Disability Services

The policy and intent of Regent University is to fully comply with the following laws to the extent that they apply to the University:

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
• Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008
• Fair Housing Act
• Virginians with Disability Act (VA Code Sec. 51.5.5-41)

The university will provide reasonable accommodations to the documented physical and mental limitations of a qualified individual with a disability unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the university or unless it would fundamentally alter a degree or course requirement.

Regent University is committed to providing an accessible online experience for all users, including those with disabilities. In support of this, we are continually working to enhance the user experience for everyone, and, as appropriate, and striving to conform the website to generally-recognized guidelines for accessible web design, which are currently the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) 2.1 at Levels A and AA.Definitions.

If, despite these efforts, you still have difficulty accessing the material on the university website, please connect with us at any of the following numbers or contacts:

Disability Accommodations Coordinator: 757.352.4485 | disabilities@regent.edu
IT Help Desk: 757.352.4076 | helpdesk@regent.edu
Office of Admissions: 800.373.5504 | admissions@regent.edu
Office of Advising: 800.722.3680 | advising@regent.edu
Regent University Marketing: 757.352.4843 | marketing@regent.edu

Disability

A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity such as walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, or working.

Physical or Mental Impairment

Physical or mental impairments may include but are not limited to: mobility/orthopedic impairments, visual impairments, specific learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, psychological disorders, neurological impairments, or chronic medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or AIDS. The definition of disabilities do not include nonchronic impairments of short durations with little or no long-term impact, such as broken limbs, sprained joints, concussions, appendicitis, and influenza. Physical characteristics such as left-handedness and personality traits such as being irresponsible or having poor judgment, are not covered impairments.

Major Life Activity

A function such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, sitting, standing, lifting, reaching, working, or other everyday activities. Exercising cognitive functions is also a major life activity. Multiple impairments that combine to substantially limit a major life activity may also be considered a form of disability.  

Qualified Individual with a Disability

A person with a disability who is able to perform the essential functions of his or her academic activities, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Reasonable Accommodation

Any change or adjustment to an academic environment that permits a qualified student with a disability to participate in the academic process, without constituting a  fundamental alteration or imposing an undue hardship on the university. Accommodations must be considered and made on a case-by-case basis. Some examples of accommodations that may be considered are modifying examinations, providing copies of visual aids, permission to audio record lectures, or preferential seating.

Undue Hardship

Determined on the basis of the size of the university, the nature and cost of the accommodation, and whether the individual with the disability will pose a health and/or safety threat. An accommodation would generally be determined to represent an undue hardship if it would be unduly costly, extensive, substantial, or disruptive, or would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the university.

Fundamental Alteration

A change, exception, or alternative that would significantly change or alter the fundamental components of the course, program, or university.

Students

• A student’s request for accommodation does not automatically guarantee the provision of such accommodation. A request for disability accommodations is an involved interactive process between the individual, medical providers and disability services personnel.
• The individual should provide sufficient explanation and substantiation of the impairment caused by the specified and indicated barrier.
• In the event that a chosen accommodation is not deemed reasonable, and the request for such accommodation is denied, the Disability Services Office will work closely with the student to determine an alternative reasonable accommodation that is also effective.
• If a particular accommodation would be an undue hardship on the university, the university will try to find alternative accommodation that would not pose such a hardship. If cost is the cause of the undue hardship, the university will consider whether funding for the accommodation might be available from an outside agency. The individual will also be allowed to pay for the accommodation or any portion of the accommodation, that might constitute an undue hardship on the university.
• Regent University reserves the right to choose among reasonable accommodations as long as the chosen accommodation is effective. If an individual refuses a reasonable accommodation, the university will be deemed to have complied with its obligation under the ADA.
• The student may choose to accept or deny the approved accommodations.
• Students, when approved by the Disability Services Office, are not required to use all of the accommodations offered to them. However, students are encouraged to reach out and begin the process sooner rather than later.

Faculty and staff

Faculty and staff with questions and concerns should contact Patricia Brown, the Section 504 employee disability coordinator and director of Human Resources, at patrdo3@regent.edu or 757.352.4031.

Regent University will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodation in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If a student believes that the university has not adequately responded to a request for reasonable accommodation, the matter may be addressed according to the grievance procedures described in the Student Handbook.

Students in need of accommodations should reach out to the Disability Accommodations Coordinators as soon as possible with any questions.  The student can begin the process by clicking the link for the online request form below.

