Policies and Procedures
Housing Accommodations
The University of Rhode Island provides accommodations to ensure accessibility of on-campus housing for undergraduate and graduate students. Disability Services for Students staff work in close conjunction with personnel from the Office of Housing and Residential Life to ensure that students in need of special housing accommodations will receive them. Documentation of disability is maintained in the Office of Student Life, Disability Services for Students; recommendations for disability-related housing adjustments are made to the Assistant Director of Housing for Assignments.
As with all disability-related accommodations, special housing requests must be consistent with the documentation of disability and substantiation of need that is presented by the student.
The deadline to request housing accommodations for disability will be consistent with the deadline to submit housing deposits; generally six weeks in advance of the assignment date. Students should notify the office of Disability Services for Students about their need for accommodations at the time of submitting the housing deposit (401-874-2098; dss@etal.uri.edu). Disability Services will then work with the student to discuss the necessary forms of documentation required (see Documentation section). No recommendations will be made to Housing & Residential Life until full documentation of disability/substantiation of need has been established. Once housing has been assigned, requests for accommodation may be handled on a space-available basis, or during the standard room change procedures established by Housing and Residential Life.
Housing accommodations may include but are not limited to:
Wheelchair Accessible housing
This type of room is available for students whose physical disabilities warrant living space that is designed to allow for maximum personal mobility and for use of wheelchairs, crutches and other medical apparatus. These units include accessible bathrooms. Laundry assistance may also be available.
Single room housing or single occupancy double space
This type of housing is available for students who present valid, current documentation that clearly delineates and justifies the need for a single room as an accommodation. Situations in which a single room way be warranted include but are not limited to severe health and mental health considerations. Because of numerous sites on campus that provide reduced-distraction study space, single rooms are generally not considered as accommodation for Learning or Attention Disorders, except on a case-by-case basis.
Adaptive technology housing units
This type of housing is available for students with particular disabilities. For example, specially designated units are equipped with alerting devices for the students with hearing and vision disabilities.
