As a college student with low vision and a secondary medical condition, I receive disability accommodations through the Office of Disability Services for things like large print, access to digital materials, extended time on exams, and resources for receiving and requesting accessible content. While my disability accommodations do a great job of explaining how I access information, I still have to explain disability accommodations to professors every semester to help them understand how my disability accommodations should be implemented in their specific class, as well as what I will need from them to ensure I can access content independently. Here is a list of tips and strategies on how to explain disability accommodations to college professors in various contexts.
Getting approved for disability accommodations
In order to receive disability accommodations in college, students will need to register with the Office of Disability Services and provide documentation of their disability and/or chronic illness so that they can be approved for appropriate academic accommodations or modifications. This can be done as soon as a student is admitted to the college/university, and I strongly recommend taking a proactive approach instead of waiting to see if accommodations are “really necessary”, since this can lead to lower grades. If students have documentation of their disability and/or chronic illness, they can typically get approved for accommodations after meeting with Disability Services in-person or in a virtual meeting.
Professors cannot implement disability accommodations until they receive a copy of the student’s accommodation letter, and accommodations cannot be applied retroactively— for example, if I fail a test because I ran out of time, I wouldn’t be eligible to retake it if I got approved for extended time accommodations later on, or if I told my professor after the fact “by the way, I have approved disability accommodations for extended time.”
Related links
- How To Create A Disability Services File
- How To Get Disability Accommodations In Community College
- Seven Unexpected Disability Accommodations For Virtual Learning
- All About Extended Time Accommodations
- How To Come Up With Sample Accommodations
Request faculty contact sheets and accommodation letters
A faculty contact sheet or accommodations list is an official document from Disability Services that states the accommodations or modifications that a student has been approved for, based on their Disability Services file. Disability Services provides a personalized copy of the faculty contact sheet for each professor and lists what accommodations a student can use in their class.
In my experience, the accommodations aren’t necessarily personalized to individual classes. For example, the faculty contact sheet for my band director says that I can use an accessible graphing calculator and doesn’t give any information about accessible music, and my capstone course had information about taking exams in the testing center when the class was project-based with no exams. If I am approved for an accommodation in one class, it shows up on all of my faculty contact sheets.
Related links
- Eight Things You Need To Know About Your Disability Accommodations
- Common Classroom Accommodations For Low Vision
- My Large Print Music Binder
- Adapting Page Layouts: Math Problems and Low Vision
- What To Bring To The Disability Services Testing Center
- Taking Online English Classes With Low Vision
- Taking Online History Classes With Low Vision
Do students have to disclose their exact disability to professors?
The student’s disability or diagnosis is not listed on the contact sheet, so students do not have to disclose their exact disability if they don’t feel comfortable doing so. Unlike IEPs or 504 Plans in high school, Disability Services files and accommodations letters do not provide any background information about the student’s disability or how it impacts them.
Since I openly talk about my disability online, I tell my professors that I have low vision and a neurological condition that impact how I access visual information— I also do this because sometimes I would have professors assume I was completely blind when they saw my blindness cane or that didn’t understand how my vision could fluctuate or change in different environments. Some of my friends that have more “well-known” vision conditions (e.g. glaucoma) will share the name of their eye condition with professors, but this isn’t super helpful for my uncommon diagnosis.
One of my best friends keeps their exact disability diagnosis secret because they fear being treated differently by professors or having their disability diagnosis questioned, which is totally understandable. However, students with visual impairments should expect to explain their usable vision and how they access information, as masking visual impairment or pretending to be fully sighted can lead to overwhelming visual fatigue and cognitive burnout from eye strain.
Related links
- Learning To Explain Usable Vision
- Disability Accommodations For Fluctuating Eyesight
- Two of Everything: Living With Double Vision
- Disability and Classroom Accommodations For POTS
- Disability and Classroom Accommodations For Chiari Malformation
- Managing Chronic Migraines in College
Explain disability accommodations to professors over email
Before the start of the semester or after registering for classes, I send my professors a brief introductory email. In this email, I share that I have a file with Disability Services and give a quick summary of what I will need from them. I also ask them to confirm the ISBN for the textbook so that I can make sure I order the correct copy or so I can request an accessible copy. Here’s an email I sent to one of my professors as an undergraduate student:
Hello!
