Accessibility & Accommodations | Student Life (2023)

• Accessibility Services Staff
• Accommodations
• Religious Accommodations
• Disability Resources
• Faculty Resources
• Grievance Procedure
• Web Accessibility Statement

Welcome to Southern State's Office of Accessibility Services! Our mission is to provide reasonable accommodations to those who qualify, along with sharing knowledge, and access to resources to promote diversity and empowerment. On behalf of the Accessibility Services staff, we look forward to working with you during your academic career at Southern State!

Contact

Office Hours

Office hours are by appointment only. To schedule an appointment please call 937.393.3431 x2620 or email bfleming@sscc.edu.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of Accessibility Services at Southern State:

• To provide reasonable educational adjustments and accommodations for all individuals along the learning continuum;
• To see that those who have documented a qualified physical, mental or learning disability be given equal access to participate in opportunities, programs and services offered by the college; and
• To share knowledge and access to resources which enable acceptance and increase comfort levels with diversity.

Unless, in doing so, the nature of the college's programs or services:

• Would be changed or result in undue hardship to the college; or
• Would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of that individual or others.

Disability Definition

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a disability is defined as:

• A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities such as walking, seeing, hearing, performing manual tasks or learning;
• A record of such impairment or being regarded as having such an impairment; or
• Psychological problems and some chronic health problems may also be characterized as a disability.

Accommodations must be requested 45 days prior to the start of the semester to ensure reasonable accommodations are secured before the start of classes. Follow these steps to request any services you may need.

Step 1 – Identify Needs

A variety of support and adaptive equipment can be made available that allows a student with a disability to participate at Southern State. These services include, but are not limited to:

Step 2 – Make an Appointment

Appointments to discuss needed accommodations should be made at least eight weeks prior to the beginning of the semester in which the student plans to enroll.

Step 3 – Submit Information

The required documentation should be submitted to Disability Services two weeks prior to your appointment in order to discuss eligibility for accommodations.

Some possible types of documentation include:

• Evaluative Team Reports (ETR) that are no more than three years old
• Doctor’s statements (signed and typed on letterhead)
• Hospital records
• Medical records (family physician, clinics, etc.)
• Psychological reports
• Letters of verification from the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR)
• Southern State accommodation request forms (found above)

• Release of Information Form

The Release of Information form will assist in obtaining documentation.

Please be sure that all information is marked as CONFIDENTIAL and mail it to:

• Accessibility Services
• Southern State Community College
• 100 Hobart Drive
• Hillsboro, OH 45133

Step 4 – Discuss Special Needs

If all paperwork is in order for your scheduled appointment with Accessibility Services, discussion can proceed regarding the best method of equal access. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Accessing Accommodations

Each semester of enrollment, the student will be responsible for:

• Giving a copy of their schedule to the Office of Accessibility Services prior to the semester; and
• Picking up, completing and returning paperwork within two weeks after the beginning of the semester.

The Disability Services Handbook contains all the policies and procedures pertaining to Accessibility Services at Southern State. Students are encouraged to review this handbook at their earliest convenience.

Below is Southern State's Policy for Accommodations for Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs and Practices of Students.

Policy Statement

This document will act as the policy and procedure for H.B. 353, entitled "The Testing Your Faith Act." The act requires each state institution of higher education to adopt a policy that reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of individual students regarding exams, other academic requirements, and absences for reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system.

For more information about Religious Accommodations, students should contact the Academic Affairs office administrative assistant, Barb Fleming at bfleming@sscc.edu or 937-393-3431 X-2620.

Absences and Alternative Accommodations

A student is permitted to be absent for up to three days each semester to take holidays for reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system or to participate in organized activities conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or other religious or spiritual organization. There will be no academic penalty as a result of a student's absence under the policy. However, the student is required to fulfill the required student learning outcomes.

Alternative accommodations will be provided for students who miss exams or other academic requirements as a result of such absences, if:

• The student's sincerely held religious belief or practice severely affects the student's ability to take an exam or meet an academic requirement; and
• Within the first 14 days of a course, the student provides the instructor with written notice of the requested dates for alternative accommodations.

Instructor Responsibilities

Under the act, an instructor must accept without question the sincerity of a student's religious or spiritual belief system and keep alternative accommodation requests confidential. An instructor also must schedule, without prejudicial effect, another reasonable time and date (either before or after scheduled dates) for the missed alternative exam or other academic requirement.

