Accessibility Services: Mission Statement and Policy

Our Mission

Accessibility Services’ (AS) goal is to work with students to identify, reduce, or remove barriers to obtain education. In pursuit of its mission AS:

  • helps students develop: self-advocacy skills, responsibility, independence, and develop and use compensatory skills.
  • assures that the services LSSU provides to students with disabilities are in compliance with legal mandates.
  • provides timely, efficient, and fair accommodations and services.
  • promotes awareness of services and accommodations available through Accessibility Services to students, prospective students, community, and LSSU: by contacting incoming freshman and transfer students; by presenting informational workshops; by providing informational materials.
  • maintains academic integrity of LSSU’s degrees  by monitoring substitutions and accommodations made for students with disabilities and by assuring substitutions and accommodations are being used responsibly.
  • acts as a liaison between students, faculty, staff, and others by assisting in negotiation of accommodations, promoting effective educational experiences, and providing services to enable students to have equal access to LSSU and its programs and services.
  • educates community, faculty, staff, and students about disabilities and prepares each to make use of feedback regarding the quality of educational accommodations each provides.
  • ensures appropriate documentation indicating the specific accommodations is provided by each student.
  • keeps current regarding trends and issues related to disabilities and informs relevant faculty and staff.
  • refers students to appropriate organizations when necessary.

Policy

Accessibility Services Policy Statement

Lake Superior State University is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive campus environment for people of all abilities. Our Accessibility Services (AS) office is committed to helping students with disabilities participate as fully as possible in the university’s programs, services, and activities.  It is our policy that persons with disabilities will have access to any program, service, or activity offered by the university that is comparable to the access received by persons without disabilities unless such access would place an undue burden upon the university. If technologies or other products are needed to provide access to university programs, services, or activities, AS will make every reasonable effort to purchase such products; if these products cannot be purchased, AS will make provisions for effective alternatives that meet the accessibility requirements.

Students with disabilities have a right to:

  • Request accommodations through the university’s AS office.
  • Receive accommodations appropriate to their disability in order to fully participate in, or benefit from, the university’s programs, services, and activities in a non-discriminatory, integrated manner.

To obtain the necessary accommodations, students are responsible for:

  • Meeting with the AS Coordinator to register for an accommodation plan.
  • Providing current supporting documentation regarding the requested accommodations.

Student Requirements for Accommodations

All students who identify themselves as having a disability should contact Accessibility Services (AS) to request accommodations.  Students with disabilities have the same obligations that all students have to meet all university standards for academic performance and codes of conduct. Faculty members are not obligated to provide accommodations to students without receiving an Accommodation Letter from the student, which notifies them of the accessibility accommodations the student is able to utilize.  Students should contact the AS office to make an appointment for setting up their accommodations.