Policy Statement

Queen’s University is committed to providing accommodation for students with disabilities who are enrolled in any of its graduate programs. University administration, faculty, staff and other students are expected to support, to the point of undue hardship, all reasonable individualized and appropriate accommodation plans that preserve the program’s academic standards and adhere to the principles of academic integrity.

Guiding Principles

1. Queen’s University is committed to creating a community that respects the dignity and worth of all persons who seek to participate in the life, work and mission of the University and to maintaining a culture that is welcoming, accommodating and supportive of persons with disabilities.
2. The essence of accommodating graduate students with disabilities is individualization and there is no set formula to be applied in developing accommodation plans. Each student’s needs are unique and must be considered afresh when an accommodation request is made. The University has an obligation to provide the most appropriate accommodation; that is, the accommodation that most respects the dignity of the individual with a disability, meets individual needs, and promotes integration and full participation.
3. The University, under the Ontario Human Rights Code, is required to accommodate graduate students with disabilities to the point of undue hardship.  It is important to recognize that inconvenience, potential negative reaction from faculty or other students, third party preferences, collective agreements or contracts are not considered in the test of undue hardship.
4. Accommodations must preserve the academic standards and uphold the essential requirements of a program while adhering to the principles of academic integrity (see General Regulation Academic Integrity Policy). Essential requirements refer to the knowledge and skills that must be acquired and/or demonstrated in order for a student to successfully meet the learning objectives and the degree level expectations of a course or program of study. 

Mediating individual accommodation requests takes into consideration a student’s disability and program-specific requirements. There can be no legitimate claim that academic standards would be compromised by requested accommodations unless it can be demonstrated that the provision of the accommodation would alter the essential requirements of a degree program.

Eligibility for consideration for internal scholarships

1. Students registered as part-time in a graduate degree program to accommodate a documented permanent disability may be eligible for internal scholarships and awards when the terms of the awards permit this flexibility.
2. The School of Graduate Studies will extend the normal funding eligibility period for graduate students whose documented permanent disability impacts their academic progress such that more time to complete their degree is required; a request for such extension should normally be made within the first term of study. An extension provides students with the option of distributing the normal funding package over a longer period of time. The allocation of funding support beyond the funding eligible period will be considered on a case-by-case basis, based on the principle of individualized and particular accommodations and, if granted, will normally be limited to no more than one additional term for Master’s students or one additional year for doctoral students.

Roles and responsibilities of students, faculty, and staff

Information about the roles and responsibilities of all parties concerning accommodation can be found in the revised Guide to Graduate Supervision and on the School of Graduate Studies' website.