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- [Instructor] Hello, and welcome

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to the Student Accessibility
Services instructional video

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on sending accommodation letters.

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Remember that you must watch this video

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as well as any other relevant videos

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including those on exam scheduling,

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requesting and retrieving
notes, and/or eBooks

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before filling out our form
that will then give you access

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to the myACCESS web portal
within one business day.

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Again, you must watch all the
videos and complete that form,

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and then wait for the reply
within one business day

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to UVM email that gives you
access to use the web portal.

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So in terms of sending
out accommodation letters,

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the first step is to actually navigate

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to our myACCESS web portal.

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The easiest way to get there

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is either through your myUVM web portal,

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or if you go to our homepage,
which is UVM.edu/access,

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you can scroll down on the right-hand side

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about halfway down,

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you'll see a link that says
myACCESS student portal.

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Now this brings you to the
myACCESS student portal homepage

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and I would recommend
bookmarking this page

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just because it's going to be your hub

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for using accommodations

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throughout the course of the semester.

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Now, in terms of sending
accommodation letters,

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it's important to emphasize

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that this is the first
step in any semester.

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So before you schedule any
exams or request any notes

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or any other accommodation
to any one of your courses,

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you need to first inform your faculty

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of the accommodations
that you're requesting

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in your courses for that semester.

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Now, future semesters,

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after having gone through this process,

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we'll actually give you
access to the web portal

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on the first day of classes

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without you having to kind
of go through this process

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of watching instructional videos.

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However, you will still need,
each and every semester,

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if you want to utilize accommodations,

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to send out a new batch of
letters for your new courses.

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So on the left-hand side, we have an icon.

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This is accommodation letters.
It's the envelope icon.

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So we're gonna click that,

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and then we're gonna go
to the accommodations tab

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on the top, left-hand side,

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right under the main menu button.

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Now, what this will do is
bring up a list of the courses

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that you registered for in
this particular semester.

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So always make sure

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that you have the
appropriate term selected

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here in the drop-down menu,

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and also remember that
you're never gonna be able

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to send letters in advance
of the first day of classes.

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Anytime during the semester,

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you will be able to send letters,

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but you'll not be able to send letters

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prior to that first day of classes.

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Now, during the add/drop
period, if you add a class,

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that will show up for
you the following morning

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after you register, and
if you drop a class,

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that will disappear for
you the following morning

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after you drop it.

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So what we're gonna do
here is click requests

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on the right-hand side
of any of the courses

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that are listed there for you,

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and it's gonna bring up a
list on the left-hand side

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of the accommodations
that you're eligible for,

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and then on the right-hand side,

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you'll see a list of the courses

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that you're currently registered for.

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So what you want to think about here

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is what accommodations
you're going to request

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in each one of your courses.

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What I usually emphasize to students

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is that just because you're
requesting an accommodation,

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in no way mandates that you
have to use that accommodation

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in that particular course,

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but it does give you
the option of using it.

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So I usually suggest to students

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that you err on the side of caution

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if you're at all unsure
as to whether or not

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you're gonna use an
accommodation, put it in place

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just because you're still
under no obligation to use it.

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If you don't put an
accommodation on a letter,

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you can always change your mind

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and add it in later on in the semester,

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but you'll have to go through a process

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of first letting your specialists know,

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and then faculty are
given a period of time

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in order to implement the accommodation

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if it's something you put in place

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halfway through the semester.

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So just make sure to think about that

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before you send the letter off, and again,

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err on the side of caution.

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If you put an accommodation in
place in a particular course

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and end up not needing it,

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it's not the end of the world, it's okay.

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So you have a few options here.

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So some students decide

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that they want all their accommodations

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in every one of their courses,

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and that's certainly fine if
that applies in your case,

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and so what you can do is make sure

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that all the accommodations
are checked off

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on the left-hand side,

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and then you can check
off all your courses

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on the right-hand side,

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and then you would select,

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"My accommodations are
correct the way they are,"

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here in the left side.

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Please leave this optional note blank.

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If you do fill that out,

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it will actually go to your specialist

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as opposed to your faculty member.

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So I'll talk in a moment
about what you can do

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if you wanna send a note
to your faculty member

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about the accommodations
you're requesting,

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but this will go to your specialist

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and will prevent the letter

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from going directly to
the faculty members.

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So you can leave that blank.

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And then we have some terms
and conditions at the bottom

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which I'll get to in a moment.

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However, if you decided

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that you wanted a different
accommodations in place

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in different courses,
you could actually say,

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"Okay, in this course, SAS 101,

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in this case, I'm gonna
select all my accommodations

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and then you can submit your letter

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and then you could go
back for CFAS 202 here

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and select three accommodations,

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say, let's leave out peer note-taker...

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And then send that letter off.

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So you have the flexibility

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of putting all of the accommodations
in all of your courses,

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or you can kind of customize
them one after the other,

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which is what we'll do here.

