Faculty & staff resources

Faculty and staff on campus play an important role in implementing the appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities and ensuring that our office fulfills our duties correctly and efficiently. Their sensitivity to students with disabilities and their issues is an important aspect to students receiving their appropriate accommodations.

ACCESS Connect Information

ACCESS Connect is the accommodation management system that the ACCESS Center uses to send out accommodation letters, schedule tests, recruit notetakers, and manage other student accommodation needs. Below are some resources you can use.

ACCESS Connect Faculty Information Handbook contains information on:

Faculty notification letters
Testing contracts
Exam reminders
Notetaking recruit letters

Watch our ACCESS Connect Instructor Portal training to find more information about how to utilize your instructor ACCESS Connect portal.

Disability Syllabus Statement

Please see the below syllabus statement from UWL Syllabus Policy Information & Statements Webpage.

Any student with a documented disability (e.g. ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Acquired Brain Injury, PTSD, Physical, Sensory, Psychological, or Learning Disability) who needs to arrange academic accommodations must contact The ACCESS Center (124 Wimberly Hall, 608.785.6900, ACCESSCenter@uwlax.edu) and meet with an advisor to register and develop an accommodation plan.  In addition to registering with The ACCESS Center, it is the student's responsibility to discuss their academic needs with their instructors.

You can find out more about services available to students with disabilities at The ACCESS Center website.

Video Captioning

Captioning as a best practice for all video materials

The Division of Academic Affairs, ACCESS, and UWL’s Student Senate recommend that all video material be captioned for improved student learning and all public materials (such as videos on UWL’s website). ITS provides complete information about how a department/unit can secure closed captioned materials. ITS closed-captioning website.

Captioning for ACCESS Students

The ACCESS Center works with instructors and materials only when there is a known accommodation situation. The ACCESS Center works together with instructors to provide accessible video materials when there is not a captioned version available. The ACCESS Center is only able to manage requests for captioning of media for classes having an enrolled student with a disability that needs captions as an ACCESS Center approved accommodation. For professors that have been notified by The ACCESS Center of a need for captioned media in class, the following guide should assist you in determining the best way to obtain the captioned media.

It is the responsibility of the instructor to ensure that all video materials used in class are accessible prior to their use. It is expected that instructor created materials (video lectures, screen casts, etc.) are created with accessibility in mind and should be captioned at the time of creation. If there is any question regarding the accessibility of a particular item, please contact The ACCESS Center at 608.785.6900 or ACCESSCaptioning@uwlax.edu

ACCESS guide to closed captioning video materials for instructors

As an instructor, you will receive email notification from The ACCESS Center when a student in your course requires “Accessible Audio/Video Materials.” What do you need to do?

Review all video materials that you will use in class
- Determine if there is captioning, and if so, is the captioning good quality? Online resources like YouTube and other video libraries often contain videos that either do not have captions or have extremely inaccurate captions. If captions are inaccurate they will need to be redone.
Utilize available Murphy Library resources
- Search the Murphy Library catalog for materials that are available either in the stacks or through the streaming subscription that are captioned. For video materials available in the stacks, the details in the electronic catalog will describe whether there are subtitles and/or captions.
Purchase audiovisual materials containing captioning
- If the material you would like captioned is available commercially in a captioned form, we recommend replacing your current version with the newer version with captions. Requests for audiovisual materials can be made through Murphy Library. If Murphy Library is unable to prioritize purchasing the media, the responsibility falls on the department to determine if they have the funds to purchase the materials. The ACCESS Center cannot caption media that is available for purchase in a captioned version, even if you have already purchased a copy without captioning.
Submit your request on ACCESS Connect to caption audiovisual materials
- The ACCESS Center will only caption legally obtained video materials from the original media.
  - If the material you would like captioned is commercially available, but not available to purchase in a captioned form, please submit the original copy of your video media in original case (if available) and a complete captioned media request on ACCESS Connect using the link provided in the notification email you received.
  - If the material you would like captioned is not commercially available (video clip online, student created video, out of production video, etc.), please complete a captioned media request on ACCESS Connect using the link provided in the notification email you received.
Use an appropriate alternate selection of instructional material that contains captions
- Instructors should not use any uncaptioned media in a class where they have been notified there is a student who requires Accessible Audio/Video Materials because this is a violation of the American with Disabilities Act.