Accessibility & Accommodations

A diagnosed disability is a condition that substantially limits "major life activity," such as walking, hearing, seeing, speaking, breathing, or learning. ADA laws protect:

• Visual impairments (legally blind, progressive vision loss, etc.)
• Deaf or hard of hearing
• Mental/Emotional health conditions (depression, anxiety, bipolar, OCD, personality disorders, etc.)
• Learning disabilities
• ADD/ADHD
• Brain injuries, epilepsy
• Autism, Asperger's Syndrome
• Mobility (paraplegia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, etc.)
• Other (cancer, diabetes, food allergies, etc.)

If you have a documented disability that you think would qualify for a living or learning accommodation, please complete the accommodation application and provide supporting medical documentation, or contact ada@nwmissouri.edu. Please note short-term illnesses or injuries are not considered disabilities.

To make a formal request for learning or living accommodation(s) to Title IX and Equity, Accessibility and Accommodations:

Students self-disclose the need for an accommodation, and must complete and then submit the fillable form below. Students must also submit separately (ada@nwmissouri.edu), supporting documentation about your disability from your health or counseling professional. For more information please see the documentation guidelines in the section Disability Documentation and Requirements.

Accommodation Application

Title IX and Equity, Accessibility and Accommodations provides a range of reasonable accommodations, including, but not limited to: 

• Test accommodations (examples: extended time, minimal distraction, reader)
• Note taking assistance (computer usage or lecture recording)
• Assistance with hearing 
• Referrals to other services and programs

Students with approved accommodations are eligible for early registration.

NOTE: Course content will be delivered as outlined in the catalog. Changing the modality (such as requesting remote learning for an in-person class) of a course is not a reasonable accommodation as it would be a fundamental alteration of the course design. 

• A supporting letter completed by a licensed professional who is knowledgeable in the field of the student's particular disability. 
• Include a statement of diagnosis by the medical professional you are seeing.
• Include the length of time the licensed professional has been treating the student for the disability; the number of visits with the licensed professional may also be required.
• Include a description of the current status of the disability.
• Relate how the student's disability affects his/her living or learning.
• Recommend appropriate accommodations and state how they are remedial to the disability.
• Be dated and signed by the licensed professional on agency letterhead (prescriptions are not accepted). Letter must be sent in WORD or PDF format as an attachment when emailed.
• Initial supporting documentation must be no older than one year.

NOTE: Supporting documentation cannot be a K-12 IEP or 504.

Title IX and Equity, Accessibility and Accommodations may request additional or more recent documentation.

Confidentiality will be maintained for all documentation related to a student's disability.

Supporting Documentation Template 

Students with an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) must complete an accommodation application, and provide documentation from a health or counseling professional prescribing the need for the ESA, and how the accommodation is remedial to the disability. If the request is approved, there will be additional documentation required for Residential Life. Emotional Support Animal requests to support a diagnosed disability should be completed and approved prior to the start of a semester if possible. An ESA lives with the student in the residence. An ESA cannot accompany the student around campus.