Confidentiality
Student Disability Services strives to treat all personal information with the strictest confidentiality. We respect the privacy of individuals and will advocate in favor of confidentiality whenever possible. There may be times when SDS needs to discuss and share information with staff members on campus who have a legitimate educational need to know, such as professors, the Counseling Center, Campus Safety and Residence Life. In general, specific information about a student’s disability type will not be shared with anyone else on campus, but students are able to make the decision on their own about how much information they would like to share with fellow students, professors and staff about their disability.
Students who register with SDS will be asked to fill out an electronic Information Release Consent form indicate individuals outside of the college with whom information can be shared. Disability information is confidential and kept separate from other SMC institutional record management systems.
Working with SDS and receiving accommodations is only documented in the SDS secure portal. This information is not shared with the Registrar's Office, Advising Office, Career & Professional Services or any other office on campus. Information indicating a student received accommodations while at SMC will not be communicated or documented in any way without a student specifically asking that the information be shared with others.
SMC Community
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Faculty and administrators who have a need to know status regarding a student who has a disability are required to keep disability information confidential
- No party outside of the Student Disability Services office can require students to disclose the nature of their disability in order to receive accommodations extended by SDS
See also Rights and Responsibilities.