Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
United States University’s Department of Disability Services strives to uphold the mission of the University by providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities in order to help them achieve their academic goals. United States University complies and adheres to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and California law.
The practice of United States University is to provide students with disabilities full and equal use of the services, facilities, and privileges. An individual with a disability is a person who: (a) as defined by law, has a physical or mental impairment which limits one or more life activities (such as walking, seeing, speaking, learning, or working); and b) has a written record with the University documenting the impairment.
United States University does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its admission, recruitment, academics, research, financial aid, counseling, or employment assistance processes. Furthermore, United States University does not screen out, exclude, expel, limit, or otherwise discriminate against an individual seeking admission as a student, or an individual enrolled as a student, based on disability. United States University promotes an environment of respect and support for individuals with disabilities.
Students are responsible for disclosing disability information and requesting accommodation, in accordance with University requirements. Students who need assistance, even on a temporary basis, are encouraged to utilize the services available through the Office of Disability Services. For more information please disabilityservices@usuniversity.edu.
Request for Accommodation Based on Documented Disability
United States University requirements for documentation are based on the Best Practices published by Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD).
Any student seeking accommodations will need to submit the Accommodation Request Form. Once the form has been filled out by the student, the form and subsequent documentation as outlined below need to be emailed to disabilityservices@usuniversity.edu.
It is the responsibility of the student to advise Disability Services of how the disability impacts their experience in the learning environment and the potential accommodations that may support their learning. Accommodation requests are authorized by Disability Services staff based on the guidelines below for disability documentation.
Prior Accommodation: If the student has received an accommodation from a prior institution, those decisions may be submitted as documentation to validate student’s self-reported information.
Information from External or Third Parties: Documentation from external sources may include educational or medical records, reports and assessments created by health care providers, school psychologists, teachers, or the educational system.
This information is inclusive of documents that reflect education and accommodation history, such as an Individual Education Program (IEP), Summary of Performance (SOP), and teacher observations. External documentation will vary in its relevance and value depending on the original context, credentials of the evaluator, the level of detail provided, and the comprehensiveness of the narrative. However, all forms of documentation are meaningful.
United States University Accommodations
After reviewing the student’s Accommodation Request form and subsequent documentation, Disability Services staff will determine reasonable accommodations for the student. These reasonable accommodations will be outlined on the Student Accommodations form, which will be given to each student granted accommodations for use in their courses/proctored exams.
It is the responsibility of the student to provide the Student Accommodations form to their instructor within the first week of their course. Failure to comply with this rule will not hold the instructor to the accommodations. A student may request accommodations at any point in their program. However, accommodations will not take effect until the beginning of the student’s next course after the accommodations have been granted. A student cannot retroactively request accommodations for any past courses/proctored exams.