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Welcome to the Disability Services Office website

As stated in our mission statement below, we are a support service set up to provide individualized support to students with disabilities who are attending Trent University as they proceed through their post-secondary studies.

Disability Services Office Mission Statement:

The mission of the Disability Services Office (DSO) is to support students with disabilities in Trent’s academic environment through individualized service, integration of service and promotion of development of the individual student.

The DSO provides, within an integrated student services model, support, through the provision of appropriate and individualized services that empowers the community as well as the student with a disability.

Accessing Services

Intake :

Students with disabilities are those determined by the Disability Services Office (DSO) and are encouraged to meet with DSO staff early in the term to have services put into place for the academic year. This meeting allows the student and staff to discuss any changes in accommodations required, as well as to allow the office to have up-to-date information to facilitate the coordination of those accommodations.

Any request for accommodation, whether initiated by a student or faculty member must be approved by the Manager Disability Services. During this interview, the DSO staff member will complete an Intake Form and will distribute copies to other office staff on an ‘as-needed’ basis.

Students will be asked to take an Accommodation Contract indicating the accommodations they are receiving to their course instructors to sign. This is to ensure that your instructors are aware that you are working with the DSO and that documentation supporting these academic accommodations are on file with DSO.

Documentation:

The Disability Services Office provides accommodations for students with documented disabilities. The documentation required is dependent on the student's disability type.

For students with Learning Disabilities, click here for our specific documentation guidelines which have been established.

For students with medical or psychological disabilities, we have a Disability Documentation Form which must be completed by a registered diagnostician. This form requires Microsoft Word. To view and print this file without the full licenced version of this program, please download the free viewer.

Students with any questions should contact the Disability Services Office regarding the type of documentation required for their specific disability.

Trent students at Oshawa campus (Trent@UOIT):

Click here for more information

Services:

The staff in the DSO assist students with disabilities to adjust to the university environment in a variety of ways. Given that each student's needs are unique, services and accommodations in the academic setting are arranged on an individual basis, and are based on the documentation of the student's disability as provided in most cases by a registered diagnostician. Some of the services provided by the DSO are listed below:

• assistance with admission and/or registration
• advocacy and counselling regarding disability issues
• emails explaining the student's academic accommodations are sent to professors
• notetakers and readers can be arranged
• text and journal articles can be produced on tape for the visually impaired ( several weeks notice may be required) , campus guides can be arranged until class routes become familiar
• maps are available which indicate accessible routes, entrances, and parking
• personal FM systems are available to amplify hearing in lectures and tutorials
• referrals for disability assessments
• bursary funds for purchase of disability related services and equipment for eligible students under the Ontario Bursary For Students with Disabilities (OBSWD) program.
• lending of adaptive equipment
• library assistance such as research assistance, retrieval of books, peer support in library training
• Mentoring program for new students with disabilities – this new initiative provides new Trent students with disabilities an opportunity to network with an upper year student for support during their first transition year.
• Special arrangements for exams can be made to accommodate disabilities. Some of the types of exam accommodations are:
  • extended test time
  • taped exams and answers
  • exams in Braille (notice period required)
  • use of a computer with a spell check
  • distraction-reduced exam environment
  • readers

  On-Line exam booking is available for returning students registered for this support with the DSO.

• Assessments:
  If a student requires an up-to-date assessment, appointments will be scheduled with a psychologist upon approval of the Manager. The assessment process requires students to attend several different testing and interview appointments. Students will be asked to sign an Assessment Contract agreeing to attend the schedule appointments. If you are unable to attend any of the scheduled appointments, you are required to pay a $100.00 fee for any missed appointments with the Psychologist. The fee also applies if you cancel your appointment and we cannot re-book your appointment time with another student or the Psychologist cannot see another patient. It is the responsibility of the student to inform the course instructor of any classes that will be missed.

Additional Resources

• The Virtual Center of Excellence in Learning Disability Integration
• Learning Integration Program
• Fact Sheet For Faculty
• Just For Parents
• Post Secondary Education Transition Planner
• LD Dialogue - a Newsletter for Teaching Assistants and instructional staff
• Tips for Supported Learning

Contact Us

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Maintained by the Disability Services Office
Last Updated November 10, 2006