Accessibility Resource Center (ARC)

The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is in the Advising & Access Center Suite T.2500, 2nd floor of the Technical Building.  

Student appointments can be held virtually and in-person. Scheduling can take place on the Navigate Platform.

Office Hours

• Monday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Tuesday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Wednesday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Thursday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Friday: Closed

If you’re unable to connect with us during office hours, please reach out to accessibility@minneapolis.edu.

Contact Information

• Email: accessibility@minneapolis.edu
• Fax: 612-659-6732
• Phone: 612-659-6730

When you leave a message please include:

• Your full name
• StarID or College ID
• A phone number where you can be reached
• A brief description of your question

Jessica Denne 
Director
Phone: 612-200-5426 

Aaron Pierson 
Accessibility Specialist
Phone: 612-659-6730

Britt Mammenga 
Accessible Media and Communications Coordinator
Phone: 612-659-6730

Kayla Devorak
Digital Accessibility and Assistive Technology Specialist
Phone: 612-659-6730

ASL interpreting services are available at Minneapolis College for all current, prospective, and visiting students and community members. ASL can be requested for all college activities, including classes, events, student clubs, meetings, open houses, and more.

Minneapolis College contracts with only certified and credentialed ASL interpreters.

Requesting ASL Services

Provide at least three weeks’ notice for classes. Provide at least seven business days’ notice for other requests.

Minneapolis College will make every effort to accommodate late requests, but we may be unable to fulfill requests submitted without sufficient notice.

Request an interpreter by emailing: accessibility@minneapolis.edu
Include the following information:

• Date
• Start and end time
• Location including room number, or virtual meeting link
• Names of attendees
  • Notify the ARC if additional Deaf individuals will be attending, as we may need to request an additional interpreter
• Other important information or special requirements
• For classes, include the course number, section, and name
• If applicable, provide advance preparation materials, such as flyers, handouts, event websites, list of terms or names, syllabus, etc.

Video remote interpreting (VRI) is also available. Contact the ARC to discuss VRI.

Canceling ASL Requests

The ARC must be notified in a timely manner of any changes made to interpreting requests. Email accessibility@minneapolis.edu to report:

• Planned absences
• Emergency absences
• Tardiness
  • Interpreters will wait 20 minutes before leaving, and there are no backups
• Changes in meeting duration or location
• Cancellations for any reason.

The ARC recognizes that advance notice cannot be given in cases of emergency, but please email us as soon as possible so that we can inform the interpreters.

ASL interpreters may cancel due to illness, emergency, or inclement weather. The ARC will email you as soon as possible and work with you to reschedule an interpreter for another time.

Interpreters for Classes

To set up ASL interpreting for classes, register with the ARC. As part of the registration process, you will meet with an Accessibility Specialist, either virtually or in-person. An ASL interpreter can be provided for this meeting. Please notify the ARC that you need an interpreter following the instructions above.

When students enroll in a college or university, they are considered to be responsible adults by faculty and staff. The expectations are that they will assume responsibilities for meeting their class requirements.

This added responsibility is coupled with a change in environment. High school is a teaching environment in which students acquire knowledge and skills.

A college or university has a learning environment in which students take responsibility for thinking through and applying what they have learned.

Another student responsibility is that of self-advocacy. Students must become adept at realistically assessing and understanding their strengths, weaknesses, needs and preferences. They must become experts at communicating this information to other adults, including instructors and service providers. Good communication skills and knowledge about oneself become crucial to success at any college or university.

Preparing a High School Student for Higher Education

Parents, guardians, and caseworkers can help their student achieve a smooth transition to college life by helping them to prepare for higher education, the new experience of college, and knowing what information is available to parents.

Preparing for a successful college or university experience begins early in school.

Statistically, students with disabilities are less likely to enter college and those who do attend are less likely to graduate than their peers without disabilities. If your student is going to accomplish their goals, you have to plan and support the decisions that can lead to later success.

Use the following list to help your student plan for a college or university, and discuss all of these points with your student:

1. Recognize that your student with a disability will go through the same experiences as their non-disabled peer.
2. Preparation for higher education needs to start early in your student’s high school years.
3. Ask the high school staff for information regarding appropriate post-secondary choices, such as technical college, community college, or university.
4. Explore the benefits of extending the high school graduation date to take advantage of transition programs.
5. Work with your student’s high school teachers and support staff, and community agencies to identify transition activities that will prepare your student for higher education.
6. Contact the admissions office of several colleges or universities. Ask to speak with the service provider for students with disabilities. Talk with the service provider about the admissions process for students with disabilities, how students must document their disability, and what resources and services that institution offers to students with disabilities.
7. Ensure that your student will have the necessary recent testing that a college or university needs to document a disability. This includes but is not limited to learning disabilities. This testing can be done during the senior year of high school but schedule it early. Have these reports and copies of your student’s most recent disability assessment, IEP (Individual Education Plan) or 504 Plan, and transition plan available for college staff.
8. Encourage your student to contact rehabilitation services to determine eligibility for services. Rehabilitation services can help with financial and equipment support for students with disabilities.
9. If your student’s chosen college or university requires post admissions test results, learn the process for requesting testing accommodations. If your student needs testing accommodations, the need must be documented.
10. Ensure that your student learns to use reasonable and appropriate accommodations. These accommodations are determined based on documented need and may include but are not limited to test taking, note taking, reading texts, and using adaptive technology.
11. Remember your student has the responsibility to notify the college or university that they have a disability identifying their needs and provide appropriate documentation of those needs. The college or university provides reasonable accommodation based on documentation of the disability.

