Students with disabilities have important rights at Columbia University. That’s true whether you have ADHD or you need wheelchair assistance. Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protect you from discrimination. In addition, they guarantee you access to any materials and services you may need to earn your education. Columbia honors its legal obligations by maintaining a robust Disability Services office that ensures you’re treated fairly and afforded every accommodation you need.
It can still be the case, though, that you encounter faculty, students, and administrators who deliberately or otherwise place barriers in your way. Maybe a professor refuses to acknowledge that you need more time to complete assignments. Maybe a facilities supervisor wants to drag their feet when it comes to making architectural adjustments on campus.
Whatever your specific situation, the LLF National Law Firm is here to help students with disabilities achieve the success to which they are entitled. We know Columbia’s rules and regulations, and we know how to navigate the university’s many complex policies and procedures. Whether you’re struggling to meet GPA standards or you’re fighting to get a particular technology that’s essential to your learning, our Education Law Team is always on your side. We’ll make sure you’re treated fairly and that you get a just resolution to your case.
What can we do for you? Find out by calling 888-535-3686, or take a few minutes right now and fill out one of their online forms.
The Columbia Disability Services Office
Columbia’s Disability Services (DS) office coordinates all of the university’s many disability services. It serves as a kind of one-stop shop for any disabled student’s needs.
- DS conducts all disability registrations. It’s the first place you should visit when you arrive on campus.
- DS works with students to develop accommodation plans based on their individual disabilities.
- DS issues accommodation letters, explaining to instructors how they should respond to your specific needs as a student.
- DS makes sure that you have appropriate housing accommodations.
- DS conducts course testing for students who need a special environment.
- DS generally advocates for you with the university at large. If you have an access complaint, for example, you should report that complaint directly to DS.
Even if you received services and materials in high school, DS won’t know your background. It is up to you to proactively make the office aware of your needs. That process starts with filling out an application and emailing it to the office. This application requires supporting documentation as well—evidence of your specific diagnosis. DS must approve that application, and then you must meet with a coordinator who will help you develop an accommodations plan. Only at this point will the office issue formal accommodation letters for your courses, and you must make new requests for letters each semester.
The process itself can be difficult to navigate, and plenty of problems can come up along the way. It’s not always easy, for instance, to get the documentation you need. DS sometimes takes too long to reach decisions. Occasionally, coordinators deny students resources they genuinely need.
Your LLF National Law Firm attorney can walk you through the entire process step-by-step. We’ll make sure your documentation is in order and that it gets to the DS in a timely manner. We can pressure DS to reconsider decisions about your accommodations. And while this office has primary responsibility for ensuring instructors implement your accommodations, your LLF National Law Firm attorney can also play a role in protecting your rights to fair treatment in the classroom.
Under the law, you have the right to reasonable accommodations—whatever you need to succeed as a student. If classrooms and dorms need to be physically altered, the university must respond to those needs. Likewise, if you need tutors, note-takers, access to special technology, a quiet environment in which to take tests, extra time to complete assignments, or textbooks in braille, it is the university’s responsibility to provide these materials and services.
This responsibility isn’t just a moral or ethical imperative. Nor does Columbia offer you resources out of pity. You deserve a fair playing field, and federal law says you have a right to one. Never be shy about using these resources or about demanding them if they’re being denied to you. And know that the LLF National Law Firm is here to help you make those demands.
Invisible Disabilities
The law doesn’t just apply to physical disabilities. Learning disabilities and other so-called “invisible” disabilities qualify under the law as well.
If you have such a disability, though, you know it can sometimes be challenging to convince others of your rights. When faculty can’t see a disability, they sometimes overlook that disability. It may be incumbent upon you to remind them. Your LLF National Law Firm attorney can help.
It’s also sometimes the case that an invisible learning disability is invisible even to the person who has the disability. If you’re struggling to keep your GPA up or you seem to have difficulty in certain kinds of classes or on certain kinds of tests, you may have an undiagnosed disability. A LLF National Law Firm attorney can work with you to get tested, help you document your diagnosis, and encourage DS to move quickly to develop an accommodation plan.
We can also petition Columbia to remove low course grades from your GPA. Federal disability laws apply to you even if you don’t know you have a disability. Once you discover you have one, they apply retroactively. If you didn’t have the proper testing environment when you were taking calculus, you were denied an appropriate accommodation. You have the right to take that class again for replacement credit.
Demanding Your Rights
Often, The LLF National Law Firm attorneys can solve academic issues through informal channels, simply by visiting with administrators and faculty. It does sometimes become necessary, though, to take formal action to protect our clients’ rights.
Columbia offers a variety of ways to address serious violations of your disability rights.
- You can talk with a department head about problems you may be having with an instructor. If you have a complaint about a department head, you can take this to the dean of your school or college. These officials are empowered to investigate complaints and provide relief when necessary.
- Likewise, the university’s Ombuds Office can engage in mediation or refer you to another appropriate resource to solve problems.
- Finally, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action deals specifically with issues relating to disability and other kinds of Civil Rights.
Whatever process you may be dealing with, your LLF National Law Firm attorney will be well-versed in procedures and can help guide you through them. Our primary concern is always you rather than the university, and where administrators may fail to respond, you can count on us to take your concerns seriously.
Disciplinary Misconduct Issues
Finally, there is another important issue that students with disabilities sometimes encounter: challenges with the school’s disciplinary misconduct policy. Such policies don’t always take into account your individual needs, and it can be helpful to have a LLF National Law Firm attorney at your side anytime you find yourself accused of an offense.
- Faculty sometimes misunderstand the characteristics of a disability and label it “disruption.”
- Other students can misunderstand as well, and this can generate personal conflicts.
- Students with disabilities are sometimes called on to defend themselves from harassment.
In many cases, the LLF National Law Firm can intervene early and prevent a conflict from developing into a full-blown disciplinary charge. We can make sure instructors understand your situation. We can remind administrators of their obligation to take your rights into account.
Of course, if your case should move to an investigation, we can play a crucial role in defending you, from helping you uncover evidence to coaching you in responding to investigative questions. Likewise, we can work with you to prepare your hearing presentation. We can suggest questions for witnesses and offer advice on how to make your case.
At every point along the way, you can be sure we will monitor what happens and make sure Columbia respects all of your rights.
Trust the LLF National Law Firm
It’s hard enough to get fair treatment from a university like Columbia. 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 Columbia, 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.