Disability Resources

The role of Disability Resources in the SDSC is to facilitate equal access to University classes, programs, and activities for students with disabilities.  Because access is a shared University responsibility, the SDSC serves as a resource for faculty, staff and administrators on creating accessible and inclusive environments. 

While WIU is committed to access and inclusion, it is not possible to anticipate all barriers that might exist for individuals with disabilities.  Therefore, the SDSC is the campus department designated by the University to work with students through an interactive process to determine disability and hear requests for reasonable accommodations. 

• Physical Access
• Accessibility in Publications
• Peer Mentor Programs
• Service Animal Policy
• Instructions and Policies

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Physical Access

Building Access 

WIU maintains compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. As our core values suggest, we are committed to providing equal opportunities and access for all. There are many ways in which WIU seeks to not only meet minimal legal standards, but to go above and beyond what is required by law. When possible, WIU designs buildings in a manner that offers a greater degree of accessibility and convenience for a variety of situations through the implementation of universal design (UD) strategies. Also known as human-centered design, UD is a process rooted in architecture that can be applied to all aspects of higher education to create inclusive, equitable and sustainable environments that welcome a diverse population.

Historical Buildings

Some buildings on campus were built prior the enactment of disability legislation mandating the removal of architectural barriers. Barrier removal in historical structures can be a challenge. However, WIU is committed to providing the most equitable access possible. As such, historical buildings have been retrofitted to account for use by a diverse population.

Pedestrian routes 

Because of natural barriers, such as steep hills, not all pedestrian routes on campus are considered accessible routes. You may  view accessible pedestrian routes here . Accessible routes are indicated by lavender shading.

Natural barriers

The WIU Macomb campus terrain varies from flat land to steep hills. A hilly terrain poses a natural barrier for some individuals with disabilities. The campus addresses this natural barrier by offering alternate mobility routes. To view accessible routes,  visit the campus map. In addition, the campus aims to lessen the impact of the hilly terrain through creative master planning.

WIU is located in Macomb, Illinois, a small town in the Midwestern portion of the United States. In this region, weather can be unpredictable and winter weather ranges from mild to severe. Snow and ice can be a physical barrier for everyone. However, it can pose particular accessibility issues for individuals with mobility or vision impairments and certain medical conditions. To assist faculty, staff, students and visitors with disabilities with navigating campus in snowy weather, the SDSC provides information regarding snow removal, safety and winter weather resources. Visit Snow Removal  to view this information.

Snow removal

Clearing snow from campus walks is both a science and an art. Warning time, type of snow, type of surface, phases of melting and re-freezing, wind speeds and temperature can all impact the effectiveness of snow removal.  At times, walks that have been previously cleared may appear to be untouched by removal crews due to blowing and drifting of snow. Nonetheless, WIU snow removal crews work days, nights, evenings and weekends to ensure routes are clear for travel.

To facilitate focused use of resources during snow, WIU has identified a priority snow removal route. This route is accessible and connects all campus buildings and accessible parking spaces. View the  Priority Snow Route map  in preparation for travel during winter weather. This route has been reviewed and approved by staff from Facilities Management, Disability Resources, GoWest, University Housing and Dining, members of the ADA Advisory Committee, and Inter-Hall Council.

Master planning

While WIU maintains compliance with ADA standards, recently, Facilities Management added a universal design statement to the WIU design guidelines that all architectural and engineering firms doing business with WIU must follow. Additionally, accessibility is one of the major components in the University's Master Plan Strategic Renovation Matrix, a tool used to determine renovation priorities on campus.

Reporting physical access barriers

Physical barriers in buildings or grounds should be reported immediately to Facilities Management at 309-298-1834 or the Student Development and Success Center at 309-298-1884.

Emergencies

For information about what to do in case of an emergencies, such as natural disasters, fire, violent crimes, etc. see the University's Emergency Reference Guide.

If you experience an urgent access situation before 8:00am or after 4:30pm please contact OPS at 309-298-1949 or dial 911.

If you are stuck in an elevator, pressing the emergency call button will connect you with OPS. If you experience a non-emergency elevator breakdown in the residence halls, you should contact the front desk of the residence hall where the breakdown occurs.

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Accessibility in Publications

Western Illinois University seeks to provide activities and programs that are inclusive to all participants. To ensure accessibility to all programs, courses and events, the following statements or similar derivatives are necessary for placement on all University publications, program announcements, brochures, flyers and syllabi. The host department, location, and telephone number is always included. Include text or fax telephones numbers when applicable.

1. Publications  shall include the following equal access statement:
   

   This document is available in alternative formats upon request by contacting (name, host department.) at (phone number, voice).

2. Registration materials and program announcements, such as bulletins, flyers, brochures, letters, public service announcements, or other materials used to inform the public of the event or program must include the following statement:

   If there are accommodations that we need to provide in order to facilitate your full participation in this program/event, please contact (name, host department) at (phone number/voice). Please allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation.

