Colby’s Office of Student Access and Disability Services works to ensure access for students across all aspects of the Colby experience. We use an individualized and collaborative approach to engage students in determining effective accommodations for the classroom, housing, dining services, and beyond. We continue this work with faculty members to develop resources, skills, and supports to ensure equitable learning for all students. Finally, in collaboration with student groups and campus partners, we work to develop programming that recognizes and values disability as a vital part of the diversity of the Colby community.
We understand and respect that no two experiences of a disability are the same. For this reason, we focus on the barriers you face whether in a classroom, dorm, or dining hall, rather than viewing your disability as the deficit. By focusing on barriers, we can simultaneously support you in identifying accommodations, assistive technology, strategies, and programs that are most appropriate for you as a learner while also creating a more inclusive Colby.
If you are brand new to Colby or requesting accommodations for the first time ever, click on the link below to begin your application:
Link to Colby Accommodations Application
The tutorial for how to use the AIM system can be accessed here:
Academic accommodations are changes made to the instruction, policies, or physical environment of the classroom to ensure access for students with disabilities while not fundamentally altering the nature of the course. We work with you individually to determine the barriers you face and effective accommodations to address those barriers. We also identify and connect you to all of the academic resources available on campus.
To request an academic accommodation, complete an accommodations application in the AIM system and submit disability specific documentation along with your application.
Once submitted, our office will contact you to set up a meeting. During our meeting, we will discuss your academic learning style, strengths, needs, and goals to determine effective accommodations as well as academic resources on campus.
Central to the process of receiving academic accommodations in higher education is having a conversation with your professors. As these accommodations are not retroactive, it is important to meet with your professors early in the semester to discuss how you will receive your accommodations as well as how you learn best whether you end up needing to use your accommodations or not.
You will need send your accommodations to your professors each semester using the AIM system.
Colby College believes that the residential college experience is integral to a liberal arts education. Colby is fully committed to ensuring that the residential experience — and the educational experience more broadly — is fully accessible to and inclusive of all students. Housing accommodations are an important component in the work to achieve full and fair access for students. See below to learn more about housing accommodations and the application process.
At Colby, the standard housing assignment is a two- or three-person room with bathrooms located on the same floor, but not in the room. We are unable to approve accommodation requests for housing assignments based on a student’s preference, rather than need, or a desire for a particular kind of living environment, such as a certain kind of room or location or a quiet place to study. (We work to support student access to quiet spaces for study through other means.) Given the small number of single rooms on campus, they are not commonly granted as accommodations. Requests for a single room will be reviewed individually and, in some cases, additional information or documentation may be requested.
Housing accommodations are approved on a yearly basis, which means that students must apply for housing accommodations during each year they are at Colby.
Students must submit documentation – typically but not always a letter from a medical provider or mental health professional confirming the relevant diagnosis and describing the need for the housing accommodation – along with their application. The same documentation may be sufficient to indicate a continued need for housing accommodations for multiple years, but the Office of Student Access and Disability Services may request updated documentation in cases where the ongoing need for accommodations is unclear.
Applications for housing accommodations are due each spring for the following academic year at approximately the same time as the wider housing selection process. Each year, students will receive information about the housing accommodation application process from the Office of Campus Life and the Office of Student Access and Disability Services.
The Accommodations Committee, comprising representatives from the Office of Campus Life, the Office of Student Access and Disability Services, the Title IX Office, and the Office of the Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life, makes decisions on housing accommodation applications and communicates those decisions to students. The Committee uses a collaborative approach and considers each request for housing accommodations on a individual basis. Students are able to appeal decisions to the Dean of Students. Students seeking to appeal a decision should contact the Director of Student Access and Disability Services for additional information.
Though accommodation applications are due each spring for the following academic year, applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. We cannot guarantee whether or when a room to meet an accommodation approved after the spring deadline will become available. Placement depends on the availability of appropriate rooms.
To request housing accommodations, complete the following steps:
1. If you are applying for accommodations during the spring housing selection process for the next academic year, be sure to complete the application for accommodations in the Colby housing portal. Information about how to do this will be sent each year by the Office of Campus Life. If you are applying for accommodations at some other point, move to the next step.
2. If you have never received accommodations of any kind at Colby, submit an accommodation application in AIM, the system we use to manage accommodations.
3. If you have received accommodations before, or if you are submitting updated documentation to support a housing accommodation application for a new academic year, upload your documentation to AIM.
4. Wait to hear from the Accommodations Committee about your housing accommodation application. You will be contacted by the Director of Student Access and Disability Studies with information about the Committee’s decision and next steps.
Note: If you are submitting an application after the deadline during the spring semester, follow the same steps described above. Incoming first-year students will have a different deadline for submitting housing accommodation requests. The college will send information about the housing accommodation process and deadline to all incoming students.