My name is [first and last name], and I am registered for section 001 of your CDS 303 class. I have a file with Disability Services for low vision and a neurological condition and have attached my faculty contact sheet for review. The main accommodations that I will need for your class include access to PowerPoint presentations and digital copies of class materials, a seat in the front row of the class, and verbal warnings for content that will include strobe, flickering, or flashing lights.
Before the semester begins, can you confirm the name and/or ISBN for the required textbook, and the names of any software we’ll be using? I want to make sure I have everything I need before the first day of class and that I don’t have to wait for an accessible textbook.
Thank you!
As a response to this email, my professor let me know that they received my disability accommodations letter, and that they post all of the lecture materials on the course website. They also confirmed the textbook ISBN so I could find a digital copy to rent, and the name of the database software we would be using for in-class assignments. I received a response about a week or so before the first day of class.
Related links
- How I Organize Emails In College With Low Vision
- Ten Templates For Emailing Professors
- How To Request Accessible Textbooks In College
- SQLiteStudio Accessibility and Low Vision
- How I Talk To Professors About Photosensitivity
Explain disability accommodations to professors on the first day of class
Sometimes the professor isn’t announced before the first day of class or I forget to email them after switching around classes in my schedule. In these cases, it’s critical to talk to professors about disability accommodations on the first day of class to ensure that they will be able to follow accommodations, as well as make sure that the tools that are being used in the class are accessible. All my professors regardless of department mention on the first day of class that if a student has a file with Disability Services, they should talk to them privately about their accommodations so that the professor can make sure they know what the student will need for class. I’ll typically say something like this:
- “Hi! I have a medical condition triggered by flashing lights— can you let me know when you’re about to turn on the projector so I can close my eyes?”
- ”Are these class handouts posted on the course website? I have low vision and read everything on my computer.”
- ”I’m the Veronica that emailed you about disability accommodations for visual impairment, it’s nice to meet you!”
- “Hello! I sent my faculty contact sheet a while ago, but just as a reminder I will need to have copies of PowerPoints or items posted on the class website, and warnings about strobe, flickering, or flashing lights or animations. My testing accommodations are listed on the faculty contact sheet too, but I typically take tests in the testing center.”
In the event my professor doesn’t have materials I can read on the first day of class, I bring a video magnifier and/or magnifying glass to class so I can enlarge information, or use my phone/tablet computer to zoom in on text.
Related links
- How I Use My Phone As Assistive Technology In Class
- iOS Magnifier and Low Vision Accessibility
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- Five Common Technology Behaviors That Hurt My Brain
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
What if I don’t have disability accommodations on the first day of class?
One of my biggest pieces of advice for students is to be proactive, not reactive, and get accommodations prior to the first day of classes. While I had everything in place at my university, I couldn’t schedule my official intake meeting for disability accommodations at a community college until after the first day of class. Since I had already submitted all of the documentation for disability accommodations, I sent my professor the following note:
Hello!
My name is [first and last name], and I am a visiting student registered for MTH 139, section DL1. I have scheduled an intake meeting with Disability Services that will be taking place on Thursday, but my accommodations won’t be formally approved until after the first day of class. I have low vision and a neurological condition that impact my ability to see small print and information on the board. Since all of the assignments are posted in digital formats on the course website and students are allowed to use digital calculators, I’ll still be able to access all of the course material.
Until my accommodations are officially approved, would you be able to read information as you write it on the board and send me a copy of the PowerPoint slides if they aren’t posted on the course website?
Thank you!
The professor responded saying that they would read information as they wrote it on the board/screen, and also sent a link to the PowerPoint slides they would be using for that class period. However, they would not send me any more slides until my accommodations were officially approved.
