Equal access to campus resources means all students can unlock their full potential.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1972, protects individuals with disabilities, and guarantees them certain protections and rights to equal access to programs and services. In order to access these rights, an individual must present documentation indicating that the disability substantially limits a major life activity, including learning. The College provides reasonable accommodations to students with documented disabilities. It is the student’s responsibility to provide NYSID’s disability coordinator with written documentation from a qualified professional stating the accommodation requested. Students must comply with all College requests for documentation. Testing and/or documentation must be less than two years old. Students must provide this documentation no later than one month prior to the start of the semester in which services will be initiated.
Students are required to maintain ongoing involvement in securing and implementing accommodations; students are expected to work collaboratively with the disability coordinator, their academic advisor and with their instructors to arrange and implement approved accommodations.
The disability coordinator will determine the accommodations based on the student’s documentation as completed by the qualified professional coupled with the stated student needs. Reasonable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis.
NYSID is not required to significantly change or alter curriculum, schedules, requirements, attendance policies, or learning expectations to accommodate disabilities. Accommodations are adjustments that facilitate completion of student work. Students are required to meet the academic and technical proficiencies for their respective program, and exams and curricula cannot be modified. In studio- based courses, project deadlines cannot be adjusted and all students regardless of disability will be required to meet project and presentation deadlines.
More information can be obtained by contacting the disability coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs at 212-472-1500, ext. 303.
Service Animal Policy: A service animal is defined as a dog (an animal) individually and specifically trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. Examples of the functions of service animals include but are not limited to guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure or calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack. Service animals are working animals, not pets.
The work or task a service animal has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Requests for service animals must be processed by the disability coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs. The request must be in writing to Office of Academic Affairs, Disabilities Coordinator, 170 E 70 St, NY, NY 10021 and include:
- Affirmation that the service animal is required due to a disability
- A description of the specific tasks or work the animal has been trained to perform
- Documentation that the service animal is in compliance with all required NY State and NY City requirements associated with licensing, vaccinations, and other health regulations
Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.