Welcome

Mission Statement The mission of Moraine Valley Community College's Center for Disability Services (CDS) is to serve students with documented disabilities.  Our purpose is to ensure equal access for students with disabilities to all college programs and to promote student independence, student success, and self-advocacy. To accomplish its mission, the Center for Disability Services will: Assist as a liaison between students with disabilities, faculty and staff. Offer diagnostic testing (Woodcock-Johnson III) services to current and potential students to identify a learning disability. Provide accommodations to self-identified students with a documented disability. Advise and counsel students with disabilities on academic and vocational issues. Support faculty, staff and administrators on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 compliance as it relates to students with disabilities. Offer recruitment and transition services to potential in-district high school students with disabilities. Provide support and education to all members of the college and community, so as to develop an environment of awareness and mutual respect regarding students with a documented disability.

Office Location: S114 Telephone: (708) 974-5711 Fax: (708) 974-8711 sievers@morainevalley.edu Spring and Fall Office Hours: Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.   Summer Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri. 8 a.m.-noon

Legal Mandates
Post-secondary students with disabilities are guaranteed access to college programs and services by the following federal laws:

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
"No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States...shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
"Subject to the provisions of this title, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, program, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by such an entity."

Moraine Valley Community College is committed to the spirit and the letter of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. We acknowledge the responsibility of all staff, faculty, and students to adhere to the philosophy of equal access to opportunity.

Definition of Disability
The law defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The definition further indicates that you are a "person with a disability" and entitled to protection from discrimination if you have a disability, if you have a history of a disability, or if you are regarded as having a disability.