This will take you to our software for accommodations management, Accessible Information Management (AIM), where you can sign in using your Regent Portal Log In information and completing the form.

You will then be prompted to complete the secondary steps in the accommodations registration process. This will require you to supply appropriate documentation from your health care provider. Guidelines for documentation can be found below.

When reviewing documentation for the provision of accommodations, we look for 3 main qualifications. The qualifications are as follows:

1. Verification of the diagnosis of disability that the accommodations are being requested for (should be from a provider who is qualified to speak on behalf of the disability being referenced).
2. Explanation of how the diagnosis affects you (specifically in the academic setting).
3. Specific college-based recommendations for accommodations to help mitigate the effects of the disability mentioned above (helpful if it provides the reason for why these accommodations would be helpful.

Additionally, we look for documentation to be provided on official letterhead with the specific information from the provider including contact information, license number, signature, and practice information. The Disability Services Office may reach out to the provider to obtain additional information if needed to properly assist the student.

Please note that the Office of Disability Services has developed and provided a Disability Verification Form to ease the process for students and providers and to ensure that all necessary information is provided. Students are in no way required to provide this form, but all documentation will be measured against the standards above.

Documentation can be submitted in the online software AIM as the final step in the application process. 

Students can request their professors be notified about their accommodations by selecting them in the student’s AIM user profile. The Disability Services office will give final approval and professors will be sent a Faculty Notification Letter via email. If a student does not request this and indicate the specific classes for which accommodation is sought, no accommodation will be provided for that class.

In order to best prepare the student for success and in order to ensure efficient service and implementation of accommodations to all students, the Office of Disability Services has the following suggested deadlines for both submitting an initial request and requesting the notification to the professors. 

Students are encouraged to reach out to the office to send the Faculty Notification or get started with the process of accommodations as soon as possible, preferably well in advance of the start of the semester. The communication between provider, student, and the office can take some time. Additionally, if the student is approved for accommodation that may require the provision of materials such as captioned videos, notes, or alternative textbooks, this request should be made as early as possible to give the Office of Disability Services sufficient time to gather and disperse the materials.

It is also important for the student to note that no accommodation will be applied retroactively. This means that accommodations will not apply to any assignments or course materials, assignments, classes, tests, etc. before the notification of accommodations was sent by the Disability Services Office to the professors. To ensure that all course and class material is covered under their accommodations, student should submit their requests BEFORE the start of the semester or session.

We recognize that it is not always possible to submit an application prior to the start of the term.  In order for accommodations to have an impact on the student experience, we have established suggested deadlines for applications for accommodation, as follows:

8-Week Courses

For 8-week courses, regardless of session, please refer to the following suggested deadlines:

• For initial requests – It is recommended that a student reach out and submit documentation no later than the end of Week 5 of that session.
• For Faculty Notification – It is recommended that students select and request the professors to be notified no later than the end of Week 6 of that semester.

15-Week Courses

For 15-week courses, regardless of semester, please refer to the following suggested deadlines:

• For initial requests – It is recommended that a student reach out and submit documentation no later than the end of Week 10 of that session.
• For Faculty Notification – It is recommended that students select and request the professors to be notified no later than the end of Week 13 of that semester.

Please note that while these deadlines are suggested, students may submit new requests and faculty notification requests after the identified deadlines. However, students should be aware that any requests submitted after this deadline may not be processed and sent to the necessary parties before the end of the session/semester. In addition, as stated above, accommodations are not retroactive and will only be offered after the student has submitted the proper application and documentation, and the Office of Disability Services has had time to evaluate this submission.  Also, where adaptive materials, such as audio books are requested, it takes time with the publisher to process the request. 

In accordance with the Americans with Disability Act and its amendments, Service Animals are welcome on campus in order to assist individuals with qualifying disabilities. This applies to individuals visiting to obtain information about Regent, attend class, or access any of the campus services (Regent Giftshop, the Regent Ordinary Café, etc.)

Students are not required to provide documentation to, nor are they required to register the animal with, the Office of Disability Services. However, students are encouraged to reach out to the Office of Disability Services about the animal being on-campus frequently, and may be asked if the animal is a service animal as opposed to a pet or comfort animal.

