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Steps in the Employment or Appointment Accommodation Process

Rackham Graduate School has a Disability Coordinator designated to assist graduate students with disabilities (including GSI, GSSA, GSRA or temporary hourly) seeking procedural assistance and information on matters pertaining to the accommodation process. Graduate students with disabilities may contact Darlene Ray-Johnson, the Rackham Disability Coordinator via e-mail at rayj@umich.edu or by phone at (734) 936-1647 (Voice) to schedule an appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines, available disability services, request accommodations, and to assist you with arranging appropriate reasonable accommodations with your appointing unit.

Each of the graduate schools within the University has an administrative designee to assist you with disability accommodations. You may contact the administrative designee for information about campus resources, to request an accommodation, or to seek assistance if you are having difficulty with the implementation of an accommodation.

1. The student submits the Graduate Student Accommodation Request Form and to the Rackham Disability Coordinator, administrative designee for the appointing unit or via the Rackham website.
2. If the student submits the forms to the administrative designee, the administrative designee will then submit the forms to the Rackham Disability Coordinator.
3. Following receipt of the forms, the Rackham Disability Coordinator will initiate the interactive process with the student and appointing school or college’s administrative designee. The interactive process is a collaborative approach to identify barriers that are present because of a disability that pose difficulties in performing the essential functions of the appointment. This includes a discussion of reasonable accommodations that have the potential to remove these barriers.
4. At the conclusion of this process, the Rackham Disability Coordinator will provide timely written notification of the determination to the student and appointing school or college administrative designee. The administrative designee will notify the appropriate unit personnel.
5. If the request is granted, the Rackham Disability Coordinator and appointing school or college administrative designee will facilitate implementation of the accommodation(s).
6. In the event that a request is denied, the Rackham Disability Coordinator will provide timely written notification inclusive of the reason for the denial. If a request is denied based on the nature of the accommodation requested, the interactive process may continue in order to determine whether an equally effective reasonable accommodation is available.
7. Students with a GSI or GSSA appointment whose request for an accommodation is denied may have access to grievance procedures under the GEO Contract.

Students with GSI, GSSA, GSRA or temporary hourly appointments may make informal accommodation requests directly to their immediate faculty supervisors, appointing unit faculty or staff, or administrative designee. You are not required to disclose the medical basis for the requested accommodation.