Accessible Course Materials

Student Disability Services (SDS) assists registered students with coordination of accessible course materials. This includes textbooks and supplemental content such as videos, articles, and images. Services should be requested using the following procedure:

• Register for courses in a timely manner. Affiliated SDS students are eligible for advance registration and are strongly encouraged to schedule their courses during this period. Email reminders are sent each semester with information regarding registration timelines and procedures. Please note: If you register for a course after the close of advance registration, or if your course schedule changes at any time after advance registration, then you must notify SDS by emailing SDS@MiamiOH.edu.
• Submit your requests for Alternative Format textbooks in SAM: Students Accessing Miami. Email reminders are sent each semester notifying students of their responsibility to submit requests. Please note: The option to request alternative format textbooks appears in SAM once you have requested accommodations for the courses in that semester.
  
  To submit requests, follow these steps:
  • Go to SAM: Students Accessing Miami.
  • Select Sign In. Enter your Miami UniqueID and password, if prompted. (if you are already signed into a Miami resource, you might not get this prompt.)
  • Within SAM, confirm the accommodations that you have requested for each of the courses for which you have registered. (This will trigger SDS to send a Faculty Notification Letter for each course.)
  • Select Alternative Formats on the life side of the page.
  • At the top of the page, select the correct term for which you are requesting alternative text.
  • In the Request Alternative Formats section, Select each textbook or other course materials you want in an alternative format.

• Submit proof of ownership, or identify the texts or other materials that are available from the library, and follow all instructions provided by the AccessMU Center.
  • To obtain alternate-format materials for texts or other materials that you own, submit proof of ownership and follow all other instructions provided by the AccessMU Center. A sales slip or similar document will suffice. If you do not have such documentation, you may complete the Certification of Textbook Ownership Form. Questions regarding proof of ownership and alternative format requests can be sent to AccessMU@MiamiOH.edu.
  • To obtain alternate-format materials for texts or other materials that are available from the library please complete the Library Materials Conversion Request Form.

SDS staff provides pre-term consultation for students who have a disability for which assistive technologies or the provision of curricular materials in alternate formats is necessary. During consultation, SDS staff consults with students and faculty to determine what alternate formats a student will require for the student’s curricular materials, what assistive technologies the student uses or needs, and what formats will work with the student’s assistive technologies.

• At the close of advance registration, SDS will contact all students with a vision or hearing disability for which modifications, auxiliary aids or services, or assistive technologies are appropriate and necessary to access the student’s curricular programming. The purpose of SDS’s contact will be to schedule a pre-term consultation. Please reply to consultation requests in a prompt manner, to allow time for planning.
• Any student who does not have a vision or hearing disability, but who has affiliated with SDS and identifies as having a disability for which assistive technologies or the provision of curricular materials in alternate formats is necessary, may contact SDS to request a pre-term consultation.

Please note: To ensure that pre-term consultations are held for all of your courses, you must notify SDS by emailing SDS@MiamiOH.edu if you register for a course after the close of advance registration, or if your course schedule changes at any time after priority registration.

SDS will conduct all of the pre-term consultations described above no later than two weeks before the beginning of each course.

Students can request consultation at any time by contacting SDS at the following locations:

Oxford: SDS@MiamiOH.edu, 513-529-1541

Middletown: MUMDC@MiamiOH.edu, 513-727-3431

Hamilton: MUHODS@MiamiOH.edu, 513-785-3211

The AccessMU Center provides a variety of assistive technology that can be used to access course materials—including, but not limited to, Read&Write, Roger Pens, JAWS, and ZoomText. SDS assists students with identifying what assistive technology that will be used, including processes for obtaining and learning to use the software or hardware.

Course schedule changes should be reported to SDS staff as soon as they occur. Students are responsible for notifying SDS of schedule changes so any required SDS consultations relating to newly scheduled courses can occur. This will also assist with the timely production of accessible course materials. Consultations will occur within two weeks of SDS’s receipt of notice of the schedule change.