Accessibility Services - Contact
Director of Accessibility and Counseling Services
Ocala Campus, Bryant Student Union, Room 204
3001 S.W. College Road
Ocala, FL 34474-1455
352-873-5843, fax 352-873-5882
Accessibility Services - About
The college is committed to providing equal educational opportunity and full participation in all college activities, programs, and services for students with disabilities. Accessibility Services partners with students, faculty, staff, and the community for student success. Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the office of Accessibility Services. Accessibility Services offers students a wide range of services and resources. Accessibility Services helps students engage in courses, programs, services and activities of CF. They provide guidance, advising, support and resources to help students overcome obstacles, build confidence, self-advocate and attain success.
Their services include, but are not limited to: appropriate classroom and testing accommodations; academic, career, and personal guidance; sign language interpreters; and adaptive computer software and hardware. The college fully supports and ensures compliance of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and all other pertinent federal, state, and local disability anti-discrimination laws. For more information visit their website CF.edu/Access or call 352-873-5843. Accessibility Services is located at the Ocala Campus, Bryant Student Union, Building 5, Room 204. Arrangements can be made to meet with students, staff, or faculty at any of the college’s locations.
Accessibility Services - Procedures
Accessibility Services - Confidentiality
It is essential that information about disability status be kept confidential. At no time should the class be informed that a student has a disability, except at the student’s request. All information that a student gives to the faculty member is to be used specifically for arranging reasonable accommodations for the course of study. We recommend that students bring the Faculty Accommodation Notice to faculty during office hours or by special appointment. At that time, arrangement of accommodations can be discussed in private.
Accessibility Services - Receiving a Request for Accommodations
Accessibility Services instructs students to make arrangements to meet with their faculty during the faculty member’s office hour to discuss their eligibility for accommodations. Accessibility Services emails faculty a Faculty Accommodation Notice that provides detailed information related to a student’s accommodations. Faculty of deaf/hard of hearing students will be sent information prior to the start of the semester about the interpreter and other deaf issues. If you have any questions about the accommodations, contact the director of Accessibility Services. Students requesting accommodations without a FAN or eligibility letter should be referred to Accessibility Services. In some instances, faculty members sometimes contact Accessibility Services regarding students they feel might benefit from additional support or resources; Accessibility Services staff can provide assistance/referrals.
Accessibility Services - Accommodations
Ocala Campus
Accommodations are provided at the Bryant Student Union, Accessibility Services, Room 204. It is a collaborative process between the student, faculty, the student’s doctor and Accessibility Services.
For all other campuses, Citrus, Levy, and Hampton, accommodations are provided by the respective Testing Centers and should be contacted directly for coordination and implementation. Additionally, all paperwork is reviewed by the director of Accessibility Services. The director of Accessibility Services creates all Faculty Accommodation Notices. All initial accommodation requests should go through Accessibility Services.
Accessibility Services - Process of Accommodation
- disclosure by student (and referral to Accessibility Services)
- documentation from professional
- determination of eligibility
- faculty/staff accommodations notification
- facilitation or provision of services
- feedback from student and faculty
- adjustment to faculty accommodation notice, if needed
- student informs Accessibility Services of continuation of accommodations each semester.
To be eligible for services and accommodations, students must register with Accessibility Services by providing the coordinator with specific and appropriate documentation regarding their disability. All student disability documentation remains confidential with Accessibility Services. To determine reasonable accommodations, Accessibility Services may seek information from appropriate college personnel regarding essential standards for courses, programs, services, activities and facilities. Students, and the practitioners directly involved in assessing the student’s disability, may provide recommendations for accommodations. Final determination of reasonable accommodations will be made by the college’s Disability Services Office.
Accessibility Services - Tests, Quizzes, and In-class Assignments Accommodations
Advance planning is essential for testing, quizzes, and in-class assignments accommodations – more than 300 students with disabilities receive accommodations each semester. At the beginning of the semester (and/or as early as possible) students and faculty should discuss arrangements for accommodations. It is recommended that students bring their syllabus to Accessibility Services and make arrangements as far in advance as possible. Accommodations include, but are not limited to: extended time, low-distraction or private space, scribes, and adaptive technology.
- Students are responsible for discussing with faculty their intentions to utilize their accommodations for tests/assignments at least five business days in advance.
- Students are responsible for notifying Accessibility Services of their intentions to utilize their accommodations as low distraction testing space fills quickly.
- Exams are typically scheduled to be taken at the regular class time. Alternative days or times for exams are collaborated between the Testing Center and with the instructor’s expressed permission.
- Faculty are responsible for providing the exam to the Testing Center. Exams may be emailed or hand delivered; or in the case of computerized exam pass codes, these can be provided via email to the Testing Center (testing@cf.edu).
- Accessibility Services is responsible for facilitating accommodations.
- Completed exams are scanned and returned to faculty via email, are picked up by faculty, or sent to faculty via interoffice mail.
Accessibility Services - Note-taker Accommodations
Some students are eligible for a note-taker accommodation. This is arranged on a volunteer basis. The instructor asks the class for a volunteer to take notes for the student each class period. If a volunteer is not available, the office of Accessibility Services will provide one.
