Flex Plan - Student FAQ

FLEX accommodations facilitate access to educational content for students with chronic, unpredictable disabilities, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Examples of chronic, unpredictable disabilities include, but are not limited to, chronic pain disorders, autoimmune disorders, and some mental health conditions.  

The Flex Plan is not an attendance or assignment submission waiver. Students approved for Flex plans must still attend class.  However, where it makes sense, the Flex Plan allows for flexible attendance, flexible deadlines, and sometimes flexibility with exam scheduling.

The Flex plan allows the DAC to work quickly with faculty on your behalf to implement accommodations.   

Yes.  Course attendance policies are set by faculty and depend on University policy, course learning objectives, departmental policy, scheduled experiential activities (i.e., labs), and accrediting body standards. Faculty are not required to modify essential course requirements in order to implement flex accommodations.

However, your Flex Plan agreement will outline additional flexibilities that the DAC has implemented on your behalf to make the course accessible.  If you have any questions, you should contact the DAC at 360-650-3083 or DRSFrontDesk@wwu.edu.    

Students should contact the DAC if their approved accommodations are denied in the classroom. Call 360-650-3083 or email DRSFrontDesk@wwu.edu.

If faculty believe that implementing Flex plan accommodations will constitute a fundamental alteration of course learning objectives, faculty should contact Dr. Josef Mogharreban at DAC. Denial of approved disability-related accommodations is an institutional decision made by an ad-hoc committee assembled by the DAC. 

DAC recommendations have been formed through collaboration with campus stakeholders and professional organizations.  These guidelines are not meant to be mandates and may not work for every student or class.  

Student Notification to Faculty of Disability-related absences: DAC recommends that students notify instructors of absence via email in advance of the absence (if possible) or within 48 hours. 

How many days may the student miss (beyond those stated in the syllabus): DAC recommends that an additional 50% absences be allowed beyond the syllabus allowance.  

In the context of your class, how much additional time is reasonable for late assignments? DAC recommends that students submit late assignments within 72 hours of the initial deadline. 

In the context of your class, how much flexibility is possible around exam/quiz/assessment dates? 

What if a student misses an exam? The DAC recommends that students schedule a makeup exam within 5 days of missing an assessment. Students must schedule a DAC-proctored makeup exam 2 business days in advance.  

 

Students meet with their access manager to determine if the Flex Plan is appropriate for alleviating their specific disability-related barriers.

Flex plans are approved temporarily for each quarter. Upon approval, the student and access manager will review the student's class schedule to discuss any potential issues that might arise. The student and access manager will activate the accommodation for each class, as appropriate, in the DAC's online portal (MyDAC).

After approval of the Flex Plan, the DAC will email the student's faculty to request feedback on the proposed flex plan.  Until feedback is received, the DAC recommendations will be implemented.