In addition, the act requires each course syllabus to include the institution's policy on requesting accommodations and the contact information of a person who can provide further information.

Grievance Procedure

Students wishing to file a complaint/ grievance to the institution regarding Religious Accommodations or policy implementation may do so by filling out the Report an Accessibility/Disability Concern form.

List of Religious Holidays/Holy Days

(January-December 2023)

These resources will lead you to more information on disability services.

• Overview of College Resources for Students with Disabilities - BestColleges.com
• This guide explains the legal rights of students with disabilities (both physical and learning disabilities) and provides links to sites, apps and software resources designed to aid students with specific types of disabilities.
• Making the Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities
• This guide provides information to students with disabilities that are making the transition from High School to College.
• High School vs. College Checklist
• This checklist provides information for students with disabilities on the steps to be taken while still in High School and once they're in College.

The following material can assist faculty in working with students with disabilities. If you need more information or aid on a specific scenario, please contact Accessibility Services.

• This guide covers a variety of topics on working with deaf or hard of hearing students including how to successfully communicate and how to use accommodations to better the student’s experience.
• Disability Services FAQs
• This guide provides answers to frequently asked questions in working with students with disabilities.
• PepNet Tipsheet
• This guide provides tips,guidelines, and terms for working with deaf students.

This Grievance Procedure is established to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). It may be used by anyone who wishes to file a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of disability in the provision of services, activities, programs or benefits by Southern State Community College. The College's personnel policy governs employment related complaints of disability discrimination.

The complaint should be in writing and contain information about the alleged discrimination such as name, address, phone number of complainant and location, date and description of the problem. Alternative means of filing complaints, such as personal interviews or tape recordings of the complaint, will be made available for persons with disabilities, upon request. The complaint should be submitted by the grievant and/or his/her designee as soon as possible, but no later than 60 calendar days after the alleged violation to:

Within 15 calendar days after receipt of the complaint, the Coordinator of Learning Services & Accessibility, or his/her designee, will meet with the complainant to discuss the complaint and possible resolutions. Within 15 calendar days of the meeting, the Coordinator of Learning Services & Accessibility, or his/her designee, will respond in writing, and, where appropriate, in a format accessible to the complainant, such as large print, Braille or audio tape. The response will explain the position of the College and offer options for substantive resolution of the complaint.

If the response by the Coordinator of Learning Services & Accessibility, or his/her designee, does not satisfactorily resolve the issue, the complainant and/or his/her designee may appeal the decision within 15 calendar days after receipt of the response to the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management or his/her designee.

Within 15 calendar days after receipt of the appeal, the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management or his/her designee will meet with the complainant to discuss the complaint and possible resolutions. Within 15 calendar days after the meeting, the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management or his/her designee will respond in writing, and, where appropriate, in a format accessible to the complainant, with a final resolution of the complaint.

All written complaints received by the Coordinator of Learning Services & Accessibility, or his/her designee, appeals to the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, or his/her designee, and responses from these two offices, will be retained by the College for at least three years.

Southern State is committed to diversity, inclusion and accessibility in everything we do. That is why we are continuously taking steps to improve our site.

Although a variety of access technologies are available for use with the Internet, we recommend using Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 or 10, or Firefox 41 or higher to provide you with the highest level of browser accessibility. When using programs that use Java we recommend that you use Java 7-79 or less.

If you are blind or visually impaired, these pages were designed to be accessible with most industry-standard screen readers. However, we recommend JAWS for Windows version 15 or later for the best speech synthesis.

Our Current Accessibility Features

• Alternative text detail for images and other non-text elements
• Structural markup to indicate headings and lists to aid in page comprehension
• Proper labels for form fields
• Association of all data cells in a data table with their headers
• "Skip to Main Content" option viewable/selectable through keyboard navigation
• Style sheets to enhance the appearance and functionality of the site (content is still properly presented and comprehendible if style sheets are not functional)
• Fluid, responsive layout to adjust the content to fit any screen resolution including mobile devices
• Contact our Office of Accessibility Services to find out more about services available to SSCC faculty, staff and students.

If you are an individual with a disability and are having difficulties with materials hosted by SSCC, please fill out the Accessibility/Disability Concern Form:

As we continue to improve our site, we will reflect any changes within our web accessibility statement.