Disability Support Services

Empowering You on Your Academic Path

At RCTC, every student deserves the opportunity to succeed. The Disability Support Services is dedicated to providing personalized academic support to students with disabilities, helping them overcome challenges and reach their educational goals. Whether students need accommodations, guidance, or advocacy, Disability Support Services are here to support their success—every step of the way.

Available Accommodations

Accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities, examples of accommodations that students may qualify for are:

  • Placement Test Accommodations
  • Testing: extended time, writer/scribe, reader, room with fewer distractions
  • Sign Language Interpreter
  • Early Registration
  • Adaptive Equipment
  • Access to Computers
  • Alternative Version Textbooks
  • Special Advising

Start the conversation about the accommodations you may qualify for, by contacting Disability Support Services at 507-280-2968 or disability-support-services@rctc.edu.

Disability Supports Services Application Process

  1. Apply to RCTC.
  2. Provide documentation of your disability to support the request for accommodations. Email the documentation (listed below) to Anna Hanson, Assistant Director of Disability Support Services, at anna.hanson@rctc.edu.

Accommodation Request Forms for Current Students

Click on the buttons below to complete an accommodation request form.

Forms for a semester are available one (1) week before that semester’s begin date.

Location and Contact

The Disability Support Services are located at the RCTC main campus in the Student Support Services office, room SS176. The phone number is 507-280-2968 and disability-support-services@rctc.edu.

Section 504 and Americans with Disabilities Act

Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) is in compliance with the provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112) which mandates equal opportunity for the qualified disabled person in education programs and activities of all recipients of federal financial aid assistance. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disabilities and offers to disabled persons opportunity to participate fully in all educational programs and activities. RCTC is in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act. The ADA ensures that each program, service or activity that RCTC provides, is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. If any student feels that the provisions listed here are not being met, the student should contact the Director of Disability Support Services.

Confidentiality

All information that is provided to the DSS office is used for the benefit of the student in determining accommodations and is maintained as confidential as permitted by law. All student information provided to the DSS office will be maintained in the DSS office to ensure limited access. A student has the right to review his/her own file. There are specific federal and state limitations to confidentiality. Release of information is required under the following situations: a student indicates harm to self or another, reports physical or sexual abuse of children or vulnerable adults, the use of illegal drugs during pregnancy, and/or reports sexual exploitation by counseling or health-care professionals.

Documentation

Students are required to provide documentation to the RCTC Disability Support Services Office (DSS) that is relevant and complete enough to establish the existence of a disability, to explain the impact of the disability on one of life’s major activities, and to recommend appropriate accommodations in the college setting. See what proper documentation includes in the navy box in this brochure at right.

It is the responsibility of the student seeking accommodations to provide complete documentation before accommodations are provided. The cost of obtaining documentation is the responsibility of the student. Disability Support Services does not do diagnostic testing.

Documentation Needs

A letter on official letterhead from the facility that diagnosed your disability.

  1. The credentials of the evaluator must be documented.
  2. The documentation must identify the disability and the assessment method used to arrive at the diagnosis.
  3. The documentation must include an explanation of the student’s current level of functioning and resulting needs for accommodations in the college setting.
  4. The documentation needs to be recent as it pertains to the disability in question.
  5. Recommendations for specific accommodations in the college setting are necessary.