Students, there are a number of things that you can do to help your professors best accommodate you.  Here are a couple of examples:

1. Emailing your accommodation letter to your professors before you go to meet with them.

This is something that AEO already instructs students to do, but I think it’s important to highlight the benefits of this.  If your professors are able to see your accommodation letter before you go to meet with them, they have the opportunity to think about what they can do to best accommodate you.  There may be something specific about a particular assignment or the way professors conduct their class that might pose a problem for you due to your disability.  A professor who has your accommodation letter ahead of time may think to share this with you during your meeting, opening up the opportunity for you to talk about this and problem-solve.

2. Communicating with professors

There are a number of little things professors can do to make our lives as students with disabilities a little bit easier.  For example, if a there is an in class presentation, a professor might allow a student with an anxiety disorder to go first and get it over with.  He or she might also allow students with this kind of disability to pick up homework earlier so that they do not have to worry as long about getting it back.  And what about group projects? What if you wanted to use your staggered deadline accommodation? How would you go about doing that without revealing your accommodation to your classmates? It would be helpful if professors thought about a way to prevent this problem before assigning these kinds of projects.  But, our professors are not mind readers.  What we as students must do is not be afraid to let our professors know that these little things can really ease the stress of students with disabilities.  Although not all professors may be open to these kinds of suggestions, it is important to try and to communicate with those who are willing to listen.