The Accessibility Service provides support services to students with a disability, including ongoing medical and mental health conditions as well as temporary injuries, which are not addressed by the special consideration process. Students register with the Accessibility Service following the steps below. Faculties then receive the relevant information and implement inclusive practices and requests for reasonable accommodations.
1. Making an appointment
Students make an appointment to meet with an Accessibility Consultant (AC) who determines whether the student is eligible to register with the Accessibility Service.
2. Consultation
The AC consults with the student about their disability impacts in the learning environment and identifies access requirements and strategies to support the student’s access to learning. All students must provide medical documentation from a relevant registered health professional to complete their registration, which is finalised by the development of an access plan.
3. The access plan
An access plan includes support services that will be provided by the Accessibility Service, identified inclusive practices and support required by the faculty and requests for reasonable accommodations.
4. Referral
A referral is made to the faculty academic liaison officer (ALO) providing an outline of identified support required, including request for exam provisions, inclusive practices and likely reasonable accommodations to assist in supporting students throughout their course.
5. Academic liaison officer
The ALO is the approver of exam provisions and decides if further consultation is required in relation to the provision of requested inclusive practices and reasonable accommodations.
ALOs are academic staff in each faculty who assist students:
- with disabilities and/or ongoing health conditions
- with carer responsibilities, or students who are pregnant
ALOs are responsible for approving assessment arrangements for these cohorts of students:
- ACs provide recommendations for exam provisions and reasonable adjustments for assessments following consultation with the student about their needs, and assessing the documentation provided by their health professional.
- ALOs determine whether these recommendations can be approved and in doing so ensure that the academic integrity of assessments is maintained.
- Processes for students with carer responsibilities are outlined at Information for parents/carers
Academic staff are welcome to discuss and consult with the referring AC and/or ALO about requests made for students registered with the Accessibility Service.
Responsible academic officers
Responsible academic officers (RAOs) are senior academics in each faculty who oversee assessment procedures and resolve conflicts relating to assessment. They are also responsible for the appointment of ALOs and for resolving significant differences of opinion between the AC, subject coordinators and ALOs about learning and assessment arrangements.
Students can make an appeal to their RAO if they are not satisfied with the assessment arrangements made by their ALO. It’s recommended that consultation between the Accessibility Service, academic staff and ALOs has taken place in the first instance.
6. Inclusive practices
If students require inclusive practices implemented in class or have requests for reasonable accommodations the AC may provide an information to academics communication to the subject coordinators and teaching staff to advise of these requests or the student may choose to instead make a request when/if needed.
Initially, the subject coordinator is the approver of these requests and the Accessibility Service welcomes feedback or further consultation about requests in relation to particular subject requirements or logistics with an option for finding an alternative accommodation. Requests may be referred to the ALO for consultation and review.
7. Registration, consent and special consideration
Students may be registered with the Accessibility Service on a permanent (for the duration of their course) or temporary basis (for the duration of their disability / injury). Students need to re-register with the Accessibility Service if they change their course.
Communications between the Accessibility Service and faculty staff require the student's consent. This comes with the understanding that if students do not make requests or provide consent, the faculty is unable to provide reasonable accommodations.
Students are not required to complete special consideration for requests that are related to their registered disability. They have already provided the Accessibility Service with medical documentation, outlining the impacts of their disability on their study and should not be required to continually provide repeated information / verification about the impacts of their disability.