduct a review which can include the Instructor, Program Director, Department Chair, Instructional Dean, and Vice President for Instruction.

  I, the student, have read and understand the above agreement on recording lectures at Central Oregon Community College, and I agree to abide by this policy with regards to recording lectures. The Student Code of Conduct will cover any violations of this agreement.

Service/Assistance/Therapy Animals

In compliance with applicable law, COCC generally allows service animals in its buildings, classrooms, residence halls, meetings, dining areas, recreational facilities, activities, and events when the animal is accompanied by an individual with a disability who indicates the service animal is trained to provide, and does provide, a specific service to them that is directly related to their disability (see full policy and procedure statement on this website). For policies regarding assistance animals, including therapy animals that do not meet the definition of a service animal, please see COCC policy on Assistance Animals (pdf).  You will be requested to provide the following:

1.  Documentation of disability referring to our documentation guidelines

2.  Emotional Support Animal Instruction Sheet or Service Animals Instruction Sheet

3.  SSD Service and Assistance Animal Policy

 

Shuttle Services

COCC provides an ADA door to door shuttle service for students with disabilities.  This can be discussed with the SSD Coordinator.

Sign Language Interpreters

COCC is committed to providing access to individuals needing sign language interpreting services. When students requiring interpreter services give advance notice of their intention to enroll full- or part-time in an upcoming term, the College will conduct a search to hire a qualified interpreter. We will be more successful in hiring an interpreter or interpreters when we have advance notice of one month or more, though we will make every reasonable effort no matter the notice.

Erin Trimble, Sign Language Interpreter Specialist, can be reached at 541-383-7737 or etrimble@cocc.edu .

Testing Accommodations

Due to barriers that may be created by disability, students may require a variety of testing accommodations such as extended time for testing, reduced distraction environment, scribes, and/or auditory format of tests. These accommodations are discussed with the SSD Coordinator for their provision. To review COCC Testing policies and procedures, please see Testing Services.

*Note:
It is important to remember access assistance for students with disabilities might vary from quarter to quarter, and that it is not possible to list every service which a student might receive. It is important for students to work closely with the Services for Students with Disabilities Coordinator and their instructors so that their barriers do not interfere with their educational goals. Our goal is to give every student with a disability equal access to classes at COCC. The rest is up to you!

Return to Guide for Students with Disabilities Index