Procedures for accessing support

Students with disabilities or with a long term medical condition who may have special requirements for exams or coursework are encouraged to disclose their needs at the earliest opportunity. Early identification is particularly important in the case of those students with high support needs, to ensure that support is available before the start of each academic semester.

Failure to identify, or late notification, may result in resources being unavailable or delayed. Identification will also assist the University in planning and identifying areas of need. Although early identification is important, students are welcome to request assistance at any time by contacting a Disability Officer.

Please be aware that support may not be the same as in your country of origin, however support will meet University and Australian guidelines. Support is provided on an individual basis and is consistent with proven appropriate levels of support.

To register, students must:

1. Complete and submit an Application for Reasonable Adjustments form.
2. Submit recent professional supporting documentation.
3. New students must make an appointment with the Disability Officer to negotiate reasonable adjustments based on medical documentation. Implementation may be delayed if no recent professional documentation is available.
4. Meet the closing dates below for application to ensure provision of support may be implemented:
   • For mid semester examinations - no later than end of week 3.
   • For end of semester examinations - no later than end of week 9.

Applications after the end of week 9 will not be processed by the Disability Office and your enquiries must be directed to the Manager, Timetabling and Examinations for consideration.

A University policy objective is to maintain consistent program requirements and academic standards for all students while allowing suitable flexibility in the assessment arrangements for students with disabilities. Reasonable adjustments are carefully administered to avoid disadvantage to any examination candidate.

You may need a reasonable adjustment where a significant mobility, sensory, learning or other physical or mental health impairment, permanent or temporary, may prevent you from performing to capacity in an examination conducted under standard conditions.

Timelines

You must contact the Disability Adviser to discuss and finalise your examination requirements by:

End of Week 2 - Cut off date for changes in requirements for continuing students.
End of Week 3 - Cut off date for applications and documentation for new students.

Any requests for new support or amendments to existing support plans from Week 10 will be considered on a case by case basis and will be supported only if deemed to be unexpected or extraordinary and confirmed as such by a medical or mental health practitioner.

Requests due to medical and mental health emergencies may be considered if received no later than 48 business hours prior the commencement of the respective exam period. At this time, examination coordination is locked in and NO further adjustments can be made. Requests after these dates should be directed to your faculty for deferred exams or other alternate arrangements

Late notification or failure to disclose your disability can be to your disadvantage as implementation of reasonable adjustments requests may be delayed and the University cannot guarantee support under such circumstances.

Documentation

Requests for reasonable adjustments must be substantiated. Acceptable documentation of your disability may be obtained from medical practitioners or specialists with expertise in diagnosing the condition for which an adjustment is being requested.

Documentation must be relevant to the condition and to the adjustment required. For more details on documentation requirements, please see the Disability Support Documentation webpage

You should then present your documentation and any other relevant information to the Disability Adviser within Student and Academic Services who assess your specific examination requirements on the basis of the information you provide.

Please note your documentation must be current when it is initially submitted. If, after reasonable adjustments have been made, your condition improves or deteriorates, or other altered circumstances influence the existing arrangement, updated documents will be required and you will need to contact your Disability Adviser within the time frames specified above.

We treat the information you provide to us as confidential. Your information is held securely within Student Services.

It is important to indicate your disability at enrolment. By doing so, it assists the University to provide a responsive and timely service to students with a disability and to justify the need for future funding of such services.

Bond University collects personal information from you for the purpose of providing you with support in your studies. We will also use the information to keep you informed on issues and events that are of particular relevance to students with disabilities, unless you ask us not to.

A Disability Officer will discuss with you in detail how your disability impacts your capacity to study. The information provided is used to assess your needs and to facilitate access to relevant academic and professional staff in your faculty and other areas of the University, for example, the Timetable Coordinator and Examinations Officer in the Student Business Centre. To provide assistance, University staff will need information about the support arrangements you require for examinations, lectures, tutorials and other academic activities.

Privacy principles also permit disclosure in other limited circumstances, for example, in the rare situation where disclosure is required to prevent or lessen a serious or imminent threat to a person's life or health, or where required by law, for instance, if the information is subpoenaed by a court.

If you have concerns about disclosing your disability, then you may like to read the following information to help with your decision.

Disclosure: It's a personal decision is a resource that provides substantial information about options and pathways that people with disabilities can use in disclosing their disability in post secondary education and employment environments.