A designated deadline for submission may be included, but every effort must be made to accommodate if a request is made beyond the deadline.
3. If an  event includes a meal, the registration materials should include the following statement:
   

   If you have specific dietary requirements, please contact (name, host department) at (phone number/voice).

4. A  syllabus  for a course shall include the following statement:
   

   Students with disabilities : In accordance with University values and disability law, students with disabilities may request academic accommodations where there are aspects of a course that result in barriers to inclusion or accurate assessment of achievement. To file an official request for disability-related accommodations, please contact the Disability Resources in the Student Development and Success Center at 309-298-1884,  disability@wiu.edu   or in 125 Memorial Hall. Please notify the instructor as soon as possible to ensure that this course is accessible to you in a timely manner. 

5. Web pages  that contain publications, forms or materials that may not be accessible to persons with disabilities should contain the following statement:
   

   If you need this content in an alternative format, please contact [name of individual] at [campus phone number and email].

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Peer Mentor Program

The transition from high school to college is a major turning point in life.  There are many changes to which students must adjust including independence, self-advocacy, and personal responsibility. Most importantly, students are transitioning from childhood to adulthood. SDSC Disability Resources recognizes the challenges inherent to this transition, and the importance of guidance during this phase of life. As such, we offer the Turning Point peer mentor program.

Peer mentors offer students practical advice about the concerns they face. With their mentees, peer mentors address many issues: best approaches in working with faculty members, study skills, time management, and staying organized. Peer mentors also offer a social connection. Students can come into the Student Development and Success Center, located in 125 Memorial Hall, and speak confidentially with any of the mentors at any time.

Says one of our seasoned peer mentors, "In the last two years, I have gone to the activities fair with my freshmen, we've had lunch, and we've met in the library to study. I've worked with students on organizational, study, and stress relief skills; all of those skills are critical to a student's success here. I have also shown my students how to use their accommodations, because the first semester away from home can be overwhelming. I love what I do."

From our mentees, "I got accepted into the mortar board senior honors society, all thanks to you for helping me." "I got an A in my class because of everything you have taught me and all the time we spent together." "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be this involved." These are just some of the testimonials we've heard from students who have engaged the Turning Point Peer Mentoring Program.

Those interested in connecting with a peer mentor can contact the SDSC at 309-298-1884 or email disability@wiu.edu.

Our Peer Mentor

Name: Lauryn Glossett
Year:  Senior
Major: Health Services Management

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Service Animal Policy

It is the policy of Western Illinois University that service animals assisting individuals with disabilities are permitted in all facilities, programs, and activities where students, employees, or members of the public are normally allowed access, except where the presence or behavior of the animal may compromise the health or safety of the animal or others, or fundamentally alters the nature of the program or activity. The current university Service Animal Policy can be located in the University Policy Manual here.

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Instructions and Policies

Scheduling Regular Exams:

1. Logon to your STARS account and choose DR Exam Scheduling Request Form.
2. Choose a course from drop down list.
3. Choose the date of the exam or quiz. Before scheduling exams on alternate dates, please be sure to discuss this with your professor. Professors will receive notification of the date and time that you have scheduled your exam.
4. Choose a begin time for your exam. Please make sure that your begin time allows for your extended time within exam services operating hours (8am-4pm) and without conflicting with your other courses. The system will not allow you schedule exams that run beyond operating hours or that conflict with other courses. Please schedule exams at the same time as the rest of the class unless this would be a barrier to accommodations. 
5. Tell us how long the rest of the class will get for the exam. Often you will not need to change this for regular exams because the professor will give the entire class period and our system lists the entire class period. However, for longer courses, particularly evening courses, you may need to change the amount of time. Also, you will need to change this when scheduling finals, as all final exam periods are an hour and 50 minutes.
6. Choose the accommodations that you want to use for this exam. If you are eligible for double time, but you feel that time and a half will be plenty of time for a particular exam, please choose the time and a half option. If you are eligible for a reader, but a tape recorded exam will work for you, please choose a tape-recorded exam. When choosing a reader, please choose a private room, when choosing a tape-recorded exam, please choose a semi-private room if that will work for you.
7. Give us any additional information that will make your exam experience go more smoothly. For example, if the exam is online, we will not know that you need a computer unless you tell us that it is an online exam. If you are allowed to use notes or a calculator, you can let us know in the additional comments section.
8. Once you have completed all sections, click the submit button.
9. If you attempt to schedule an exam outside of SDSC operating hours or one that conflicts with a class, you will get a red error message at the top of the screen and your exam will not be scheduled. You will have the opportunity to try scheduling the exam again by pick a different start time that will not cause a conflict.
10. All regular exams and quizzes must be schedule at least 5 business days in advance of the test date to allow us time for communicating with professors and processing exams and accommodations. This means, if you have a test on a Monday, you must schedule it by at least the Wednesday prior to the exam. If you attempt to schedule the test after the 5 business-day deadline, you will receive a red error message at the top of the screen.
11. If you have difficulty scheduling your exam, please contact the exam services staff at 309-298-1884, disabilityexamservices@wiu.edu or come to the office at 125 Memorial Hall.

