Achieving Inclusivity Through Testing Accommodations

October is a busy month at SOM, filled with exams, final projects, and preparation for Global Network Week plans. It’s also filled with many heritage and awareness celebrations, including National Disability Awareness Month.

The Centers for Disease Control define a disability as “any condition of the body or mind” that makes it difficult for a person to “interact with the world around them.” Disabilities include, but are not limited to, impairments involving vision, hearing, movement, learning, mental health, and social relationships. In an academic setting like SOM, these impairments can affect students’ classroom experiences, especially during exam season. Students often need accommodations to surmount disability-related obstacles and participate on an equitable basis with their nondisabled peers.

“Education is always the focal point,” says Tambira Armmand, a faculty support staff member who assists with coordinating exams. “The focus should be on learning and making sure any barriers that exist are removed. We want students to be on a level playing field with resources available for everyone to succeed and thrive. For my work, this means being intentional with materials and using resources to make them more accessible, like finding color blind palettes for charts, creating descriptive captions for images, etc. When I learn to be aware, it's easier to put it into practice so I can better support others and be better at my job.”

So, how do students obtain personalized testing accommodations? Academic Affairs and Student Life (AASL) staff member Lirjeta Klenja explains that the first step is filling out a form on the Student Accessibility Services (SAS) website and meeting with SAS staff to review needs and available accommodations. SAS then coordinates with AASL, faculty, and students to put accommodations in place. Klenja notes that all accommodations must be requested at least a week before a given exam. The EMBA program follows the same process for its students.

Testing accommodations vary depending on the disability. Some students take tests in private rooms or small groups, while others receive extended time to complete exams. In-class accommodations—such as a designated note-taker hired by SAS, technology for notetaking, lecture recordings, and permission to bring certain medical devices to class—are also available upon request. Some accommodations are permanent, while others are temporary: for example, if a student breaks their writing hand and must wear a cast, they can register with SAS for temporary accommodations during the recovery process.

AASL and the EMBA team field accommodation requests as needed. “Student accommodations usually come in waves, mainly at the start of the school year,” says Klenja. “This is when all the first-years or one-year programs are getting settled and registering.” She adds that the number of students requesting accommodations across the university continues to grow each year.

Student government president Nico Pedreira ’25 says test accommodations are crucial to creating a hospitable climate for students with disabilities. “SOM is fully dedicated to ensuring every student has a great academic experience,” he says. “For that to happen, students need access to appropriate accommodations and an environment in which they can be as private or as public about their disabilities as they would like.”

At SOM, we do our best to foster an inclusive environment in which all everyone feels like they belong. Providing accommodations for those who need them is one important way we do that. This month, and every month, SOM staff, faculty, and students will work together to uplift our disabled community members and ensure an equitable experience for all.

About Disability Awareness Month:

Disability Awareness Month, also known as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, honors disabled people in our communities every October. In the United States, 27% of adults live with a disability, making them one of the country’s largest minority groups.

Yale offers a variety of resources to disabled community members, including accessibility resources and the services of the Office of Institutional Equity & Accessibility. There are also various affinity groups on campus who support disabled populations.

Led by the Office of Inclusion and Diversity (OID), Yale SOM is hosting several events to celebrate our disabled community members and share their stories. Ruth Rathblott, an author with a limb difference, will join us to share insights from her second book, Unhide and Seek, which challenges us to examine what we might be hiding and how it holds us back from thriving. Following the discussion, OID will distribute free books featuring relevant resources and stories during its Disability Awareness Month Book Table.

OID hosts multiple heritage and awareness immersions throughout the academic year to encourage the SOM community to engage deeply with different cultures through sound, taste, touch, and thought in support of our mission to foster understanding, empathy, and inclusivity.