4/08 The Limits of the SDAO at Duke

At Duke, the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO) determines which accommodations students are eligible for. however not all classrooms will implement them and every accommodation has a loop hole:

• Absences and attendance: The SDAO does not grant excused absences. Even with overwhelming medical documentation, professors can deny absence requests, refuse make-ups, or mark absences as unexcused.

• Symptom flare-ups: Students with chronic or unpredictable illnesses can typically move an exam or quiz only 24–48 hours. The professor however can chose whether to grant you 24 or 48 hours. Its the professors choice not a matter of what symptoms you are experiencing and how much time you need.

• Weekend exams: If an exam is scheduled for a Friday, and you employ the 24-48 hour exam extension accommodation professors may deny the extension altogether, since taking it Sunday would be “outside university testing periods.” Thus, without a makeup you are given a zero on a major exam, which ultimately, tanks your grade (this happened to me in Bio 202L).

• Accommodation refusal: Some courses — especially required labs or core major classes — claim they “cannot reasonably accommodate” a modification (for example, lab attendance or group participation requirements). This leaves students forced to complete required classes without the supports they need.

• When all of these inequities occur your only recourse is a civil action lawsuit which can take months and be an exhausting process.

The list goes on and these are just my personal experiences. We invite you to share where Accessibility at Duke has let you down this Thursday!