College is tough. Dartmouth College can be especially tough. There’s no reason, though, that it should be tougher for some students than for others.
If you’re a student with a disability, there are laws that help to give you a level playing field. Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protect you from discrimination and harassment. They also ensure that you have all the materials and resources you need to make college as easy—and as hard—as it is for your peers.
You need to know, though, that college isn’t the same as high school. Courses are harder, professors are more demanding, and there are no IEPs to keep you on track. No one is going to identify your disability. If you want those materials and resources, the ones you’re entitled to, you have to ask for them.
The LLF National Law Firm can help you do that. Our Education Law Team exists to protect student rights, and over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of students to get the justice they deserve. We know the law, but more importantly, we know how Dartmouth College operates, and we can show you how to make the best of your four years there.
If you need help getting the disability rights you deserve, contact the LLF National Law Firm today to find out how we can help. Call 888-535-3686, or take a few minutes right now and fill out one of our online forms.
Applying For Services
Disability services at Dartmouth College are coordinated by Student Accessibility Services (SAS). In keeping with the college’s size, SAS doesn’t provide as many services as you might receive at a large university. Disability services’ most important responsibility, though, isn’t hosting a student lounge or sponsoring clubs. It’s dealing with accessibility issues on campus and providing students with necessary accommodations.
Accommodations are crucial to your success at Dartmouth, and it’s a good idea to contact SAS before you arrive on campus for your first semester. In fact, you should consider reaching out to the department the moment you discover you’re admitted to the college.
Your first official responsibility as a Dartmouth student with a disability is to apply for services. Here’s how that process works.
- First, you fill out SAS’s online application.
- You’ll also need to provide documentation of your disability. This information helps SAS determine which accommodations will best help you in your various courses. You can attach documentation to your application. You can also fax it or email it to SAS.
- Within two weeks of completing your application, someone from SAS will contact you about scheduling an intake appointment.
- At the intake appointment, you and an SAS staff member will work together to outline what adjustments and resources are going to give you the best chance of success at Dartmouth.
- SAS then emails accommodation letters to your instructors at the beginning of the semester. In future semesters, you simply log on to the site and request those emails.
You’ve been through the process of applying to college, so you know that things don’t always go the way they should when you’re filing out an application. Forms can be confusing. Documentation can get lost. The LLF National Law Firm can help you as you work through the steps of this process. We can make sure all of your materials are in order and work with you to get any doctors’ notes you may need to justify your accommodations.
We can help with more serious matters that come up as well. It sometimes happens, for example, that an SAS staff member decides to reject an accommodation you genuinely need. We don’t mind negotiating on your behalf. We can be stubborn when it comes to advocating for our clients’ rights.
The main thing to remember as you’re getting used to college life is that you have important rights as a Dartmouth College student and as a student with a disability. Don’t start thinking those rights are some kind of special privilege or advantage. They’re not. They’re designed to provide you with an equal education, and you should never be shy about demanding them. Any time you run into a problem, the LLF National Law Firm is here to help.
Dealing With Invisible Disabilities
Around eighty percent of all disabilities are invisible disabilities. Keep in mind that the law doesn’t just apply to some types of disability. Autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, PTSD, and even food allergies may make you eligible for accommodations.
It can sometimes be more difficult to get the services and materials you need if you have one of these invisible disabilities, though. Typically, SAS won’t put up any barriers, but you will run into faculty who fail to or refuse to implement your accommodations. In most cases, these issues are solved through simple communication. Professors deal with a lot of students, and when they’re not confronted with your disability in class, they may forget to give you extra time on an assignment or to send your exam to the SAS testing center. We can help remind them of their obligations.
As difficult as it is to believe, there are also some instructors out there who don’t believe invisible disabilities should entitle students to accommodations. The team at the LLF National Law Firm doesn’t mind convincing them, gently or otherwise, to honor their responsibilities under the law.
Maybe the most common issue with invisible disabilities, though, is that students either don’t realize they have a disability or don’t realize their disability entitles them to accommodations. Anxiety disorders and even depression are treated as disabilities under the law. If you are struggling to keep your GPA up despite your best efforts, the solution could be as simple as getting a proper diagnosis. The LLF National Law Firm can help with this process as well. We can make sure you have the necessary documentation and encourage SAS to process your request for accommodations quickly.
We can also petition Dartmouth to allow you to retake courses without penalty. You shouldn’t be held responsible for a low grade in a class if you didn’t have the necessary accommodations for that class. Even if you didn’t realize you had a disability, you were still entitled to those accommodations.
Filing a Formal Grievance
A lot of access issues are solved through conversation or negotiation, and we’re always glad to help you make your voice heard. Occasionally, though, making your voice heard requires a more formal approach. The LLF National Law Firm Team can help you in these cases as well.
- All students at Dartmouth have the right to file a grade appeal at the end of a quarter. This can sometimes be the best place to start. It’s a simple request asking an objective authority to reconsider your work.
- If you’re facing discrimination or harassment from another student or a campus organization, you can report this to the Office of Community Standards and Accountability. This will initiate the disciplinary misconduct process.
- If an SAS staff member has denied an accommodation request, you can appeal informally to the SAS Dean and Senior Director.
- However, you also have the option of filing a more formal appeal of SAS decisions with the college’s ADA Coordinator.
We are familiar with all of these procedures, and we can help you navigate them, whether that means working with you to draft a complaint, gathering evidence to support your argument, or negotiating directly on your behalf.
Disciplinary Misconduct Allegations
Most of the issues we’ve talked about to this point have to do with courses and grades. Students with disabilities do sometimes run into problems with a school’s disciplinary system as well. In recent years, colleges and universities have become almost draconian when it comes to enforcing rules and regulations, and it’s easy to become caught up in the system over a misunderstanding.
It is just as true, though, that students with disabilities face some challenges that other students just don’t. If you’re dealing with harassment, you may have gotten frustrated enough to respond in kind. If you’re stressed over campus access issues, it makes sense that maybe you blew off steam in a way that crossed some line.
Whatever your particular situation, the LLF National Law Firm is on your side. Whether you need someone to fight for your innocence or you just need someone to explain why you did what you did, we are ready to use every resource at our disposal to get you the best possible resolution to your case.
Remember: Dartmouth may be on your side most of the time. If you’ve been charged with misconduct, though, the college is your adversary. You need someone in your corner protecting your interests, someone who understands Dartmouth processes and procedures. You need someone from the LLF National Law Firm.
Trust the LLF National Law Firm
It’s hard enough for any student to get fair treatment from a school like Dartmouth College. Institutions can be a complicated tangle of rules and regulations. When you’re a student with a disability, it can be particularly challenging to convince faculty and administrators to honor your rights. Even just ensuring your professors treat your disability confidentially can be difficult.
You don’t have to deal with your university alone, though. Whatever disability issue you might be dealing with at Dartmouth College, the LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team is here to help. We know what to expect from colleges and universities, and we’re always on your side, whatever the situation. You can count on us to use every resource at our disposal to ensure you the best possible outcome.
It’s unfortunate, but sometimes, you have to fight for your educational rights. You don’t have to do that alone, though. To find out more about how we can help, contact the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686. Or, fill out our online questionnaire.