The University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) fight song, “Fire Up Flames,” hints at the burning desire students have to excel academically. Yet, for UIC students with disabilities to “fire up” their academic, extracurricular, and eventual professional careers, they may need reasonable accommodations.

Many UIC students receive the accommodations they are entitled to through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not all of them do, though. Some Flames’ light for learning is extinguished because they are dismissed, undermined, and left to struggle with their disability on their own.

These neglected students are disproportionately likely to suffer adverse outcomes—absenteeism, lagging academic performance, and behavioral difficulties among them. Adding insult to injury, these students may face discipline, remediation, and even dismissal from UIC. When we examine the context of these circumstances, we often find a direct link between UIC’s failures to accommodate students and these adverse outcomes.

We can help. The LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team stands up for students with disabilities, especially when they are being held accountable for the university’s failures. Call the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to discuss how our firm can help you.

The Americans with Disabilities Act: A National Law That UIC Must Abide By

The ADA recognizes that millions of Americans engage in a daily battle with disabling conditions. Included in this group are countless university students, who grapple with:

  • Physical limitations

  • Learning disabilities

  • Psychological disabilities

  • Neurological disabilities

  • Sensory disabilities

  • Chronic health conditions

  • Temporary disabilities

While the ADA definition of a covered disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,” the scope is even greater. We can include, for the purposes of seeking accommodations at UIC, all of the disability categories listed above.

There is no debate that UIC must comply with the ADA. As a public state university reliant on federal funding, UIC is undoubtedly governed by the ADA’s mandates to:

  • Prevent discrimination against students with disabilities

  • Provide reasonable accommodations to students with disability

  • Ensure equal accessibility to physical spaces, programs, and services

  • Provide equal access to digital content and resources

  • Facilitate effective two-way communication with students with disabilities

  • Afford grievance procedures to students with disabilities who feel they are not being served according to the tenets of the ADA

To the degree possible, UIC should strive to make students with disabilities’ quality of education and student life indistinguishable from those of students who do not have disabilities, and sometimes even go above and beyond in the service of those with disabilities.

UIC’s Disability Resource Center (DRC) Is the Essential Hub for Students Seeking Resources and Accommodations

Serving students with disabilities is a significant undertaking. The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is the office tasked with leading that undertaking at LIU, and its responsibilities include:

  • To enable students to register their disabilities (as a precursor to them receiving resources and accommodations)

  • Scheduling examinations with special conditions

  • Receiving students’ requests for a note taker

  • Receiving requests for myriad other disability-related accommodations requests

  • Informing and advising faculty about students’ disabilities, which is essential for those students to receive the accommodations they need

If DRC doesn’t do its various jobs, there is a high likelihood that students with disabilities do not receive essential accommodations—and suffer because of that.

Students Shouldn’t Have to Fight for Their Accommodations. Faculty Must Do Their Part, Too.

The UIC DRC explains that students have responsibilities to fulfill, including:

  • Meet UIC’s standards for student conduct and performance

  • Self-report their disability and seek accommodations

  • Document the disability and explain how one or more accommodations might benefit them

It is fitting, though, that UIC lists students’ rights before these responsibilities. That’s because if the student’s rights are not protected, it may be impossible for them to honor their responsibilities (including meeting UIC’s performance standards).

Representatives of the DRC, professors, and administrators may all play critical roles in serving students with disabilities. If one or more of these parties failed to fulfill their role, we will reference that failure as we fight to spare you from adverse outcomes.

What Accommodations Are Flames with Disabilities Entitled To?

