Student Handbook - Disability Services

The Disabilities Services program philosophy is to facilitate accessibility to education and foster independence in individuals with disabilities. This is accomplished through empowerment, support, resources and advocacy throughout MCC’s programs and activities. Each MCC campus has professional staff ready to provide assistance to individuals with documented disabilities. These student services specialists provide information, resources and serve as a link between students with disabilities and Mohave Community College. For more information and additional related resources, visit Disability Services, the MCC Catalog, or call MCC Connect  or 1.866.664.2832 (TTY Use Relay 771).

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. A major life activity also includes the operation of a major bodily function, including but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions. As a courtesy, Mohave Community College may accommodate a student with a temporary disability. Temporary disabilities are generally not covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This includes, but is not limited to, such things as illness, injuries, and other impairments that will generally resolve within six months. A student who wants an accommodation based on a disability must:

• Have a disability covered by the law
• Be qualified with or without a reasonable accommodation
• Identify himself/herself as having a covered disability
• Request an accommodation

Qualified students with disabilities are not entitled to accommodations if they have not self-identified, have not provided appropriate documentation and have not requested accommodations. In order to receive accommodations, a student must provide appropriate documentation of his/her disability to the Office of Compliance. Appropriate documentation includes a diagnosis by a certified professional, as well as a description of the limitations that are a result of that diagnosis.

Federal Law Regarding People with Disabilities - Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – “No otherwise qualified handicapped* individual in the United States…shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied benefits of, nor be subjected to discrimination under any program activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Note: Handicap/handicapped is the wording used in the law that was passed in 1973. Disability/disabled are the terms that are used today.

Americans with Disability Act - ADA is a comprehensive Civil Rights Act protecting the rights of people with disabilities. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the areas of private employment, public accommodations and services, transportation, and telecommunications. The Americans with Disabilities Act also prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability with regard to admission to educational institutions or vocational training programs (public or private); job application procedures; hiring, advancement or discharge of employees; employee compensation; job training; and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment.

The Accommodation Process

The Office of Compliance is the office that has been designated to facilitate services and resources for students with documented disabilities. The College does not provide personal devices, personal attendants or transportation. The Office of Compliance:

• Maintains documentation related to a student’s disability and student accommodation requests
• Supports and assists students with a disability
• In collaboration with the student and instructor determines and reviews accommodation requests each term
• Uses student provided documentation to determine if a student is an individual with a disability.
• Facilitates reasonable accommodations
• Ensures that Mohave Community College is ADA compliant in both real and virtual environments
• Maintains confidentiality of all disability records

Students who feel they meet the qualifications as an individual with a disability must self-identify and provide appropriate documentation to the Office of Compliance (see below). Without appropriate documentation, no accommodations can be provided to the student. Accommodations are based on the documented disability. For example, a student with a back injury will require different accommodations than a student with a learning disability. Accommodations are developed on an individualized, case-by-case basis.

Accommodations must be requested each semester a student is enrolled in classes. If a student is registered with the Office of Compliance, but has not developed and signed accommodation requests, he/she will not be eligible to receive accommodations.

Requesting Accommodations

The College may require up to six weeks’ notice to have time to provide disability related accommodations. All disability-related information obtained from students is confidential and shared with faculty and staff on a need-to-know basis.

The process for requesting accommodations is as follows:

1. Request and obtain disability documentation from your medical, educational or psychological professional.
2. Call 1-866-664-2832 (TTY Use Relay 771) to make an appointment with a student services specialist at your local campus.
3. Complete a Disability Services Intake Form available on the Disability Services webpage.
4. Bring a copy of disability documentation to your appointment, or the contact information for certified professional to obtain documentation.
5. Discuss appropriate courses.
6. Request accommodations based on the provided documentation and registered courses.
7. Documentation and accommodations requested will be sent to the Office of Compliance for review.
8. The Office of Compliance may contact the student to discuss requested accommodations.
9. The Office of Compliance will create an Accommodation Request Forms for approved accommodations, and send them to the student for a signature.
10. The Office of Compliance will send signed Accommodation Requests to instructors.

Students should discuss their requested accommodations with each instructor to clarify expectations.

Note: Students are responsible for reviewing and signing Accommodation Request Forms each semester to ensure that the accommodations are appropriate and that the instructors are informed of any new or changed accommodations that are needed. 

Documentation

Documentation serves two purposes in post-secondary education:

1. To establish protection from discrimination AND
2. To determine the accommodations to which the individual may be entitled

This documentation must be provided by a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, or medical doctor. Documentation on a handwritten prescription pad is not sufficient and will not be accepted. Disability documentation for the purpose of providing accommodations must establish the disability and provide adequate information on the functional impact of the disability so that effective accommodations can be identified. This documentation is confidential and will be used for the sole purpose of determining which accommodations are appropriate. All documentation will be reviewed on an individual, case-by-case basis.

The Office of Compliance Guidelines for Documentation

A school plan, such as an IEP or 504 is helpful, but is not sufficient documentation unless it contains the items listed.

Parking for People with Disabilities

Certain parking spaces on all MCC campuses are designated for those people with documented physical disabilities. These spaces are marked with the international symbol of accessibility. Only vehicles displaying the appropriate identification/placard as designated by Arizona State law or the state in which the vehicle is registered may park in these designated spaces.

Mohave Community College follows the Arizona State Revised Statute 28-884.