Scheduling Finals:

1. Professors do not set their own final exam times. The University sets them according to a master schedule that can be found at  Final Exam Schedule. Please use this schedule to determine when you finals will be. This link is provided on the exam scheduling screen within the STARS system.
2. Schedule finals using steps 1-8 above.
3. Be sure to change the class exam length to 1 hour and 50 minutes. All finals are 1 hour and 50 minutes. If you do not think that you will require the full amount of time for your final, please adjust the class exam length so that time is available to other students who need accommodations.
4. Be sure to avoid conflicts. Remember that finals are 1 hour and 50 minutes long. If you get extended time (time and a half) and have an 8:00 final, your final will last from 8:00-10:45. Therefore, if you have a 10:00 final, you will have to begin it at 11:00. Please schedule all finals as close to the scheduled final start time as possible. If an alternate time is needed, you must get it approved by the instructor.
5. It is imperative that you schedule final exams as early in the semester as possible. The number of exams given by the SDSC during that week requires a great deal of planning ahead. The only way to ensure that you are able to take your final at the SDSC with accommodations at the scheduled time is to schedule it 10 business days in advance of finals week. Students who do not schedule before the deadline run the risk of having to take exams on the Friday of finals week or with the rest of their class without accommodations.

Requesting Text Conversion Services

The following outlines the process for requesting and receiving alternate format(s) of books and classroom materials for students registered with the Disability Resources in the Student Development and Success Center. 

• The student must provide SDSC Disability Resources a purchased book upon making an alternative format request.
• Each textbook should be accompanied by an  Alternative Format Request form.
• Requests received more than 2 weeks before the start of a new semester, will not need to be accompanied by a syllabus as the entire textbook will be converted.
• Requests made within 2 weeks of the start of a semester or after the semester starts, should be accompanied by a syllabus as we will need to prioritize your readings by date needed.
• If requests are not submitted at least two weeks before you need them, requested materials may not be available when needed.
• Proof of payment for books/materials must be provided to us before we are able to release converted materials to the student.
• We will make every attempt to request an electronic version of the textbook from the publisher.
• In the process of scanning textbooks staff will cut the pages from the binding. When the conversion process is completed, upon the student’s request, we will rebind the textbook(s) and have it ready for the student to pick up. The Union Bookstore will buy back rebound textbooks under the same criteria as any other used textbooks.
• The student may not reproduce or distribute e-text in any other format nor can anyone else be allowed to do so. Any further reproduction or distribution is considered copyright infringement.
• The student will be notified at their WIU email address when books/materials are ready for pick up at the SDSC, 125 Memorial Hall.

Exam Services Policies: Alternate Dates and Times:

Exams should be scheduled as close to the date and time that the rest of the class is taking the exam as possible. Alternate dates and times must be discussed with instructors prior to scheduling. You will not be required to miss class to get accommodations or to forgo accommodations because of concurrent course scheduling; however alternate plans must be communicated to your instructors for prior approval.

Tardy for Exams:

A student who is more than 20 minutes late to take an exam will be asked to get the approval from the instructor before being allowed to begin the exam.  Professors may modify our policy to bring it inline with their classroom policy.  It is always best to be on time for your exam.   Exam end-times may still stay the same, even if the student is late getting to the SDSC to start their exam.

Missed Exams:

If a student misses an exam, he or she must get the professor’s permission to reschedule the exam at the SDSC. The professor should send notice of approval via email to disabilityexamservices@wiu.edu or by calling 309-298-1884.

Using Additional Materials:

It is the instructor’s responsibility to notify the SDSC of any additional materials that students are allowed to use during exams. It is discriminatory for students in the classroom to be allowed the use of additional materials, when students testing at the SDSC do not have access to those same materials. As such, it is our practice to believe students when they tell us that the rest of the class is allowed to use notes, calculator, etc. Any additional materials that students use during exams will be reported to instructors and copies made when possible.

Cheating:

Exams administered at SDSC are monitored by video camera or by a live proctor. All unapproved materials are to be left in the exam services area prior to entering the test rooms. A student caught cheating will be asked to stop the exam immediately. The exam and any additional materials used will be sent back to the instructor along with a SDSC summary of the situation. In addition, exams monitored by video camera are recorded and will be made available to instructors. It is the instructor’s choice how to handle incidents of academic dishonesty.