What information is available to parents, guardians, families, and caseworkers regarding educational records?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Students at colleges or universities have the legal right to control access to information about them.

Some information, called "directory data," is public and available to anyone, even parents and guardians.

Almost all other information such as grades or class schedules is private and, in most cases, a student's written authorization is required to release to a third party private information held by a college or university.

Parents, guardians, families, and caseworkers are legally considered to be "third parties" and need their student’s written permission to access private data about them.

The Accessibility Resource Center is on a journey of discovery as we explore the topic of disability justice at Minneapolis College.  We invite you to journey with us.  We invite you to join us to build a campus environment that is accessible, equitable, and inclusive. Those who have journeyed ahead of us, have provided us resources to guide, to discuss, to learn about what is disability justice and why it matters. 

“All bodies are equal and essential. All bodies are whole. All bodies have strengths and needs that must be met. We are all powerful, not despite the complexities of our bodies, but because of them. We move together, with no body left behind. This is disability justice.”
-Patty Berne

National Center for College Students with Disabilities
Description: This resource provides technical assistance and information to anyone needing information about disability and higher education, including college students, their families, faculty, college administrators and staff,  disability services professionals, researchers, and policymakers.

Invisible Disability Project
Description: Invisible Disability Project (IDP) is a social/cultural movement and an educational media project that consciously disrupts “invisibility” imposed upon unseen disabilities. We are devoted to building human connections and self-advocacy by dismantling shame and stigma. IDP effects change through public conversations and interactive online content with the goal of creating an informed, mutually supportive community. 

Disability Visibility Project
Description: The Disability Visibility Project is an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.

Disability Visibility Podcast Guide
Description: This is life from a disabled lens. Disability Visibility is a podcast hosted by San Francisco night owl Alice Wong featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. Named one of the 15 best podcasts by women that you’re not listening to by Refinery 29 in 2021.

Disability in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Description: As we celebrate the 31st anniversary of the ADA, we need to work together to continue to put a spotlight on disability as a piece of DE&I that cannot be left behind.

Minnesota State Training and Professional Development: Disability Justice Workshop Series
Description: Under the Disability Justice Workshop Series tab, access recordings of a 5-part series on topics related to disability rights and justice. This series was developed through a partnership between Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration.

Rocky Mountain ADA Center Trainings
Description: Free online trainings to explore specific areas of the Americans with Disabilities Act and disability justice, culture, and history.

The fundamental purpose of disability law regulations is to protect qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability. The purpose of the Accessibility Resource Center is to eliminate barriers and approve reasonable accommodations in order to level the playing field for such persons.

Government Disability Law and Guidance Acts and Policies

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Minnesota Human Rights Act (Minn. Stat. 363A.13)​
• Minnesota State Policy 1B.4 Access and Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities

Minneapolis College Policies

• 2.05 Individuals with Disabilities
• 2.06 Student Accommodation Policy
• 2.06.01 Student Accommodation Procedure

Concerns, Complaints and Grievances

For information regarding the concern, complaint, or grievance processes, please refer to the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities.

Disability Definitions

The following definitions apply in regard to disability law.
Disability
Is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; a record or documentation of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.
Disability Documentation
Must be current and must be from an appropriate professional, such as a medical doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist, and must include:

• Diagnosis of disability
• Functional limitations on major life activities
• Recommendations for reasonable modifications

Major Life Activities
Major life activities are defined as follows:

• Caring for one-self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, sitting, standing, lifting, reaching, sleeping
• Mental and emotional processes such as thinking, concentrating, and interacting with others.

Exclusions to Major Life Activities
The following activities are excluded from the disability definition of major life activities:

• The EEOC excludes compulsive gambling, kleptomania, pyromania, and psychoactive disorders that are a result of current use of illegal drugs.
• Traits and behaviors of stress, irritability, chronic lateness, and poor judgment, in and of themselves are not included in the definition of disability.
• A qualified person with a disability may not pose a direct threat to the health and safety of themselves or others.

Qualified Individual
A “Qualified Individual” is defined as a person with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation for a Minneapolis Community and Technical College program or activity, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the program or activity
Reasonable Accommodations 
Reasonable accommodations are defined as follows:

• Reasonable modifications to ensure equal access
• Removal of architectural barriers
• Provision of auxiliary aids and/or services

Exception to Reasonable Accommodations
The following are exceptions to reasonable accommodations:

• An accommodation is not reasonable if it results in undue burden or hardship for Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
• An accommodation is not reasonable if it results in a fundamental alteration or compromises the essential elements of an academic standard. Students with disabilities must meet the same academic requirements as other Minneapolis Community and Technical College students.

Retroactive
“Retroactive” is defined as: Going into operation or effect as of a previous date, or in respect to past events or circumstances.

At Minneapolis College, we value diverse perspectives and experiences and work to foster an appreciation and respect to ensure all students, faculty, and staff feel welcome.

The Accessibility Resource Center is charged with the mission of ensuring all programs, services, and activities at Minneapolis College are accessible. We do this important work by:

• Recognizing that disabilities are socially and culturally constructed and that individuals with disabilities are a vital element to our diverse campus community.
• Striving to empower students to be as independent as possible by facilitating an interactive process of creating a universally accessible campus.
• Believing equal access is the shared responsibility of everyone: faculty, staff, and students alike.