| VGCC Disability Services |
| Our Mission Disability Services is the College's coordinating center for equality of opportunity in education and campus life for qualified students with disabilities. We support individual consumer choice and independence through self-advocacy and legislatively-ensured civil rights. About Us Coordinating services and accommodations to ensure accessibility and usability of all programs, services, and activities of the College by students with disabilities. Documenting Student Disability The director of Counseling Services reviews student request for reasonable accommodation in terms of the rights of individuals with disabilities to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. Students with Disabilities This institution abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which mandates academic adjustments, which are commonly called reasonable accommodation, be provided for students with documented disabilities. If you have a disability and may require some type of instructional and/or examination accommodation, please contact me early in the semester so that I can provide or facilitate in providing accommodations your may need. If you have not already done so, you will need to contact the Disability Services office, the designated office on campus to provide services for students with disabilities. The office is located in Student Affairs Bldg #8 (Henderson main campus) and the telephone number is (252) 738-3234. I look forward to talking with you soon. The Self-Advocacy of Disability Accommodation Disability Services (DS) takes a consumerist, independent-living approach to disability inclusion on campus. This approach comes in two forms: student choice and student responsibility for self-advocacy. In the philosophy of independent living, personal choice cannot occur without personal authority and responsibility over one's own life. Students with disabilities and their families are often surprised to find a very different approach to disability in college from what they experienced in high school. The difference is a result of very different federal regulations. K-12 institutions are required to identify students with disabilities and to take appropriate steps toward ensuring them a free and appropriate education under an individualized education plan (IEP) or Section 504 Plan for students with disabilities who do not need special education. Post-secondary institutions, on the other hand, are prohibited from discriminating against students with disabilities on the basis of disability—and they are required proactively to provide services and reasonable accommodations to ensure equality of opportunity. In other words, in grades K-12, the school was required to tailor education to your educational needs. In college, on the other hand, if you have a disability which must be accommodated by the college in order to ensure your equality of opportunity, you must identify yourself as a student with a disability, provide current and comprehensive clinical documentation of your disability, and request services or reasonable accommodations which are consistent with the known limitations imposed by your disability. Only equality of opportunity is ensured. No attempt is made by the college to ensure you a disability-appropriate education, and there is no assurance of your academic success—as is the case with all college students. If you formerly had an IEP or Section 504 Plan, it terminated at high school graduation. The US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights provides additional information for high school students preparing for postsecondary education. How We Assist Are students left on their own to fend for themselves, then? No … surely not! DS is here to collaborate with you to determine what services and accommodations will ensure your equality of opportunity. Each semester, we provide you with a printed form letter to the faculty and staff of the college, detailing your necessary services and accommodations and explaining how they can be implemented. It is your responsibility to pick up your accommodation form letter at DS every semester and to meet with your instructors or college staff personally to discuss your accommodations with them. Do not assume that DS contacts your instructors for you. Remember, again, that whether you receive services and accommodations is your choice, and oversight is your choice, and oversight is your responsibility. However, DS is always here and will advocate in your behalf should it become necessary. Is DS interested in your academic, social, and career success? Yes! We care about your success, and we at DS play a significant and proactive role in college compliance with government regulations that ensure your civil right of equal opportunity. We are frequently in touch with VGCC faculty and staff, sometimes behind the scenes but often front and center. Resources
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