AccessAbility Services

AccessAbility Services will work with you to identify reasonable adjustments to assist you during your studies as well as supporting you in building skills and strategies to manage your disability or health condition in the tertiary learning environment.

AccessAbility Advisors and Support Officers can also discuss the services and facilities available to support your studies, including:

• Access to on-campus Assistive Technology rooms
• Access to assistive technology and software
• Alternative formatting
• Use of mobility aids and assistive equipment
• Alternative assessment
• Examination adjustments
• Navigating the campus
• Inclusive Teaching and Learning Plans
• General advice and support

Reasonable adjustments are designed to enable students to achieve their maximum potential within a framework of academic standards.  According to the Disability Standards for Education 2005 a Reasonable Adjustment is a measure (or group of measures) implemented by an education provider to assist a student with a disability to apply, enrol and participate in a course or program on the same basis as a student without a disability.  For further information visit www.adcet.edu.au/oao/for-disability-practitioners/reasonable-adjustments

To determine what may be suitable reasonable adjustments, your AccessAbility Advisor will look at the following:

• the nature and onset of your disability/injury or health condition (including supporting medical documentation)
• the type of assessment and course requirements for your studies
• your ability to participate in courses or programs
• your usual work methods and strategies to achieve learning outcomes
• general consultation with you
• a focus on enhancing independence and developing strategies/skills
• the effect of the proposed adjustment on others, including academic staff, and other students
• the overall costs and benefits of making the adjustment

Reasonable adjustments are documented in an Inclusive Teaching and Learning Plan (ITLP) and may include, but are not limited to:

• Access to assistive software/equipment e.g. text-to-speech-to-text, screen reader, mobility aids
• Alternative exam adjustments - e.g. changes to the environment, duration, or other exam conditions, to enable you to sit your scheduled exam.
• Extensions - short extension on individual assignments
• Attendance - occasional absence from classes to attend medical appointments.  Note:  you will still need to meet any mandatory or compulsory attendance requirement, and/or hurdle requirements for all courses

You are encouraged to disclose your needs as early as possible.  This is particularly important if you have a number of support needs.  It will ensure that sufficient support and resources are available to you, from the start of the academic year.

You are welcome to request assistance at any time during your studies but please note there may be limitations to the types of adjustments that can be organised once a study period has commenced.

Specific document requirements are available for domestic (PDF, 47 KB) and international (PDF, 49 KB) students.

For AccessAbility Services to provide you with access to academic or environment-related reasonable adjustments, you are required to register with us. This enables us to determine  what kind of assistance could be most useful to you.  The steps to registration are listed below:

1. Obtain documentation
   1. You will need to provide documentation from your treating health professional.  The documentation should be current, state the nature and duration of your condition, any treatment you are receiving, and the impact the disability or circumstances are having on your studies and exams.  The Health Professional Report may assist you in obtaining the necessary evidence about your disability or medical condition from your health professional if you do not have current, sufficient documentation.
   2. Information on appropriate medical documentation requirements can be found within the Health Professional Report form.
2. Request an appointment with AccessAbility Service through the following link AccessAbility Services Registration.  Once your request is received, we will be in contact to organise and appointment  or request any outstanding information.
3. Complete a Consent to Release Form - you can complete this prior to or during your  first appointment with an Advisor, should you have any queries about disclosure of your condition/disability.
4. Be enrolled in at least one subject or completing the last requirements of your degree (i.e. placement, thesis submission or finalising exams) and have checked your subject outline for assessment types, submission dates and examinations.
   
   While having your enrolment  finalized is not essential at this stage, it helps expedite the process if you ae enrolled in your degree and subjects.
   
   We are able to still meet with prospective students to provide you with guidance, should you be planning  your journey into university.
5. Update your details on eStudent - instructions can be found here.
6. AccessAbility Services staff will guide you through the remainder of the registration process during your first appointment.
7. If you have difficulties with any of these steps please call us on 4781 4711 or 4232 1150 or email accessability.administation@jcu.edu.au and we can assist you.

AccessAbility Services is a confidential service with Advisors and Support Officers unable to disclose the information you provide the Service without your permission unless the law requires us to or there are compelling reasons such as significant risk to yourself or someone else.

You will be required to complete a Consent to Release form as part of your registration to determine the level of disclosure you are comfortable with to other JCU staff members. Please note the level of disclosure may prevent us from requesting or implementing some adjustments.

If you have further questions about confidentially, please discuss with your Advisor.

To help us provide the best services to all our students, please keep track of your appointments and make sure you're aware of the information below.

Appointment confirmation and reminders: you will receive an email to your JCU email when an appointment is booked confirming the appointment (phone, zoom or face-to-face). You will also receive a reminder two days prior to your appointment.

If at any point you realise you are no longer able to attend your appointment, please log into the student portal to reschedule or contact AccessAbility at accessability.administration@jcu.edu.au

Notice of cancellation:  if you fail to attend an appointment, it's likely that you will have denied another student the opportunity to see an Advisor.  Let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel or reschedule. If you don't provide 24 hours' notice of cancellation, you will be considered to have missed your appointment.  Please note that repeated absenteeism for booked appointments may impact on our capacity to reschedule further appointments.