Disability Resource Center provides equal access throughout the year

Part of Student Success Programs, Purdue’s Disability Resource Center (DRC) is the office designated to provide services, resources and programs to facilitate equal access for students with disabilities in curricular and cocurricular offerings. The DRC serves undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at Purdue West Lafayette, Indianapolis and Polytechnic Institute Statewide Programs, whether part-time or full-time (including students taking online courses). Incoming new students with disabilities who need accommodations are encouraged to connect with the DRC as soon as possible after accepting their offer of admission.

Student Support

DRC determines whether students are eligible for reasonable accommodation and, if so, the nature of those reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. These accommodations can include classroom/instructional, testing, housing, parking, dining, and other aspects of the overall student experience. While Human Resources manages employment-based accommodations, including for undergraduate and graduate student employees, student workers can simply indicate to DRC that they need both curricular and employment accommodations. DRC will connect them to Human Resources as appropriate. The DRC does not test for, diagnose or treat disability but relies on third-party documentation when determining accommodations.

In addition to making disability determinations, DRC provides other services for students based on individual need such as:

• Note-taking assistance
• Creating accessible textbooks and other classroom materials
• Providing auxiliary services such as real-time captioning, American Sign Language interpreting or closed captioning
• Peer mentor program – pairs incoming and current DRC students to foster a sense of belonging and cultivate necessary skills to navigate the higher education experience

Faculty Support

The DRC is also a resource and partner to instructors when it comes to supporting students with disabilities. The center’s overview of DRC accommodations can assist instructors in understanding the role they play in the shared responsibility of supporting students with disabilities.

In addition, Leslie Miller, faculty accessibility consultant in the Center for Instructional Excellence, provides resources for instructors, collaborates with Purdue’s instructional community in Indianapolis and West Lafayette to assist with ways to implement students’ required accommodations while maintaining the core elements of the course design and respecting the instructor’s time. Instructors can email InnovativeLearningTeam@purdue.edu for assistance with:

• Creating different forms of assessments 
• Navigating modified attendance accommodations 
• Creating alternatives to oral presentations 
• Group work strategies
• What in-class participation looks like with accommodations

Additional Resources and Information

Purdue Testing Services (PTS)

Purdue Testing Services is a centralized resource for a wide range of campus and national exams, offering students a convenient, one-stop location for their testing needs. In addition to facilitating accommodated testing on behalf of instructors, PTS administers advanced credit exams, CLEP, GRE, Praxis, and other Pearson VUE and ETS assessments — supporting academic progress and professional development at every stage.

Usable Materials Center  

Housed in the DRC, the Usable Materials Center converts course materials into accessible formats at the request of instructors.

Creating Accessible Events

Taking care to create an accessible event benefits not only individuals with apparent disabilities, but also helps ensure that all participants, including individuals with non-apparent disabilities and/or chronic health conditions, and people of all ages and body types, are able to fully engage in the program.

Contact the Disability Resource Center

West Lafayette: Young Hall, Room 830, drc@purdue.edu

Indianapolis: Engineering Technology, Suite 331, drcindy@purdue.edu

Phone: 765-494-1247