What’s an Interactive Process
Upon receipt of an accommodation request, the ADA Coordinator or designee will promptly engage in the “interactive process,” i.e., a series of communications with the individual with a disability (student, employee, applicant) to determine appropriate reasonable accommodations. The individual with a disability is expected to cooperate with the interactive process, including requests for meeting or additional information from the ADA Coordinator or designee.
For employees, the ADA Coordinator or designee must contact and involve the employee’s supervisor as an integral part of this process (students should contact the Office of Disabilities). The ADA Coordinator or designee will consult with the Director of Human Resources and other College offices (e.g., IT for technology solutions), as needed, as a part of this process.
If both the employee’s disability and the need for the accommodation are obvious and the requested reasonable accommodation does not constitute an undue hardship, the ADA Coordinator or designee, in consultation with the employee’s supervisor, may provide the reasonable accommodation after discussing the request with the employee without engaging in an extensive interactive process or requesting documentation of the disability.
To support the interactive process, the ADA Coordinator may require additional, quality documentation, as reasonable, in order to provide options and/or arrange reasonable accommodations. To learn more necessary or required documentation, please review the College’s Essential Elements of Quality Documentation.
Approval/Denial of Request for Reasonable Accommodations
The ADA Coordinator is responsible for assuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and other federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to persons with disabilities. After completion of the interactive process, the ADA Coordinator will determine, on a case-by-case basis, to either:
- Approve accommodations in a timely manner for individuals with disabilities and provide documentation to be shared, as appropriate, with instructors or supervisors;
- Deny a request for accommodations for reasons such as failure to submit required documentation or where the documentation does not indicate the requested accommodation is necessary; or
- Deny a request for accommodation that would constitute an undue hardship or would fundamentally alter an essential function of a job or an essential element of a course, program or activity at the College.
RMC employees seeking to initiate an appeal of any decision of the ADA Coordinator, please contact the College’s Nondiscrimination Coordinator, Provost Rosenthal, for more information.
Visitors:
If you are planning to visit RMC and have any accommodation needs, please contact the ADACoordinator@rmc.edu. Please allow several business days to arrange any accommodation needs.
Report a Barrier
The College aims to remove any barriers within the campus environment that prevent equal access. These barriers may include, but are not limited to:
- Physical environment (e.g., elevator, ramp, sidewalk)
- Communications (e.g., website, tv/video, social media).
- Event-based access
Note: For any barrier to access campus that is weather-related, please contact Campus Safety at 804-752-4710 for the timeliest response.
ADA Staff
- ADA Coordinator: Dr. Laura Soulsby, Director of Title IX and ADA Coordinator
- Administrative Services Coordinator: Sabrina Granderson
- Phone: 804-752-8919
- Email: adacoordinator@rmc.edu