Exception: Any person who is chauffeuring a person with a physical disability shall be allowed to park, momentarily, in any space designated as parking for persons with a physical disability, for the purpose of loading and unloading a person with such a disability.

Service Animal Guidelines

Mohave Community College is committed to providing reasonable accommodation pursuant to the American’s with Disabilities Act and other relevant laws. These guidelines provide information regarding the accommodation process for individuals using service animals.

A service animal is any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability.

Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. The crime deterrent effects of an animal’s presence and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition. In certain situations, a service animal may include a housebroken miniature horse.

Short-term Visitors and Members of the Public

In the event that a member of the community is attending an event or using the library they will not be asked to document a disability to bring a service animal onto campus. Questions or concerns regarding the appropriateness of a service animal being on campus are to be brought to the attention of the Office of Compliance.

Students

As with any other accommodation, Mohave Community College students who use a service animal on campus are required to register with the Office of Compliance and engage in an interactive accommodation process, which may require certain documentation.

Employees

As with any other accommodation, Mohave Community College employees who use a service animal on campus are required to speak with MCC Human Resources and engage in an interactive accommodation process, which may require certain documentation.

General Requirements for Individuals Using Service Animals

Except for licensing and vaccination requirements, MCC will make reasonable accommodation for individuals who are not able to comply with these requirements due to disability.

1. A service animal will be permitted to accompany a person with a disability unless:
   1. The animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others.
   2. The animal fundamentally alters the nature of the place, services or activities.
   3. The environment poses a threat to the health or safety of the service animal.
   4. The animal poses an undue burden.
   5. The animal is unruly or disruptive.

Note: Except in an immediate safety situation, the Office of Compliance should be contacted prior to excluding a service animal.

2. The animal must be immunized in accordance with the county and/or city requirements where the animal is being brought on to MCC property.
3. The animal must be licensed in accordance with the county and/or city requirements where the animal is being used, and must display the license as required by that county or city.
4. The user must be in control of the animal at all times while on MCC property.
5. The care and control of the animal is solely the responsibility of its user.
6. The user must clean up the animal’s waste.
7. The user is responsible for damage caused by the animal.

Rights and Responsibilities

Every qualified student with a disability has the right to:

1. Equal access to educational and student programs, services, jobs, activities and facilities throughout the College.
2. Reasonable and effective accommodations, academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, and services, as determined on a case-by-case basis.
3. Appropriate confidentiality regarding information pertaining to disability, including disability disclosure, except as permitted or required by law.
4. Information reasonably available in accessible formats.
5. Utilize, without retaliation, the ADA/504 Grievance Procedure, if the student believes that they have been discriminated against, by the College, on the basis of a disability.
6. Utilize, without retaliation, complaint processes and investigative procedures available at the Arizona Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education, or the United States Department of Justice.

Every qualified student with disabilities has the responsibility to:

1. Meet the College’s qualifications, including essential academic and code of conduct standards.
2. Identify as an individual with a disability and request accommodation in a timely manner. This includes the student’s responsibility to advise his/her instructor regarding approved accommodations, and may also include the responsibility to make special arrangements with the instructor and/or the Office of Compliance.
3. Provide documentation from appropriate professional sources verifying the nature of the student’s disability, functional limitations, and the rationale for specific accommodations being recommended.
4. Follow the specific procedures for obtaining reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids, as outlined in this policy.

Mohave Community College has the right to:

1. Maintain the College’s academic standards.
2. Request qualifying disability documentation in order to verify eligibility for disability accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids.
3. Discuss the student’s eligibility with diagnosing professionals given a signed consent from the student.
4. Confirm disability status and request and receive current, relevant documentation that supports requests for accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids.
5. Select from among equally effective/appropriate accommodations, adjustments and/or auxiliary aids in consultation with the student.
6. Deny requests for accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids (1) when disability documentation does not identify a specific disability, or (2) despite ongoing dialogue, including one or more requests that the student submit missing documentation, a student is unable to present documentation to verify the need for the requested service(s).
7. Deny requests for accommodations, adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids that are inappropriate, unreasonable based on disability documentation, including any that:
   1. Pose a direct threat to the health and safety of the student or others that cannot be adequately reduced or eliminated by reasonable accommodation;
   2. Constitute a fundamental change or alteration of an essential course element/program standard;
   3. Pose undue financial or administrative burden on the College.

Mohave Community College has the responsibility to:

1. Provide or arrange reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids.
2. Provide information to students with disabilities in accessible formats upon request.
3. Give primary consideration to the specific type of auxiliary aid or service requested by the student.
4. Ensure that courses, programs, services, jobs, activities and facilities, when viewed in their entirety, are accessible to and usable by students in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the individual student.
5. Maintain appropriate confidentiality of records and communication except where permitted or required by law.
6. Not retaliate against, coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with any student for exercising these rights.

Mohave Community College does not provide personal devices, personal attendants or transportation. Some examples of accommodations that can be provided based on individual documentation include:

Mohave Community College ADA/504 Policies and Grievance Procedures

ADA Section 504/Title II grievance procedures provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints pursuant to and in accordance with 34 C.F.R § 104.7(b) and 28 C.F.R § 35.107(b).

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides that no qualified individual with a disability be denied access to or participation in services, programs, and activities of a public entity. Mohave Community College strives to maintain the highest standards of integrity and fairness in its policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. Mohave Community College has adopted an internal grievance procedure providing for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints alleging any action prohibited by the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against on the basis of disability by Mohave Community College may file complaints pursuant to the Grievance Procedures.