Hostile Environment

Faculty should be careful not to contribute to a hostile environment that impacts students with disabilities. Types of behaviors that may create a hostile environment include, but are not limited to, disability-related derogatory terms; disability-related jokes; suggestions that a student with a disability is not capable of succeeding in a class and should therefore drop the class; refusal to provide approved accommodations; expectations that a student with a disability should be more conscientious than the typical student; and comments to the student suggesting a lack of willingness to provide accommodations or consider the provision of accommodations to be a hardship.

Like other marginalized, minority students, those with disabilities deserve a classroom environment that is free from bias and distracting indignity.