The Office of Student Access and Disability Services collaborates with the Colby Health Center and Dining Services to ensure that students with individualized dietary needs, food sensitivities, or significant food allergies can enjoy a safe and healthy dining experience at Colby. We use an individualized process in which you work with Dining Services and Colby Nutritionists to determine the best plan for your needs.
To request a dining accommodation, complete an accommodations application in the AIM system and submit documentation of your needs along with your application.
Once you have submitted an application, we will email you to set up a meeting where we will discuss your dietary needs and how we can ensure that you have access to safe and nutritious food throughout your time at Colby.
To request an accessible parking pass, submit the following documents using the AIM system linked above. To see an overview of how to use the AIM system, see this linked AIM overview document.
Forms
At Colby we recognize the need for assistance/emotional support (ESA’s) and service animals as an accommodation to ensure access to the full Colby experience. In tandem with Campus Life, the Office of Student Access and Disability Services works to support a healthy, safe and successful residential experience for students and their assistance or service animals.
Please read our Service/Assistance Animal Policy to better understand your responsibilities with regards to our policy.
To request an Assistance or Service Animal as an accommodation, submit the following documents using the AIM system linked above. To see an overview of how to use the AIM system, see this linked AIM overview document.
Once your documents have been submitted, our office will reach out to discuss what you can expect before your request is submitted to our committee for review. While requests will be reviewed on a rolling basis, because you are not permitted to have your Assistance/Service Animals on campus with permission, we suggest you start the process as early as possible.
FORMS
“To become acquainted with other cultures by learning a foreign language and by living and studying in another country or by closely examining a culture other than one’s own.”
-#3 of the Colby Plan (Student Handbook, p.7)
Learning a foreign language is an integral part of the liberal arts curriculum at Colby College. Yet for select students with documented language-based learning disabilities, fulfilling this requirement can present an undue burden. To support these students, Colby College offers a modification of the foreign language requirement, which allows eligible students to study the experiences of a language community through a sequence of courses across multiple disciplines.
The Foreign Language Modification committee consists of the Associate Director of Student Access & Disability Services, a Psychologist or Educational Consultant with expertise in language acquisition, and members from the Foreign Language Departments. The committee meets once a semester to review petitions. Students interested in petitioning the Foreign Language Modification Committee are encouraged to meet with the Director of Student Access & Disability Services in advance of the semester in which they wish to petition to review the process and required paperwork. Petitions will not be heard from students who have completed the three required language courses.
Forms
Temporary supports are available for students managing an injury or illness that is expected to last only a short period of time. Our office collaborates with all members of campus to create an individualized and responsive plan for accommodations to support the needs of temporary injuries or illnesses.
To request temporary supports, submit the following documents using the AIM system linked above. To see an overview of how to use the AIM system, see this linked AIM overview document.
Once submitted, our office will contact you to discuss your needs and determine the most effective accommodations across all aspects of your Colby experience.
Forms
Academic accommodations are changes made to the instruction, policies or physical environment of the classroom to ensure access for students with disabilities while not fundamentally altering the nature of the course. We work with you individually to determine the barriers you face and effective accommodations to address those barriers. We also identify and connect you to all of the academic resources available on campus.
Colby’s Office for Student Access and Disability Services is committed to ensuring access for students with disabilities across all aspects of campus. To do this, we use an individualized yet collaborative approach to determining possible barriers and generating effective accommodations. However, disagreements over accommodation determination and implementation may arise. To support positive resolutions, our office uses a grievance process.
Students who feel their accommodations were inappropriately denied or implemented are first asked to find a resolution by working with the Director of Student Access and Disability Services. If a resolution can not be found, students are able to grieve the issues by submitting a formal written request to the Accommodation Grievance Committee. An overview of the process and related forms can be found below.
Once a grievance has been submitted, the Director of Student Access and Disability Services will be given 5-7 working days to submit a response. Once both are received the Accommodation Grievance Committee will have 5-7 working days to make a determination regarding the grievance.
We strongly encourage students who wish to submit a grievance to speak with their class dean to review the process. Grievances will not result in discrimination or retaliatory actions against the grieved party.
The Disability Awareness Board (DAB) is a student group that works to make Colby more accessible, inclusive, and equitable. It provides community and solidarity for those who experience or are interested in learning more about issues related to disability and higher education. Members work closely with the Office of Student Access and Disability Services and other faculty and staff members to raise awareness about learning differences, neurodiversity, and physical and mental differences and to promote fully accessible educational experiences.
For more information about DAB and to learn when DAB is meeting this semester, contact Jenny Ko ’26 at [email protected] or Kristin Cohrs ’25 at [email protected].
