Disability Support Services, a division of Student Affairs, is the designated office that provides services to students with disabilities.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of Disability Support Services at Southern Arkansas University is to promote an accessible and supportive learning environment where students with disabilities are empowered to achieve their academic goals.

We are committed to ensuring access to university programs, services, and activities through the coordination of reasonable accommodations, advocacy, and collaboration with students, faculty, and staff. Guided by principles of accessibility, respect, and integrity, our office works to remove barriers, increase awareness, and foster a campus culture that values the abilities and contributions of all students.

Accessing Services

Students with a disability who are seeking accommodations at Southern Arkansas University are required to submit documentation to the Disability Support Services office. The purpose of verifying documentation is to establish the existence of a disability as defined under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

To establish the existence of a disability under these statutes, the documentation must demonstrate that the condition is a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Life activities that are typically of great importance to college students are such functions as reading, listening, walking, writing, learning, and speaking, as well as the basic functions of eating, sleeping, sitting, etc.

Disability Support Services may request a diagnostic statement and a full clinical description of the condition from professionals such as psychologists, medical doctors, psychiatrists or neurologists.  The professional should be experienced in diagnosing and treating the disability, should prepare the documentation on appropriate clinical stationery, should sign the document and should be able to provide the University with verification of experience and expertise in the specialty if asked. Documentation should be current (within three to five years), but exceptions may be necessary depending upon individual circumstances and/or disability.

The University DOES NOT provide clinical or psychological testing for disabilities.

Students may make an appointment to meet with the Director of Disability Support Services (DSS) to set up an accommodations request. After the meeting, the Director of DSS will review the documentation and, if accepted, will email a Faculty Notification Letter to the student’s instructor(s) who teach the class that the student requests accommodations in. Students must contact their professors to discuss accommodation logistics and to follow up to be sure the instructor received the Faculty Notification Letter.

Students MUST contact the Disability Support Services office each semester to renew accommodations, as they do not renew automatically.

Click HERE to access our DSS Handbook

We require students seeking services to fill out our Intake Form. You can print it HERE and return it to us via email, fax, mail, or in person.

Questions about Housing Accommodations: A Private Room Request? Click HERE to read more.

Online Students

Students who reside outside the campus community and are taking only online courses must also provide documentation for accommodations. The DSS application process can be conducted by phone, e-mail, and/or Zoom meetings. Instead of meeting personally with professors to discuss the logistics and accommodations, students may contact the instructors by phone or e-mail. Students must indicate to DSS (our office) that they are an online student.

Test-Taking Accommodations

If you are approved for test-taking accommodations and you plan to take your tests in the Testing Center, please read the following:

Scheduling Tests

• An appointment must be made at least two days prior to the date the test is scheduled to be given. This allows us and you time to contact your instructor as needed.
• It is your responsibility as a student to make an appointment with the Testing Center to take each test you would like to take in the Testing Center.
• It is your responsibility as a student to make arrangements with your instructor to take each test in the Testing Center.
• If test dates change, when you know the correct information, call our office and make necessary changes to re-schedule your test.
• While an instructor might contact the Testing Center about a test, it is not the faculty’s responsibility to make an appointment for a student to test.

Administration of Tests

• Arrangements will be made for staff in our office to pick up and return all tests. This is to protect your credibility.
• To take tests you should schedule an appointment with the Testing Center at (870) 235-4145 or come by the University Village Clubhouse.
• Only materials, such as calculators, books, notes, etc., specified by the instructor will be permitted in the testing room.

Do not hesitate to ask if you have questions or are unclear about the use of Test-Taking Accommodations.

If you are approved for extended time on tests and quizzes, you are responsible for reminding each instructor at least 2 days before each test or quiz that you would like to use your extended time accommodation on the test or quiz. If you have been approved to test in the Testing Center, you are required to make an appointment with the Testing Center at least 2 days before each test or quiz so that the Testing Center can reserve a testing lab for you. This also allows the Testing Center to receive any instructions or testing information from your instructor.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Southern Arkansas University is committed to the spirit and letter of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The University is also subject to the nondiscrimination provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under Section 504, the University has instituted various administrative policies, practices, and procedures to ensure nondiscrimination against individuals with disabilities. These policies, practices, and procedures have been amended to comply with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504.

Accordingly, “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be either excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities” of SAU.  Moreover, no qualified individual with a disability shall be discriminated against because of the disability of that individual regarding on-campus employment.

Confidentiality and Release of Information

The Office of Disability Support Services is committed to ensuring that all information and communication pertaining to a student’s disability is maintained as confidential as required or permitted by law. The following guidelines about the treatment of such information have been adopted by DSS. These guidelines incorporate relevant state and federal regulations.

1. No one will have immediate access to student files in DSS except appropriate staff of DSS or Student Support Services, under which our office is guided. Any information regarding a disability is considered confidential and will be shared only with others within the university who have a legitimate educational interest.
2. This information is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
3. Sensitive information in DSS student files will not be released except in accordance with federal and state laws.
4. A student’s file may be released pursuant to a court order or subpoena.
5. If a student wishes to have information about his/her disability shared with others outside the University, the student must provide written authorization to the DSS Director to release the information. Before giving such authorization, the student should understand the purpose of the release and to whom the information is being released.
6. The student should understand that there may be occasions when the Director will share information with institutional personnel regarding a student’s disability at his/her discretion if circumstances necessitate the sharing of information and the Director has determined that there is an appropriate legitimate educational interest involved.
7. A student has the right to review his/her own DSS file with reasonable notification.

Helpful Information about Disability Services

• The purpose of disability accommodations is to prevent discrimination on the basis of disability: Specific barriers that significantly impact the student and impede access to the same opportunities as their peers.
• A provider’s letter with a diagnosis and a recommendation does not automatically guarantee an accommodation of choice. The letter is not a prescription, nor are disability accommodations in Higher Ed an Entitlement Program.
  • The doctor, therapist, or provider is welcome to provide suggestions for accommodations per their medical perspective.
  • Our Disability Support Services Director will review provider recommendations but will make accommodation decisions based on the interactive process with the student and based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA and its amendments, and the Fair Housing Act as they apply to higher education institutions; and in accordance with the institutional knowledge of opportunities provided to all via Southern Arkansas University’s housing program.
  • Accommodations are not determined to ensure success (as is the law for K-12 institutions). Higher Education disability laws ensure equal access to the same features/programs/facilities as all other students. Our University wants all students to succeed, but at the Higher Education level, success is up to the student.
  • Reasonable accommodations, by their nature, are designed to increase inclusion for a student with a disability so that they have access to the same opportunities as their peers. Reasonable accommodations are not intended to excuse the responsibilities or expectations the College holds for all students.

Reasonable Accommodations

• Disability accommodations are deemed “Reasonable” under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act if they are necessary to ensure equal access to the same opportunities as provided to all students at Southern Arkansas University.
• Accommodations are not considered Reasonable if they are merely to improve chances of success. The University certainly wants all of its students to succeed; however, now that the student is an adult, success is the responsibility of the student, not the institution.
• Disability accommodations are only appropriate when there is a barrier to equal access.
• Accommodations are reasonable when they include the student in the same opportunities everyone else has. Accommodations are not reasonable if they let students with disabilities out of the responsibilities or expectations the University holds for everyone else.

Current students registered with our office, take our survey at: https://web.saumag.edu/testing/disability-support-services/survey/