Disabilities

I encourage those of you with disabilities, particularly hidden disabilities such as learning disabilities, to come see me about the accommodations that I can make to make your learning easier. When making such accommodations, I prefer to work with students who have documented disabilities, since such documentation regularly includes not only recommendations for particular accommodations, but also general principles to help us develop other appropriate accommodations.

If you have not already done so, you should also discuss your disability with academic advising. If you think you may have an undocumented learning disability, please speak to me and to academic advising. However, I will work with you whether or not you have documented the disability.

In my experience, some learning difficulties can make computer science more difficult, particularly because computers emphasize small details. I also know that many of my favorite and best students have some learning disability and have certainly succeeded. We'll all do better if you talk to me about disabilities early. I will make the accommodations that seem to be appropriate.

Note that I generally feel that the accommodations that we are asked to make for those with learning disabilities are often appropriate for all students. Hence, I rarely give timed exams and I typically allow students to use computers during exams.

I do my best to have my Web pages meet the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines. If you notice places in which I fail, please let me know.