Accommodation requests

As a part of Student Registration, you will complete Part 2 of the Wellbeing and Accessibility Planning form. The information is private and shared only as relevant to your well-being. After reviewing the form, DIS staff will contact you to prompt a dialogue and explore options.

In most cases, submitting your accommodation request through the form allows plenty of time for you and DIS to dialogue about options. However, if you have a more extensive need for accommodations, you are encouraged to reach out to begin this dialogue as soon as possible. See more information in the section on roles below.

Religious accommodations

DIS is committed to supporting students from all faiths and religions. We recognize that every student has a unique identity, and faith, spirituality, and religion may play an important role in the study abroad experience of our students.

If you have religious practices that may impact your academics, housing, dietary needs, study tour travel, or any other aspect of your time abroad with DIS, please include that in the Wellbeing and Accessibility Planning Form in registration.

Disability accommodations

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not apply to DIS–a private Scandinavian organization supporting students from American universities–we are committed to making reasonable accommodations for students with documented academic and disability accommodations on their home campus. Further, DIS aims to help students understand the realities they will face in their daily lives abroad.

When considering your needs, we advise you and your home university to consult our guidance below.

Discuss your needs with your disability services office before applying to study with DIS. Discuss details of requested accommodations and financial assistance through the campus/other resources. Note that in most cases, a U.S. institution will not finance a personal attendant and not all universities see study abroad accommodations requests as reasonable. As a result, you should understand what expenses you may need to consider covering yourself
Make disability accommodation requests known to DIS as soon as possible. Understand that the likelihood of accommodations being possible/successful increases with the length of time that you, your home university, and DIS are able to plan/prepare together. Not all needs will be able to be accommodated and requests made within 90 days of the program start date are especially difficult to grant
Be realistic about your disability accommodation needs
Keep an open mind and line of communication. What is considered standard in the U.S. may not be available abroad. When a particular accommodation is not available, be creative and open to different solutions but realistic if the solution isn’t workable. DIS is considering your comprehensive life while abroad and not just academics
If your disability needs change while abroad, you should notify your disability specialist on your home campus and DIS to promptly to discuss options. Not all needs will be able to be accommodated

Discuss study abroad and accommodation requests with the student. Even if students feel that little or no accommodation is needed, help them think about how the new environment and culture affect their accommodation needs as well as their personal planning considerations
Provide documentation of the student’s registered disability and detailed accommodations the student receives on campus as well as any thoughts as to accommodations necessary abroad
Be prepared to address the associated financials related to accommodations
Keep an open mind and line of communication. What is considered standard in the U.S. may not be available overseas. When a particular accommodation is not available, be creative and open to different solutions. Also, DIS may need more information about a disability than would normally be disclosed to a professor because DIS is considering the comprehensive life of the student while abroad and not just academics.

Receive a student’s accommodation request
Communicate with the student and home university to discuss requests including possible alternatives for those that are not reasonable or possible
Approach requests objectively — disclose the realities of the program location and program structure including both the good and bad — and keep an open mind
Provide financial estimates for accommodation needs to assist the student and their home school in budgeting
Keep an open-mind and lines of communication. When a particular accommodation is not available, be creative and open to different solutions in collaboration with the student and their home school

Examples of past accommodation requests

Students who receive academic accommodations on their home campus can often receive similar accommodations at DIS.

Previous students have received academic accommodations including:

Assistance with note taking
Extra time for tests
A reduced credit load

Though DIS has been able to accommodate some of the following housing requests for students with documented needs, note that our ability to do so is limited by the number of rooms that provide these options.

Single rooms
Private kitchens
Mini-fridge for medication storage
Approval for emotional support or service animals
Private bathrooms

The following accommodations are generally not available through DIS, although past students have either provided their own or partnered with their home schools to provide these needs:

Reading technology (including braille printers or captioning)
Audio versions of course materials
Interpreting services for deaf and hard of hearing students

Reach out to the Health and Safety team

If you have any accommodation questions, email us at healthaccommodation@disabroad.org