Equal Access
The faculty, staff, and administration of Massachusetts College of Art and Design are committed to fostering the academic, personal, and professional growth of our students. We are especially committed to ensuring that students with documented disabilities, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), are provided equal access to all campus resources and opportunities. Sometimes, this is best done by providing reasonable and appropriate accomodations designed to level the proverbial playing field.
MassArt recognizes and respects federal laws prohibiting disability discrimination. We take our obligation seriously and strive to meet the needs of students with documented disabilities in the most appropriate ways possible. It is our goal to serve students in ways that not only level the playing field, but also promote development of self-advocacy skills and strategies to overcome adversity in order to promote life-long learning and academic, personal, and professional success.
Federal guidelines require that a college student age 18 or over who wishes to request protection of his/her ADA-AA rights begin the process by self-identifying with the institution. Self-identification refers to the act of an adult voluntarily disclosing to an institution the fact that he or she has a documented disability and is requesting protection of his/her ADA-AA rights. This is the first step in applying for disability-related accomodations. Parents, guardians, former guidance counselors, and clinicians cannot self-identify for a college student over the age of 18. He/she must self-identify on his/her own.
The most efficient way to self identify and request accomodations is to do the following:
1. Secure appropriate documentation from your doctor/clinician. To speed the process, please provide your clinician with the appropriate documentation guidelines required by Mass Art.
2. Contact Mercedes Evans, Director, Civil Rights Compliance and Diversity MassArt, Tower 815, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, (617) 879-7060 mercedes.evans@massart.edu.
3. Complete the ADAAA form (available in the Office of Civil Rights Compliance and Diversity, or the Registrar's Office, or it can be mailed to you). Return the completed form to Mercedes Evans, along with the appropriate supporting documentation.
4. MassArt's learning specialist (617) 879-7958, will interpret the documentation in order to 1) determine the student's eligibility for accommodations under Federal ADAAA guidelines; 2) determine reasonable and appropriate accommodations, and 3) determine the student's strengths and weaknesses in order to provide additional support that may allow the student to develop strategies for academic, personal and professional growth. You may be asked to come in for a clinical interview and/or to provide additional information, in which case the student and specialist will decide together which accommodations or services will be utilized.
5. Students meet with the learning specialist each semester in order to write memos to professors and to discuss the student's and the institution's rights and responsibilities. The student will also be encouraged to meet consistently with the learning specialist in order to evaluate and modify strategies.
Accommodations must be requested well in advance of their need and can not be implemented retroactively.
(Note: Requests for accommodations/services/auxiliary aids will be granted on the basis of their appropriateness to the situation. Having a disorder and/or having had accommodations in other settings does not guarantee the student will receive such services/accommodations/aids at MassArt. Having a clinician make recommendations about specific accommodations does not guarantee the student will receive these accommodations.)
Subject to Revision
Revised 12/18/08
Medical disclosure questionnaire [PDF]