Reasonable Accommodations

Accommodations are adjustments, modifications, and the employment of assistive technology or auxiliary aides provided to students with disabilities in order to make a program or service more accessible.

Reasonable Accommodations:

  • Do not impose undue burden on the institution
  • Do not fundamentally alter the program or service
  • Do not create a situation that could cause harm to an individual or others

Reasonable accommodations that meet all the criteria above, but are not directly related to the access barriers caused by the disability, are not reasonable.

Example: A student discloses their learning disability and then requests an accessible parking accommodation; this request would not be reasonable or granted because though the learning disability is real and accessible parking is a legitimate accommodation, it is not an appropriate accommodation for a learning disability.

More Resources on Accommodations

Reasonable accommodations are individually determined for each student, even if they have the same disability type or diagnosis. Each student's accommodations need to be determined individually.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires this and further requires that the student must be part of a deliberative process.

View the printable Disability Resources at Case Western Reserve University flier outlining our services.