Related links
- How To Make Things On The Board Easier To See
- Recording Video Lectures For Visually Impaired Students
- Five Accessible Calculator Apps For Low Vision
- ALEKS Accessibility For Visual Impairment
- Adapting Digital Equations: Math Problems and Low Vision
If needed, explain how assistive technology works
As an undergraduate student with their own website on low vision assistive technology and as a now-graduate student studying assistive technology, my professors trust that I use assistive technology for class in a practical and positive way, following the university honor code— I acknowledge this is a huge privilege, and have never had any professors question whether I actually needed something. However, I still get questions sometimes from my professors about whether a device I’m using can store images, or if there are any computer settings that can be enabled in the computer lab so that I can read something on my own. In these cases, I typically give a brief demonstration of how I use assistive technology that specifically relates to their class. Some examples include:
- Demonstrating how a video magnifier can enlarge printed materials and how I can change the colors of the display
- Having them listen to a screen reader that reads assignments and other online information aloud, and showing how it cannot recognize images without alt text or screenshots of text
- Showing how my blindness cane helps me avoid obstacles, or explaining why I don’t need to have my blindness cane to walk a short distance in the classroom
- Using a screen magnifier to enlarge details in an image, which was helpful for a graphic design class where the professor was concerned about my ability to use a particular software
- Turning my phone or tablet screen to show that my device is in large print if they ask how I can use my electronic devices
I recognize that not all students want to be accessibility advocates and would prefer to focus on learning new things instead of how they learn new things. For this reason, I have also shared links from my website with professors if they want to learn more about a given piece of technology, and other students have shared links from my website with professors as well.
Related links
- A to Z of Assistive Technology For Low Vision
- Ten Things To Know About Going To College With A Blindness Cane
- High Contrast and Low Vision
- How To Use Text-To-Speech With Low Vision
- How To Access Images Without Alt Text
Sharing resources that can help professors implement disability accommodations
Another thing that can help with learning how to explain disability accommodations to professors is sharing campus resources or other tools that can help support professors with creating accessible materials or getting help with implementing universal design for learning (UDL) principles— this can be incredibly helpful for professors who have no idea where to start with supporting students with visual impairments. While each college has a slightly different name for these resources, some examples of things I share with professors include:
- The assistive technology office on campus, which has several assistive technology specialists. They also host accessibility events for professors to learn more about making content accessible.
- Point of contact for accessible educational materials, who can provide accessible copies of assignments, remediate files, and provide other resources for sharing accessible materials in class
- Captioning and audio description services for videos, who can also provide transcripts
- Disability Services testing center for quizzes, exams, and other proctored assignments— I don’t take most quizzes or tests in the classroom
- Other professors within the department I have worked with in the past that can serve as a point of contact or that can answer questions about enabling features on the course website.
- Online resources for supporting professors teaching low vision students, like Veronica With Four Eyes
As a student, I also can contact many of these offices and staff members to get help on my own, and will sometimes accompany my professors to meetings or copy them on emails if we are trying to troubleshoot something together, like when I ran into an issue with proctoring software.
Related links
- What To Know About College Assistive Technology Specialists
- How To Request Accessible Textbooks In College
- How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
- Awesome On-Campus College Library Resources
- How I Receive Accessible Quizzes and Tests in the Classroom
- How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes
What if the professor says they can’t follow my accommodations?
It is illegal for professors to discriminate against students based on disability, but if a professor truly believes they cannot include me in the classroom, I would rather know this before the add/drop deadline so I can choose another class. My academic advisor has been awesome at helping me avoid these situations and will sometimes reach out to professors on my behalf to see who would be the best fit for my accessibility needs, but I still had one or two professors tell me that they felt another one of their colleagues would be a better option, or recommend that I take another section of their class.
Another thing that helps is to ask what about my accommodations is overwhelming for them. In one case, my graphic design professor was worried that I would not be able to follow along with class materials because I use a blindness cane, and I ended up explaining to them that I still had usable vision and my vision would not have a significant impact on my ability to complete assignments.
If a professor begins to demonstrate academic ableism or will not follow disability accommodations, they can be reported to Disability Services or reported to the department of ethics.
Related links
- What If I Have To Report Disability Accommodation Violations?
- How To Schedule College Classes
- How I Respond To Questions/Comments About My Eyes
- College Scheduling Hacks For Students With Chronic Illness
- Tips For Handling Academic Ableism In The Classroom
- Reporting Academic Ableism For Someone Else
- 10 Ways College Is Better Than High School For Disabled Students
More tips for how to explain disability accommodations to professors
- Practicing self-advocacy skills in high school helped prepare me for explaining accommodations in college— learn more in Learning to Self-Advocate and Ways To Practice Self-Advocacy In The Virtual Classroom
- When it comes to explaining my sensitivity to flashing lights, I use the following tips and strategies listed in How I Talk To Professors About Photosensitivity
- Wondering how I access online classes? Read How I Use Moodle With Low Vision, How I Use Blackboard With Low Vision, and How I Use Canvas With Low Vision
Published January 6, 2017. Updated January 2025