Office for Students with Disabilities

Individuals experiencing disability/condition-related barriers at Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) are encouraged to work with our office to receive accommodations and support services. The first part of the OSD eligibility process is to self-identify as a student with a disability or condition and request accommodations. To evaluate accommodation and service requests, OSD will need information about how your disability/condition is likely to or does impact you here at ARCC.

Requesting accommodations from OSD is a three-part interactive process:

Submit an Application for Accommodation

You will need to be accepted to Anoka-Ramsey and login using your StarID and password. To evaluate accommodation and service requests, OSD will need information about how your disability/condition is likely to impact you here at ARCC. We want to understand the relevant impacts of your disability/condition on tasks like communication, reading, writing, technology, the physical environment, classroom and laboratory, and on-line learning, etc. Information on the impacts of physical (mobility, dexterity, endurance, etc.), perceptual, cognitive (attention, distractibility, communication, etc.), and behavioral abilities may be helpful as well.
You will be contacted to complete a Welcome Meeting (plan for 1 hour) with OSD to discuss accommodations that provide access to your courses for the barriers you are experiencing.

The Welcome Meeting is a critical step toward determining eligibility. Once you have completed and submitted your Application for Accommodation form, OSD will email you to set up the Welcome Meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to learn first-hand what functional limitations you are experiencing and what accommodations you will need. This interactive process allows both the student and the OSD team to work together to determine the most appropriate accommodations. This interview can be completed any time after the Request for Accommodations Form has been submitted.
Provide disability information or documentation

Any information/documentation students can readily share during or prior to the first meeting is helpful and can save the need for follow up meetings with OSD. We recognize that barriers exist and can create hardship for students regarding having and presenting third party disability/condition documentation.

From the interactive process, OSD may ask for additional documentation concerning your disability/condition and/or the need for accommodations. If such documentation is necessary, it will be limited to the need for the accommodation requested. We will consider information, including but not limited to,

- Your description of your needs
- Evaluation Report from high school (or most recent available)
- Individual Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan
- Past Accommodation Letters from another college, state or high stakes testing organization
- Psychological or Neuropsychological evaluations
- Letter from a qualified professional
- Medical chart or history
- OSD Documentation Form (completed by a qualified professional)

*Please note: students may be asked to provide updated and/or relevant documentation
The information contained from the student’s interview and if needed, from the information/documentation will be used to determine eligibility. Appropriate accommodations will be based upon a student’s disability/condition and individual needs.

All information submitted to ARCC’s OSD office becomes part of a student’s “educational record” as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
If documentation is needed, you can send documentation via email to: osd@anokaramsey.edu
Sent via mail to:
Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Attn: OSD
11200 Mississippi Blvd NW
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
Sent via Fax to: 763-433-1521
or
*Providers (physicians, psychologists, counselors, etc.) may also submit disability-related documentation directly to OSD.

To request alternate versions of the Application for Accommodation form or other OSD documents, please email osd@anokaramsey.edu or call 763-433-1350.

AIM Portal

Students with documented disabilities enrolled in any Anoka-Ramsey Community College class (including CE courses, on campus, and online) are encouraged to contact the Office for Students with Disabilities or request accommodations through their AIM Portal anytime throughout the school year or summer semesters. Please keep in mind that it is the student’s responsibility to make accommodation requests in advance of their need as accommodations are not retroactive. Note: All documentation and information pertaining to the student is treated confidentially.

Through the AIM Portal, students can:

Request Accommodations for the upcoming semester

Request changes to their accommodations during their current semester

Choose which accommodations they want to send for which current semester courses, to their instructors

And more to come!

Faculty AIM Portal

You can log in to the AIM Portal using your StarID@minnstate.edu and password. If you experience any trouble logging in to the AIM system, please call (763) 433-1350 or email osd@anokaramsey.edu.

AIM is our online accommodations system. Faculty can receive accommodation information via this system. You will get Notification of Academic Support Services (NASS, formerly Letters of Accommodation, LOA) emailed to you as they come in. Also, you can log in to your AIM portal anytime and see all of the students that receive accommodations in your classes and in which class(es).

You can log in to the AIM Portal using your StarID@minnstate.edu and password. If you experience any trouble logging in to the AIM system, please call (763) 433-1350 or email osd@anokaramsey.edu.

Request American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreters/Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) Services for Campus Event

If you have an event coming up that you would like to make accessible by having an ASL Interpreter or CART Services, please click link below and fill out the form. Please make your request at least 10 business days prior to the requested date (the more time we have, the better for securing services). If you do not get a response in 3 business days, please reach out to OSD to confirm receipt of request.

ASL/CART Request

CANCELLATIONS AND CHANGES

Please email OSD@anokaramsey.edu at least 1 business day prior to the date needing to be canceled

In the spirit of service and with a student centric approach, the Office for Students with Disabilities provides equitable access to learning. We advocate with, and for, our students – engaging the campus community to cultivate a climate of inclusion and promoting the creation of a socially just educational system in which diversity of experience, identities and needs are valued and supported – continually empowering individuals to achieve their goals.

Students seeking accommodations must self-disclose the nature of their disability to OSD. We serve currently enrolled students (including PSEO and concurrently enrolled) who experience barriers in school settings.

The following are just a few examples of conditions that might impact learning:

Mental Health Conditions (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, etc.
Learning Disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, reading or math, etc.)
ADD/ADHD
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Blind, vision loss, vision impairments
Deaf, deafness, hearing loss
Physical Disabilities
Brain Injuries (TBI, concussion, etc.)
Severe Allergies (food, environmental)
Chronic Health Conditions (diabetes, cancers, autoimmune disorders, etc.)
Other conditions that lead to disability

We welcome anyone interested in exploring their own experience with disability to stop by our office, schedule a meeting, call or email osd@anokaramsey.edu with thoughts or questions at their convenience.

The Office for Students with Disabilities serves as an advocate for students, faculty and staff, working to advance inclusion and equity on our campus. Please contact us with your questions, comments or concerns regarding accessibility.

Academic Accommodations are supports that attempt to remove barriers for students with disabilities and increase access to the environment, the completion of tasks, or achievement of an outcome. The purpose of accommodations is to make education equitable, providing students with what they need to restore the unbalance between individuals with and without disabilities in educational settings.

Accommodations are determined on an individual basis through an interactive request process and conversations between the student and OSD coordinator. The following are just a few examples of accommodations:

Extra testing time in a quiet room
Note-taking
Priority registration
Assistive technology
Adaptive equipment (chairs, desks, etc.)

FAQ

Minnesota State Policy 1B.4
Access & Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities

One-click Web Reading

Add a free ReadSpeaker TextAid browser extension, available for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera One. They enable a toolbox in the browser, allowing you to listen to web pages, online PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online pages, and emails in Gmail and Outlook online, and also offer writing assistance. You can also install the TextAid Chrome Extension centrally on all school Chromebooks.

Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Mozilla Firefox
Opera One
Google Docs