Kevin Murray, Ph.D.
Kevin came to Colby in 2019 and began working in the Office of Student Access and Disability Services in 2022. Promoting educational opportunity has been the common thread in his work. Before coming to Colby, he worked with the TRIO Student Support Services program at York County Community College in Wells, Maine to support first-generation college students, low-income students, and students with disabilities. He earned a Ph.D. in Educational Foundations and Policy from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2017, and he has taught and written on issues related to education, democracy, and disability.
Terri Jean came to Colby in 2021. She has background in secondary education and has served as a high school field hockey coach for seventeen years. She earned her B.A. in Social Science from the University of Maine. She resides in Waterville with her husband and children.
Originally from Maine, Ben graduated from Colby in 2016 with a degree in Psychology (neuroscience) and a minor in Education. During his undergraduate years, he was involved in campus life as a community advisor and as a member of the baseball team. After earning dual Master’s degrees in School Counseling and Human Relations from Husson University in 2020, he moved to Anchorage, Alaska where he spent five years working as a school counselor. He is thrilled to return home to Maine and use his counseling background to support students as they navigate their own Colby experience.
We take a universal design approach in supporting faculty and staff in finding creative, seamless ways to increase access not just for students with disabilities, but all students. Find information on how to support students with disabilities as well as resources for supporting access both in and out of the classroom for all students.
The Colby Testing Center, located on the third floor of Miller Library, takes a universal design approach in supporting the Colby community by providing proctoring for all students with accommodations — either temporary or ongoing. The Testing Center provides proctoring while maintaining exam integrity.
Testing Center Hours (Spring 2026):
Monday: 8:15 – 5:00
Tuesday: 8:15 – 5:00
Wednesday: 8:15 – 5:00
Thursday: 8:15 – 5:00
Friday: 8:15 – 5:00
Hours will be expanded during finals to cover all exam times.
Note: Due to the testing center space in Miller 306 undergoing renovations, the testing center will be temporarily relocated from March 9 – April 30. Each day, the testing center will operate in Athletic Center B137 from 8:00am-1:00pm, and then it will move to Bixler 219 for 1:00pm-5:00pm.
Testing Center Procedures (Spring 2026):
Watch and Listen to a short powerpoint slide on understanding accommodations.
Unlike the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act which covers the protections of students with disabilities in education from pre-k to 12th grade, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and similar protections such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, require that students notify institutions and individual professors of their eligibility. The purpose of accommodation letters is to provide this as well as the accommodations that a particular student may require. Accommodations are meant to ensure that students are not denied access to content, engagement in a class or unfair assessment that might conflate their disability with their understanding. However each student’s experience of their disability is as unique as a particular course, such that students may need to use all, some or none of their accommodations. This is why having a conversation with each student about their accommodations is key. For students, the requirement to tell professors, or “disclose” their disability is a recognized barrier to receiving accommodations and appropriate supports. Students are understandably fearful of being seen as not capable, asking for more than what is “fair” or being a burden to you (NCCSD Campus Climate and Students with Disabilities). For these reasons your interaction with students regarding their letters can significantly impact their views of themselves as competent and part of the Colby community. We ask for your support in helping students understand their disabilities as unique sources of knowledge that, when shared, support increased access for everyone. Below are suggestions for engaging in supportive conversations with students. Suggestions:
-Presume Competence. Students with disabilities want to do their best and have experienced a great deal of doubt in their abilities and discrimination in their education thus far. They are more likely to not ask for what they need than to appear as though they are “asking for something more.”
-Use language on your syllabus that encourages students to come speak with you. A welcoming invitation and conversation can dramatically impact a student’s performance. Example: I value disability as diversity in this classroom. Please come speak with me about your accommodations as early as possibly so that we can work towards your success.
-Require each student with a letter to meet with you. While every letter has the same accommodations, whether they may need to use them in your class varies greatly on the content, class size, and instructional practices. They may or may not need to use all of them in your class.
-Ask about their experiences. Students with disabilities have wonderful insight into effective practices as a result of their life experiences. They have been managing these processes for a long time and often have efficient ideas that increase your ability to support all students.
-Try not to make decisions based on past negative experiences or fears of what might happen. While it is important to be thoughtful about the practices we choose, often, universal design approaches are more beneficial than not.
-Share with your colleagues! There are so many good practices being used across the campus that reaching out to see what others are doing may be the easiest practice of all.
