Disability Support Services

Disability Support Services (DSS) is dedicated to helping students with disabilities reach their personal, academic, and career goals. We strive to help remove barriers that limit opportunities, and provide equal access to everything that the College of Southern Maryland has to offer.
 

Know your rights, an individual with a disability has a right to an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from programs offered at the College of Southern Maryland.

Under Title IX and ADA: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including pregnancy and parental status, and requires that all educational institutions provide a range of reasonable adjustments to students who need them due to pregnancy and childbirth. These should be assessed on a case-by-case basis with interactive dialogue between staff member and the student.

•  An equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from courses, programs, services, and activities (including extracurricular activities) of the College.
• Reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services.
• Confidentiality: Information pertaining to a student’s disability will only be disclosed to those with a need to know the information. Documentation is kept in a secure file within the Office of Disability Support Services.
• Information available in accessible formats, including accessible instructional materials.
• Title IX requires that the College provide reasonable adjustments to students who need them due to pregnancy for as long as is medically required.
• Individuals with a disability have the right to an equal opportunity to learn. They have a right to reasonable accommodations in aspects of their educational experiences, such as location, delivery system, or instructional methodologies that limit access, participation, or their ability to benefit.
• Students with a disability have the right to information regarding the availability of auxiliary aids and other possible accommodations, as well as the procedure for requesting these services.
• Learners with a disability have the right to appeal a decision by the institution regarding auxiliary aids or modifications and must be informed of procedures for initiating an appeal. Information on the appeals process can be obtained in the Disability Support Services Office on each campus.