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Conduct

Services to Students with Disabilities Conduct Policy

How to Engage with Our Office 

Services to Students with Disabilities is an integral part of our CSUSB campus community. We ask a few important things of our students for the most positive, productive and effective interactions with our office. We firmly believe in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stance, that individuals have, “inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons.” At SSD, we ask that your independent decision-making include these actions below to maximize your time with SSD.

Standards:

Maintaining the academic standards of the university and of your program is essential. Similarly, accommodated SSD students must follow the CSUSB Code of Conduct.

Personal Responsibility:

Below are a few ways we ask SSD students to take personal responsibility for their own best successes with our office

  • Accommodations are an interactive process with you based on understanding your functional limitations. They are not an automatic guarantee. We get to know you and work with you to assign accommodations based on what collectively we agree will help you be successful and perform at your best. 
  • Meet with your counselors often, recommended at least twice per term: once at the beginning of the term to check in on how things are going, and once at the end of the term to assign or adjust any accommodations for the following term.
  • Know that you have agency to perform at the level you wish to perform at. To use a metaphor: SSD’s job is to get you to the start line and to make sure you have what you need for the race. What you do with that support is entirely up to you. 
  • Please promptly notify us of any barriers you encounter. For instance, if your accommodations in class aren’t being given, please tell us within 48 hours of noticing that your accommodation is not there.
  • Please request all forms from professors as early as possible to respect their time and to build a positive relationship. For instance, if you have a testing agreement the first week of class for midterms, please send it to your professor a week or more in advance so that your instructors have time to make arrangements, build your test online, communicate with our office, or anything else needed.
  • Please be respectful of our limited space. Our lobby is not a good prolonged study space or hangout space or nap space because of ADA accommodations and limited size. We encourage you to use alternate spaces and we would love to connect you with resources of additional open study spaces.
  • Please see your academic advisors in addition to visiting our office’s disability counselors. Each one of our offices has a specific and unique purpose. It is essential you seek regular academic advising regularly, (we recommend at least twice per term), in addition to visiting us.
  • We always encourage you to invite someone from your support network to attend your SSD counselor meetings with you if it helps you. We would need you to sign a release for them to accompany you, which we can do in advance, or upon your arrival.

Communication and Tone:

We will always treat you with the inherent worth and dignity that you have. Likewise, we request that you communicate with us with the professionalism and respect that we earn from you. A few ways that communication with our office can go the most smoothly:

  • In order to best serve our students, we expect everyone to be courteous and appropriate to one another and to SSD staff. 
  • Profanity, aggression (verbal or physical), threats, yelling, slamming doors or items, overly repetitive calls and emails, failing to comply with SSD guidelines, etc. are considered unacceptable due to the disruption it causes. 
  • Please communicate with us with kindness and clarity. Tell us what is happening, in what class, with what professor, and what you have tried so far. Come to us early and we can assist you the most.
  • Please know that some of our processes are very involved and touch other offices on campus. For instance, requesting an emotional support animal, housing, facilities and more can take a long time, involve other forms and more. Please get in touch with us with lots of advance planning and please be patient.
  • Communication by email is preferred to ssd@csusb.edu. Please allow 72 hours for a response from our office. If you are having an emergency, please go to CARE (909-537-2273) or dial 911.

The same general expectations of behavior apply to all students, including those with disabilities. Students registered with SSD must adhere to the policies and guidelines stated in the Code of Student Conduct. 

Appeals:

You always have the right to appeal our decisions and to initiate follow up conversations with us. Please see our Appeals page for escalating to our directors and to our university should you like to seek due process or additional consideration of your requests.