Accessibility Services - Physical Accessibility Accommodations
- parking, buildings, classrooms, restrooms
- change in classroom layout or priority seating
- accessible tables and chairs for classroom
- permission to use service animals on campus; except in the labs
Accessibility Services - Academic Adjustment Accommodations
- alternate formats for examinations: paper copies of electronic tests, typing answers, or use of scantrons
- course substitutions
Accessibility Services - Auxiliary Learning Aid Accommodations
- photocopies of overheads, printouts of PowerPoint presentations
- permission to audio record lectures
- American Sign Language interpretation
- assistive hardware (large screen computer monitors, CCTVs)
- assistive software (screen readers, screen enlargers, speech recognition)
How Faculty Can Support All Students with Disabilities
Accessibility Services - Syllabus Statement
It is important that faculty include in each syllabus the following statement asking students to inform them of any special needs to ensure that those needs are met in a timely manner.
To ensure students have equal access to educational opportunities here at the College of Central Florida, students with medical, sensory, physical, psychological, and/or cognitive disability are encouraged to register with the Office of Accessibility and Counseling Services and request an application. If eligible, Accessibility Services will help facilitate approved accommodations for you. Please do this as soon as possible, to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion for your academic success. The Office of Accessibility and Counseling Services is located in the Bryant Student Union, Building 5,Room 204, on the Ocala Campus. For more information visit the Accessibility Services webpage at https://www.cf.edu/access, or call 352-873-5843 for further information.
A further recommendation is that the faculty member read the statement aloud during the first week of class. This approach demonstrates to students that you are someone who is sensitive to and concerned about meeting the needs of all students you teach. Furthermore, it affords students the opportunity to make their accommodation needs known to you early in the semester.
Accessibility Services - Textbooks, Course-Packs, and Syllabi
Please make your book selections, compiled course-packs, and syllabi available in a timely manner. Textbooks with DVDs and online video content MUST have captions. If the publisher does not incorporate a caption feature, select another text for your course. Students who have visual impairments (blindness or low vision) or learning disabilities affecting their reading rates and comprehension may require printed materials that are transformed into alternate formats. Conversion of text into large print, audio format or Braille can be a time- consuming process, taking weeks or months. Your syllabus is required to determine the extent to which each text will be used and the order in which reading assignments will be completed. Some students will rely on having printed material scanned and saved into a computer format that can be accessed via screen reading software. If you are collating various journal articles and portions of books into course-packs for distribution, please use original copies or make a copy that is as clean as possible. Creating course-packs using poor quality copies makes it impossible for character recognition software to decipher images as readable text. If material included in course-packs is not of top quality, Accessibility Services will need to borrow your originals for scanning.
Accessibility Services - Films and Videos In-classroom or Online
When selecting and ordering instructional videos or DVDs, faculty MUST select programs available in a closed-captioned format. Closed captioning displays the dialogue, narration and sound effects of a video program as words on a television screen, similar to subtitles on a movie. An instructor may not know in advance if a deaf student will be in a class; therefore, all materials should be accessible before a class starts. Online video resources to be used by students, whether created by the textbook or media publisher, a non-college website, or a CF faculty member must have captioning or a text equivalent available for students at the beginning of the semester. Accessibility Services will not create captioning or text equivalents for faculty members. If the desired materials are not available in closed-captioned format from the media publisher, faculty should then:
- Check with the Described and Captioned Media Program. This is a program funded through the U.S. Department of Education that has a collection of 4,000 + open captioned videotapes available for free loan (http://www.dcmp.org/).
- Contact E-Learning for more information on making videos accessible for deaf/hard of hearing students.
Accessibility Services - Eligible Programs
At CF qualified students with disabilities participate in nonsegregated programs and courses. Students with disabilities may be eligible for services in all areas of the college including:
- A.A., A.S., B.S., B.A.S. degree and college credit certificate programs
- vocational certificate programs
- dual enrollment
- continuing and adult education courses and programs.
All faculty and staff have a role to play in providing this equal educational opportunity. Although based at the Ocala Campus, Accessibility Services can meet with students and faculty for consultation at all CF locations. The director of Accessibility and Counseling Services works with faculty and staff to facilitate services and accommodations for students with physical, sensory, cognitive and psychological disabilities.
Accessibility Services - Counseling Services Available
Professional counseling services are available for all college students who are experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress; basically all psychological issues that could affect their school, job, relationships or their home lives. Services are provided by Florida licensed mental health clinicians. This confidential resource is for all college students who want to achieve their endeavors. The Counseling Department is located in Building 5, office 205B or office 205F. For more information about Counseling, you may call 352-854-2322 ext. 1580.
Overall, the Counseling Department understands the incapacity or inability to cope with the demands of college life or society as a whole. Even the most difficult puzzles have solutions. The Counseling Department wants your education to be a positive journey.
Accessibility Services - Definitions
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that: “No otherwise qualified person with a disability in the United States … shall solely by reason of … disability, be denied the benefits of, be excluded from participation in, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991 defines a qualified person with a disability as one: “Who meets the academic and technical standards requisite to admission or participation in the postsecondary education institution’s programs or activities.”
- Section 504 defines a qualified person with a disability as: “Any person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a history or record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment.”
- Accommodation: Is any change to a classroom environment or task that permits a qualified individual with a disability to participate in the classroom process, to perform the essential tasks of he class, or to enjoy benefits and privileges of classroom participation equal to those enjoyed by learners without disabilities. An accommodation is a legally mandated change that creates an equitable opportunity for task completion or environmental access.
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