The Accessible Education Center (AEC) may approve students for flexibility with attendance policy and/or flexibility on assignment deadlines when they have a documented disability with unpredictable, acute episodes that may periodically impact their ability to attend class or meet deadlines. Flexible attendance and deadlines are approved through an individualized assessment of each student’s access barriers and needs related to their disability. The purpose of the accommodation is to provide students opportunities to demonstrate mastery of course material and/or engagement in the course, even when disability limits their ability to meet established deadlines or attend each course session.

These accommodations are part of the AEC’s accommodation options because course deadlines and attendance policies can create a disproportionate barrier for students with disabilities, while not necessarily being critical to the key learning objectives of the course.

Accommodations are not considered reasonable if they remove essential course requirements or fundamentally alter the nature of a course. Further, these accommodations are not blanket accommodations that allow for unlimited flexible deadlines or missed classes. Rather, these accommodations ask instructors to:

• understand when grade penalties for class absences and/or missed assignment deadlines should be waived as a reasonable accommodation
• consider alternative options to allow eligible students to demonstrate course knowledge

For more details, please review:

Flexibility with attendance policy when necessary due to a disability-related event 

Flexibility on assignment deadlines when necessary due to a disability-related event