Faculty Resources

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) state, "No otherwise qualified individual with disabilities in the United States... shall solely by reason of his/her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination or harassment under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

This section of the website is designed to provide information and resources to assist faculty in understanding the needs of students with disabilities.

Purpose of Office of Specialized Services (OSS)

• Review and assess student documentation to determine eligibility for accommodations.
• Provide and coordinate services and accommodations to students with disabilities so that they can freely and actively participate in all facets of College life. 
• Increase the level of awareness among members of the College so that students with disabilities are able to perform at a level limited only by their abilities, not their disabilities.

Student Rights

• Equal access to programs, services and activities at BCC 
• Reasonable accommodations and academic support services 
• Confidentiality of disability related documentation. 

Student Responsibilities

• Submit disability documentation to OSS by semester deadline dates.
• Attend workshops once eligibility is determined.
• Submit appropriate accommodation forms to your professors at the beginning of each semester.
• Be proactive. Meet with your professors one on one to discuss how to implement your accommodations.
• Follow up with OSS if you are having any difficulty with implementing any of your accommodations. 

Faculty Rights

• To be notified in writing about the student's need for and types of accommodations.
• To receive requests for exam accommodations at least 24 hours before exam.

• To communicate with OSS to clarify students request for accommodations.

Faculty Responsibilities

• Provide reasonable accommodations to students in a timely manner.
• Meet with students who have submitted accommodations forms to discuss and or clarify services being requested.
• Refer students that disclose a disability but do not have appropriate accommodation forms to the Office of Specialized Services.
• Direct questions about appropriateness of accommodations to OSS.

Confidentiality

The nature of an individual disability as well as the documentation is confidential between the student and OSS.

Office of Specialized Services Coordinator

Tracy Rand, trand@bergen.edu

Center for Collegiate Deaf Education Coordinator

Tia Ivanko, tivanko@bergen.edu