Guide to Accommodations

This page contains information on academic accommodations, reduced course loads, and housing accommodations.

Academic Accommodations

Types of academic accommodations:

We’ve put together a few guides to make the application process easier:

An off-white flyer with various brown shapes in the background. The heading in dark brown reads, “A guide by Williams DSU: How to Request Accommodations.” Underneath is a three step process. The first step reads, “Fill out the Accommodations Request form, with a hyperlink. This will open a case file and submit your request to Accommodate, Williams’ web-based accommodations management software. The second step reads, “Provide documentation from a healthcare provider. Ask your provider to complete the Documentation of Disability form, with a hyperlink, or provide a signed letter that follows OAE’s documentation guidelines, with a hyperlink.” The third step reads, “Meet with the Office of Accessible Education. Email oaestaff@williams.edu to arrange a meeting to discuss your request in more detail and make a plan for next steps.” Underneath is a light pink box with dark brown text inside that reads “The process for temporary injury accommodations is the same as the above. For concussions, OAE can complete the request form if asked.” At the bottom is one last line in dark brown that reads, “more information on the OAE website,” with a URL next to it. The bottom left corner is covered by a brown shape and the top right corner is covered by a pink shape with the dynamic accessibility Williams DSU logo over it.

Click here for a plain text version.

An infographic with black text on a white background with colorful shapes in blue and red. The heading reads "How to submit accommodation letters in 5 steps:" Underneath is a checklist of five items: 1. Finalize your class schedule, 2. Log in to Accommodate, click "semester requests," click "add new". 3. Review your semester requests for each class, 4. Hit "submit" to send letters to your professors, 5. Meet with your professors to discuss your accommodations. At the bottom is text that reads, "optional: meet with OAE if you have questions or need help." The DSU logo of the dynamic accessibility symbol with a W on the wheel of the wheelchair is in the bottom left

Click here for a plain text version.

Reduced Course Loads

An RCL allows a student to take 3 instead of the usual required 4 courses per semester. See this page on the OAE website and scroll down to the section titled “Reduced Course Loads” for more details.

The application process consists of 3 parts:

  1. Fill out the Reduced Course Load Petition form
  2. Upload supporting documentation from a healthcare provider
  3. Meet with an OAE accommodation advisor

Housing Accommodations

Here are links for an overview of the housing accommodations system and a description of the application process*.

Examples of housing accommodations include:

  • A single room
  • A private bathroom
  • Air conditioning
  • Ground-floor residence/room location

Please note the above list is non-exhaustive.

The application process consists of the following steps:

  1. Gather documentation from your healthcare provider. This can either be a filled-out version of the Documentation of Disability form or a signed letter following the Documentation Guidelines
  2. Submit an initial housing accommodation form through the Housing Portal
  3. Submit an accommodation request form to OAE through Accommodate
  4. Schedule a meeting with an OAE staff member to discuss your request

*Although steps 1 and 2 are reversed on the official Williams website, we strongly recommend gathering documentation BEFORE submitting the initial accommodation form. This is because once the initial accommodation form is submitted, you only have 14 days to provide the documentation. If you are not able to meet this deadline, your request may be closed.