Disability Services (DS) is a branch of the Academic Success Center (ASC). Our staff are committed to providing you with the support and services needed to allow you the opportunity to participate in the rich and varied life of the university.
The Disability Services program serves all students with disabilities; and the use of services is voluntary and confidential. The program is a resource for students and faculty.
The goal of this office is to ensure educational opportunity for all students with special needs by providing access to full participation in all aspects of campus life and increase awareness of disability issues on campus.
The DS office works to:
Students with disabilities have access to equal opportunities for education and participation in University activities. Students must meet the essential requirement of the University with or without accommodations. Students should:
The staff works with each student individually and accommodations are provided on a case-by-case basis.
To benefit from the protections of the ADA and Section 504, the person must be qualified and have a disability. A person with a disability is one who either:
To be qualified, the person with a disability must meet the academic and technical standards for admission to or participation in the University’s education program or activity.
Students with disabilities are responsible for disclosing the functional impact of their disability to Learning Commons staff, and for requesting reasonable accommodations for their classes. To receive formal accommodations, documentation from a licensed medical professional must be provided to the Learning Commons. The student will then meet with a staff member to discuss what accommodations might be best suited for them.
To request an accommodation meeting, please email the Learning Commons at learningcommons@roosevelt.edu.
To facilitate the implementation of accommodations, each student will be responsible for bringing their professors letters of verification from the DS staff stating the accommodations and/or auxiliary aids to which the student is entitled. The following is a list of the more common accommodations utilized. However, students are not limited to the following accommodations:
All requests should be made one week prior to the beginning of each semester.
The request should be made at least seven business days in advance of date the service is needed. The same applies to other services such as alternate mediums, interpreters, and real-time captions.
It is the student’s responsibility to obtain the syllabus from the professor in order to identify the required textbooks and reading assignments for the course. If the syllabus is not available three weeks prior to the first day of instruction, the student should ask the professor to identify textbooks and reading assignments for the first three weeks of the semester.
Students looking to obtain books on tape must make a request as early as possible. After providing the disabilities coordinator with the ISBN number, she or he will check accesstext.org for an available version and submit a request. Once approved, the student will be provided with a PDF version of the text, free of charge.
If the text is unavailable through the Accesstext Network, students must purchase the text and provide the disabilities coordinator with a copy of the receipt. The coordinator can then contact the publisher and request an alternative format of the text. This may take up to 3 weeks.
If requested, the office of disabilities can provide students with an access code to the Kurzweil text-to-speech software for their computer, along with a log in to access the firefly by Kurzweil program at any time. With this program, students or staff members in the ASC can upload PDF versions of textbooks or any other document and have it read aloud. There is also capability to take notes on the readings through the program. Students may use their personal log in information for the duration of the time they are at Roosevelt.
Request for Modification of Academic Requirement: A student with a documented disability may request a modification of certain generally applicable academic requirements, i.e., the number of units to be taken in an academic semester, substitution for otherwise required courses,if necessary to accommodate the disability. The request must be made to the DS in writing as early as possible, that is, at least 10 business days before the beginning of the academic semester or as soon as the need arises. A modification or accommodation cannot fundamentally alter the nature of the course or program. Academic requirements that are essential to the instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement are not considered discriminatory and will not be modified.
Review the Service Animal policy here.
If you require any assistance to safely exit a Roosevelt University building in the event of an emergency evacuation, please complete the form below and state specifically what assistance will be needed. You may contact Campus Safety at 312-341-4167 or 4173 for this form if you are unable to complete it online. This information will be kept confidential and used only by Campus Safety and police and fire officials responding to a building emergency.
In the event of an emergency evacuation, we ask that you go to the nearest area of rescue assistance, if possible, and press the emergency alarm button. This will inform emergency officials of your location.
If you no longer require assistance or your assistance needs change, please submit an updated form at your earliest convenience. Students should submit an updated class schedule each semester that assistance is needed
As required by law, personal information pertaining to student's disability will only be shared on a “need to know” basis. A listing of individuals with permission to view documentation will be posted with the documentation in a secure space. Documentation will be kept for seven years after graduation or departure from the University.
Roosevelt University has been committed in its programs and activities from its inception to a policy on nondiscrimination. No person shall be discriminated against because of age, ancestry,citizenship, color, creed, disability, gender, gender identity, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, race, religion, sexual orientation, source of income, unfavorable discharge from military service, veteran status, or as a result of being the victim of domestic or sexual violence in its programs and activities.
Services are available to students with documented learning disabilities to assist in their pursuit of a college education. Individual basis meetings will occur once or twice a week with Academic Success Center staff. Emphasis is placed on the development of compensatory skill strategies and self-advocacy skills. An additional fee is charged.
Connect with the other resources the Academic Success Center offers.
For more information contact the Academic Success Center
312-341-3811/3810