The accommodations and resources you receive should be specific to your disability and symptoms. The ADA provides for virtually any resource that a UIC Flame with a disability might need, including:

  • Specialized housing accommodations, which might include first-floor dormitories, dorms near the students’ classrooms, accessibility to a personal bathroom, and distraction-free housing

  • Academic accommodations, including but not limited to private testing environments, extended exam time, large-font notes, and personal note-takers

  • Dynamic scheduling, which may be necessary for students whose disability prevents them from attending class or taking examinations on a regular schedule

  • Accessibility-related accommodations, such as transportation to classes and UIC-sanctioned events, wheelchair accessible facilities, and an aid to help students with physical disabilities get where they need to go

  • Exemptions for an emotional-support animal, which can be a critical companion for students with generalized anxiety and certain other psychological and emotional disabilities

  • Communication-related accommodations, such as interpreters, closed-captioned learning materials, and assistive technologies

The Americans with Disabilities Act is comprehensive in its scope, so UIC’s

Is My Specific Disability Provided For?

There is a strong chance that the ADA covers your disability if:

  • A legitimate medical professional or mental health service provider has diagnosed your disability

  • You have documentation of the disability

  • The disability substantially limits one or more major life activities (such as getting around, learning, performing well on examinations, or socializing)

These criteria are relatively broad and can include:

  • Visually apparent disabilities, such as being in a wheelchair

  • Disabilities that are not visible, such as ADHD, anxiety disorders, hearing difficulties, partial or complete blindness, chronic depression, and autoimmune conditions

  • Disabilities with years’ worth of documentation

  • Disabilities that have only recently been diagnosed or documented

Many college students do not realize just how substantial their disability is until they encounter the rigors of collegiate life. Some signs that your disability is worthy of accommodation are:

  • Your grades are significantly lower than they were in high school or at your previous university

  • Social isolation driven by anxiety or depression

  • Difficulty attending classes or university events because of a physical disability

  • A general feeling that you are not getting the most out of collegiate life because of symptoms of a disability

If you make a good-faith effort to get your disability evaluated, and you reach out to UIC’s Disability Resource Center seeking accommodations, it is then on the university to ensure you get the assistance you need.

How UIC Faculty May Have Failed You or Your Student

UIC’s mascot, the Flames, is an allusion to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Yet, it may apply just as fittingly to the fire that is set to students’ rights, reputations, and future prospects when they are denied reasonable accommodations and resources for their disabilities.

Our Student Defense Team sees a chronic trend: Students with disabilities suffer academically and personally, not because of their own shortcomings, but because their university lets them down. Some of the specific ways that UIC might harm students with disabilities are:

  • The Disability Resource Office is taking an unjustifiably long time to evaluate and accommodate students’ disabilities

  • The DRC refuses to acknowledge or accommodate students’ legitimate disabilities

  • Professors not consistently checking their communication platforms for new accommodation letters

  • Professors failing to keep track of active accommodations

  • Professors refusing, or forgetting, to implement accommodations for students

The Americans with Disabilities Act created a monumental change in how universities treated students with disabilities. Not every faculty member or professor has recognized the gravity or necessity of this change, and some still regard accommodations as unnecessary or optional.

Anything but an earnest, consistent effort to accommodate students with disabilities is unacceptable.

How Students Suffer When Faculty Fails to Accommodate

We can draw direct lines between failures to accommodate students and harmful outcomes, including but not limited to:

  • Poor or declining academic performance

  • Student behavior that the university condemns (which might include academic corner-cutting, terse interpersonal interactions, and absenteeism)

  • Academic or behavioral suspensions

  • Dismissal from university due to academic or behavioral issues

Students with anxiety might be more likely to avoid classes in which their disabilities are unrecognized. A student with ADHD may fail exams specifically because they are forced to take tests in distracting environments. A student whose professor refuses to recognize their disability may be more likely to speak rudely to their professor out of frustration.

These are the kinds of situations that the LLF National Law Firm helps students resolve.

The LLF National Law Firm Spares Students with Disabilities from Unfair Discipline, Ravaged Academic Records, and Opportunities Lost. Call Us Today.

Remediation. Suspension. Dismissal. These are the realities you or your student might face, at least in part, because the University of Illinois Chicago has not properly accommodated their disability.

Let us help. Resolving academic and disciplinary problems is our job, so do not wait to call the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online.

University of Illinois Chicago

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