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Now, the terms and
conditions at the bottom

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basically emphasize that
it's really important

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for you to follow up with your faculty

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after you send these
accommodation letters.

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So the biggest difference
from accommodations

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at the K through 12 level to college

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is that it is incumbent
upon you as the student

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in a college or university environment

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to follow up with your faculty

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after you send your accomodation letter.

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So by sending the
accommodation letter here,

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you are officially
informing a faculty member

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that you're eligible
for these accommodations

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and that you're requesting
them in that particular course.

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But because each and
every course is different

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and how a faculty member teaches
that course is different,

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you are going to want to
follow up via an email

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or an in-person conversation
with a faculty member.

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It doesn't have to be
anything super in-depth,

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but just to touch base with them

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and see if they have any
questions about the accommodations

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that you're requesting.

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If you don't do that,

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you are jeopardizing
potentially your ability

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to use that accommodation
in that particular course.

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And after you kind of
go through the process

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of watching these videos
and filling out the form,

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you'll actually get an
example email template

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that you're welcome to use

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if you are unsure about how to go about

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following up with a faculty member.

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You can always check with
our office for support

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and your specialists can
certainly help with that as well.

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But you're not gonna agree to these terms

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and then you'll click submit.

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So that sends off the letter there.

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And I'm gonna go back in SAS 101

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and I'm gonna request all my
accommodations in that course.

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Gonna click "My accommodations and current

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the way they are."

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And say that I agree to
the terms and submit.

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And that way both of my letters are sent.

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Now you can actually
view a copy of the letter

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that you're sending to the faculty member

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once you do submit it.

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If you go to get letter
on the right-hand side,

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it will pull up a copy of the letter.

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It's gonna be a PDF so we
can open it with Adobe.

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It may also open directly in your browser.

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And so what you'll see
here is an official letter

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that comes from Student
Accessibility Services

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addressed to the faculty member.

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Your specialist's name
will be listed on it

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as well as your name.

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And then it will list the
classroom and exam accommodations

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that you're requesting in
that particular course.

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Also, please note, again,
student steps and faculty steps.

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This emphasizes again
to the faculty member

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that you as the student,
after having sent this letter

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are gonna follow up
with the faculty member

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and that is your responsibility
to have that follow up

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and if the faculty
member has any questions,

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they need to let you know.

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It's important to remember
that if a faculty member

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has a concern about an accommodation,

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they're always welcome
to be in touch with us.

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But when push comes to
shove, a faculty member

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can only challenge an
accommodation request

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if it compromises an essential
element of the course.

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That has to be a
conversation with our office.

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Generally, faculty are going to be

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very accustomed to this process.

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We work with about 20% of the
UVM population here at SAS

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so faculty members

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are generally gonna have
multiple students in each course

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that are requesting accommodations

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and most faculty members are familiar

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with what that looks like.

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If you ever get pushback

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and are not sure about how to handle that,

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please be in touch with our
office, but also keep in mind,

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once you do have that
follow-up conversation

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with a faculty member which is step two

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after step one of sending
these letters out to them,

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that it is their responsibility

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to provide those accommodations
for you in that course,

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or if they have a concern

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to let you and to let our office know.

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And this is exactly what
the faculty member sees

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on their end.

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They have their own side of the web portal

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and so this is just kind of a handy guide.

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If you're unsure

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or you want to know
what the faculty member

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is seeing on their end, you
can always reference this.

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I also want to point out
that we do not in any way

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disclose anything confidential
about you in the letter.

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It doesn't disclose anything

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alluding to a student's
diagnosis or disability,

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it's just about the accommodations
that you're requesting.

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And the reason I say that

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is because that information
is kept confidential in SAS.

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Faculty members do not need
to know why you were eligible

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for particular accommodation,
they just need to know

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what accommodations you're eligible for.

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And so when you have that
follow-up conversation

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with the faculty member,

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please know that you are in
no way expected or required

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to disclose anything
related to your disability.

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If that's something that you want to do,

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that's entirely your right,

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but just please understand
that that is not an expectation

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from Student Accessibility Services

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and that information is kept confidential

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and it's not necessary in order for you

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to get the accommodation in
place in a particular course.

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Now, back to the web portal.

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Once you've sent your
accommodation letters,

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you're essentially set for
the rest of the semester

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unless you add a class,
which I said earlier,

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will show up for you the following morning

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after you register.

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If you send a letter for a
course that you end up dropping,

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that will be removed overnight
after you drop the course.

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So that's the process for sending
out accommodation letters.

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And again, please watch our
other instructional videos

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as it relates to other accommodations

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if they're relevant for
you on booking a test

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or scheduling an exam,

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00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,560
requesting or retrieving
notes, requesting eBooks.

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Once you're completed
watching those videos,

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you can go to the student forums
page here and then complete

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the SAS workshop video
training confirmation.

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Once you complete that,

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you'll get a response
within one business day,

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confirming that you filled out the from,

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you've watched the videos and
give you access to the portal

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to go and send your accommodation letters.

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Thanks very much.