At Colby, we recognize that each individual experiences their disability in a unique way. We take an individualized approach to helping students identify the specific barriers they face and the most efficient accommodations to address those barriers. We also work closely with campus members to support students in developing the skills to work around barriers as they prepare for the future. Receiving accommodations is a three step process. First, students are asked to submit an official request with documentation from a health provider. They are then asked to meet with our Director of Student Access and Disability Services to discuss their needs, identify barriers and potential accommodations, as well as campus wide resources and supports. Requests are then reviewed by a committee consisting of individuals with expertise relevant to the particular type of request to determine approval and next steps. Financial support is possible for eligible students. Our aim is to support students in understanding disabilities as unique sources of knowledge that, when shared, support increased access for everyone. If you have a student that you feel might be helped by knowing more about the process of accommodations, please have them email us at [email protected].
Generally speaking students with disabilities face barriers across three aspects of a lesson/curriculum, accessing information, engaging with the information in class and demonstrating their understanding. To lessen the barriers students may face and increase the outcomes for all students, some pedagogical approaches are listed below. However your best resource for more ideas is the Center for Teaching and Learning! Accessing information: Outside of class, students are able to utilize assistive technologies as well as specific strategies to ensure that they access the information. However in class, due to a myriad of constraints, students typically struggle to retain accurate and complete representations of presented information. The following strategies have been shown to support access to information:
-Engaging with information: Small group activities and discussions are proven ways to help students clarify, strengthen and apply their new learning, however, many students benefit further from the use of scaffolds and structures. The following strategies have been shown to support engagement with information:
-Demonstrating understanding: Whether informally or not, getting an accurate sense of student understanding is key to supporting their development. The following strategies have been shown to support accurate assessment of student understanding:
Accommodations are a retrofit approach to ensuring access for students. They assume that the pedagogical approach can not be amended such that the only option is to accommodate the need of a student with a disability. As a result, accommodations often feel clumsy, and put the student in a position of choosing between what works and disclosing their disability status to the class. Here you will find information and suggestions for implementing accommodations that takes a Universal Design approach and allows for a more efficient and respectful approach to access. Our hope is that these ideas may spur creative solutions that reflect the unique needs of your course. If you or your department are interested in brainstorming possible options to a policy, please feel free to email us. Universal Design does not preclude the need for accommodations, but rather signals a recognition and desire to have all students included. Students may still need and ask for specific accommodations which can be facilitated by the Office of Student Access and Disability Services.
Extra Time on exams and in-class graded exams
Extra time on exams and in-class graded assignments is meant to allow students to demonstrate their understanding to their best ability. We encourage a universal design perspective that considers the role of time in an assessment. Below are options reflecting this perspective. Universal Design Suggestions:
Quiet, distraction-free, and/ or separate location
For many students, the barrier is in the physical classroom, whether as a result of the number of students or the particulars of an environment. By providing a quiet, distraction free and/ or separate location eliminates distractibility during assessments. Separate location does not necessitate that the student be by themselves but rather it be different than the physical environment of the classroom which could be for a variety of reasons. Universal Design Suggestions:
Use of a laptop for exams and other in-class graded assessments.
Use of a laptop for exams and in-class graded assessments is typically for courses that require long bouts of writing to demonstrate understanding. The Dean of Studies Office provides wi-fi disabled lap tops that are wiped of all information after each use. Universal Design Suggestions:
Notes Assistance
Outside of class, students with disabilities are able to utilize assistive technologies as well as specific strategies to ensure that they access the information. However in class, due to a myriad of constraints, they typically struggle to retain accurate and complete representations of presented information. Perhaps unsurprisingly, students with disabilities are not the only students who fail to take accurate and comprehensive notes. This makes universal design approaches to note taking assistance the most beneficial of all. Universal Design Suggestions:
Alternate and/or Audio Versions of Text
Alternate and audio versions of text refer to either e books, braille or audio versions of text to support students who are unable to access information via text. Similar to notes assistance, providing alternate and/or audio versions of text to all students can positively impact learning outcomes. Universal Design Suggestions:
Flexible Attendance and Due Dates
Many students manage symptoms of mental and physical health conditions that are unpredictable and often debilitating for short periods of time. These “flare ups” can impact class attendance or assignment completion. In response, these students are granted the flexible attendance/ due dates accommodation. Understanding that attendance is an integral part of a course, below you will find suggestions in line with Universal Design which asks us to consider alternatives that would support both the student in need of the accommodation as well as others. However, we’ve also included parameters of the accommodation that can support your conversations with students who receive this accommodation. Universal Design Suggestions:
Condition Specific Accommodations
While not as common, it is important to know that students may come with letters that contain information or specific requests that relate to their particular disability. Typically these are just to give you information, such as to explain a particular behavior that has often been misinterpreted as negative. These letters of information or requests provide wonderful opportunities to better understand and normalize the presence of disability within our communities. If you have any questions about a particular letter, please reach out to our office.
Coming soon!
Know of a barrier on campus? Have an idea for increasing access at Colby?
Colby College, Student Life
5300 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, ME 04901-8853
