Student Disability Services
The Office of Student Disability Services is dedicated to helping students with disabilities reach their full potential by providing access to reasonable academic and clinical accommodations. To guarantee timely delivery of accommodations, students who have a history of the need for accommodations should contact Student Disability Services once they have received notification of acceptance into their academic program of choice. New or current students that do not have a history of accommodations but are having academic difficulty and suspect that a disability may be present should also contact the Office of Student Disability Services.
Reasonable accommodations are reserved for individuals with a documented diagnosis of an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. These life activities include, but are not limited to: learning, reading, comprehension, writing, concentration, walking, or talking. While all students must meet the technical standards of their academic program with or without accommodations, it is the purpose of Student Disability Services to ensure students with disabilities have the resources necessary to participate. It is important to note that accommodations are not meant to waive technical or academic standards but to allow students with a disability the opportunity to fully demonstrate their range of knowledge and skill. Before applying for accommodations, it is suggested the student reviews the technical standards of their academic program.
Academic/Clinical Accommodation Process
- If the student has or believes they have a disability for which they would like to request accommodation, the student must self-disclose to the Student Disability Services Office as soon as possible. Please email StudentDisability@EVMS.EDU.
- The student should submit the SDS Accommodation Form and medical documentation to the Student Disability Officer that:
- Provides detailed proof of the diagnosis
- Description of tests administered to reach a diagnosis
- How the diagnosis limits the student in an academic/clinical setting
- Recommends accommodations justified by findings
- Length of time accommodations are needed
- Student Disability Services Director will review documentation to ensure that it meets the medical documentation guidelines and the student and the Student Disabilities Services Director will meet to participate in the interactive process.
- Student Disability Services Director will create an accommodation memo for the student that will, in most cases, be active for the duration of the students enrollment in their current program at EVMS. The student will also receive an electronic copy of their accommodation letter to share with faculty/staff responsible for implementing the accommodations outlined in the letter. For current students, accommodations are not retroactive and do not apply to any coursework completed prior to receiving approval.
Students with a non-permanent impairment such as broken limbs may also request accommodations and submit similar medical documentation to the Office of Student Disability Services.
Service Animals
EVMS welcomes students with service animals and we encourage you to register your service animal with Student Disability Services prior to arriving on campus. The student-handler is entirely responsible for the service animal and may only take the animal in permitted public areas such as Brickell Library, lecture halls when the public is invited, and common spaces. Service animals are prohibited from entering non-public areas, private, restricted access areas and areas where there are health, environmental, or safety hazards including, but not limited to, certain laboratories, some operation facilities, some emergency facilities, and restricted access clinical settings. If a student-handler wishes to enter a non-public area with the service animal, the student must consult with the Student Disability Officer before bringing the service animal into the non-public areas.
Student Disability Complaint Procedure
Discrimination can include, but is not limited to, failure to accommodate the student’s disability effectively, exclusion from an EVMS program or activity, and/or disability-related harassment.
Students who are currently receiving accommodations are urged to bring their concerns to the person responsible for the behavior or actions first; however, if the issue is not resolved with the person addressed or if the student does not feel comfortable addressing the person(s) involved the student may submit an electronic Disability Complaint Form within 15 days of the incident.
More Information
For more detailed information of the accommodation process, medical documentation criteria, service animal and disability complaint procedures please refer to the Student Guide to Disability Accommodations or email StudentDisability@EVMS.EDU.