Regent University adheres to the definition of a Service Animal as defined by the American with Disabilities Act and its subsequent Amendments. Service animals are working animals- dogs or miniature horses in places that can accommodate them- who are specially trained to perform a certain task or work. These tasks and work could be anything from guiding people with vision impairments, alerting people with hearing impairments, pulling wheelchairs, alerting and protecting a person with a seizure, or other specialized tasks related to a person’s disability. Animals who have not received specialized training, or whose sole task is to provide comfort or emotional support, are typically not considered service animals and would not be considered under these policies. Students seeking and Emotional Support Animal, should refer to the Emotional Support Animal tab below.

Regent University reserves the right to ask the following questions to determine whether an animal is fit to be qualified as a service animal:

1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

In accordance with the Fair Housing Act, Regent University Office of Disability Services is happy to allow the Emotional Support Animals to live in campus housing. However, this is considered an accommodation, and must be requested and approved before the animal is permitted on and in campus housing. A student should request permission to keep an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) on campus, through the online request form mentioned in the Requesting Accommodations Section, as well as supplying the appropriate and sufficient documentation.

Documentation is expected to meet the standards outlined in the Documentation Guidelines section included above. Additionally, if a letter is submitted rather than the Disability Verification Form, it should meet the criteria identified below.

Letters or documentation should be from a treating clinician, physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor/therapist, etc. and should include the following information:

• Your complete name
• The dates of service including the date of your most recent visit to the provider
• Verification that you have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits you in at least one major life activity or bodily function (specify diagnosis)
• That the ESA is needed to alleviate a symptom or effect of the disability

This letter or documentation should be on official letterhead from the provider, and should include the provider’s signature and identifying license information. This letter should be submitted to the Office of Disability Services and may be required to renew each year.

Emotional Support Animals will NOT be permitted on campus or in campus housing, until the accommodation has been approved from the Office of Disability Services and Student Housing has given permission to the student. This is because of necessary steps to ensure that the proper roommates’ agreements are in place. If an animal is brought to campus before the accommodation is fully approved, the student may be asked to remove the animal from campus, regardless of where the student has traveled from.

Please note that emotional support animals will only be permitted in the Regent Student Housing area and are not permitted elsewhere on campus such as in classrooms. Any walks the animal may require should be done within the Student Housing area.

Accommodations are provided and determined on a case-by-case basis. Because of this, we do not have a comprehensive list of every accommodation or service provided. We can create an accommodation based on a student’s specific needs and difficulties so long as it does not cause an undue burden or hardship on the university or cause a fundamental alteration of the course or program.

As a general part of the procedure, Regent University requests the completion of the Disability Verification Form, but will accept other forms of documentation providing comparable information. This is a form completed by the student and a health professional who can attest to the disability or diagnosis at hand. This documentation allows for a standardized process and provides the University with information that is helpful in the consideration of accommodation requests. If the documentation does not provide all relevant information, or justify the provision of a specific accommodation, the Disability Services staff may request additional documentation.

While it is helpful in the consideration of accommodation requests to be provided with the documentation of previous accommodations, this does not satisfy the need for documentation, nor does it guarantee the provision of those specific accommodations by Regent University. 

The process does not have a set timeframe. The length of the process largely depends on how long it takes for the Disability Verification Form to be completed. Once we receive the fully completed paperwork, we typically process within 5-7 business days, barring any complications or questions. There may also be delay in the provision of supplemental materials such as audio books, depending on the availability and the response from the textbook provider.

An Emotional Support Animal may be a dog, cat, small bird, rabbit, hamster, gerbil, other rodent, fish, turtle, or other small, domesticated animal that is traditionally kept in the home for pleasure. Reptiles (other than turtles), barnyard animals, monkeys, kangaroos, and other non-domesticated animals are not considered common household animals, and will not be considered appropriate emotional support animals. Deviations from this list will require additional medical documentation that clearly identifies the specific need for said animal and how it is connected to the disability.

Accommodations at the postsecondary level differ from 504 plans and Individualized Educational Plans in how they are applied to a higher education setting. Some accommodations provided in the K-12 level may not be applicable in the higher education setting. Other accommodations may be implemented in a different manner.

The Disability Verification Form can be filled out by any licensed medical professional  who is qualified to speak on behalf of the disability or diagnosis the individual is seeking accommodations for. This could be a psychiatrist, counselor/therapist, general practitioner, or another qualified medical professional. Your Disability Verification Form should be completed by someone who has a specific understanding of your diagnosis and how it affects you specifically.