UMass Disability Statement (2020)

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to making reasonable, effective and appropriate accommodations to meet the needs of students with disabilities and help create a barrier-free campus. If you are in need of accommodation for a documented disability, register with Disability Services to have an accommodation letter sent to your faculty. It is your responsibility to initiate these services and to communicate with faculty ahead of time to manage accommodations in a timely manner. For more information, consult the Disability Services website .

Personal Disability Statement

I have hundreds of students in my classes every semester. It is inevitable that some of them have a documented disability. I expect this, and am comfortable with addressing the issues as appropriate. You can always discuss any relevant issue privately with me without fear of criticism. I will keep all details private, unless there is a revelation that has legal or ethical ramifications requiring me to officially report it. Do not tell me personal details that I do not need to know.

Normally, accommodations fall into one of a small number of categories:

1. Notes
   
   For all of my classes, "notes" are largely already available to you in the Computer Science Companion (the required textbook), so a formal note-taker might not be truly necessary. In addition, each class has different requirements:
   
   In COMPSCI 119, we will develop a lot of Python code in class, and that program code is either already in the Companion or will be published on the class site after the lecture.
   
   For COMPSCI 145, the class is small and is lecture-based more than project-based, so a note-taker may be more appropriate here, but again a lot of the relevant material is already in the Companion.
   
   Due to the pandemic, all lectures from ECHO 360 and Zoom (as well as associated course material) will be posted on Moodle, generally the same day as the lecture. The Zoom lectures will have a written transcript, but that automatically generated transcript is often incorrect (think 50 minutes worth of autocorrect errors).
   
   
2. Extended time on assignments
   
   This is fine, as long as the extra time is not excessive. In general, if you cannot make the published due date for an assignment, you should make arrangements with me personally as to when I can expect your work to come in. It is recommended that you send such work directly to me or the class mail drop, instead of the TAs, so it is not marked as late. I will be made aware of your accommodations, but the TAs and UCAs do not have this information.
   
   
3. Extended time on exams
   
   All exams will be administered remotely. For students with accommodations, as well as for those in different time zones, the on-line exams will be made available for a full 24-hour day (minimum). Normally, these exams would take no more than 1-2 hours in a classroom setting, so having them available for a day should be sufficient.

If there is something special that you need that I am able to provide, please let me know with sufficient lead-time that I can address the issue. Remember that I have hundreds of students per semester, so my schedule and duties might interfere with such a request if it comes in at the last minute. If you need something, talk to me.

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