According to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a disability can be defined as situations that include “long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder [persons’] full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.
According to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) prepared by WHO, disability is defined as a concept that emerges from the interaction between an individual's current health status and environmental, physical, and social conditions. It is used as an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.

Reasonable accommodation in an educational setting means equal access to spaces, activities, and educational opportunities and services in the educational institution. Upon the student's application, DSO personnel examine the student's health reports approved by a specialist physician, conduct interviews to assess their needs and determine the appropriate accommodations. Reasonable accommodations are determined in accordance with the educational objectives of the university and the goals of the relevant course. Applications contrary to the primary purpose and objectives are not considered within the scope of reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations aim to ensure equal access, not success.

The main legal grounds for the implementation of the accommodations are based on some international and national regulations. These are the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Law No. 5378 on Disabled People, and Higher Education Institutions Disabled Counseling and Coordination Regulation.

If the student has brought you the accommodation letter, or if the DSO has delivered the letter to you, you can now apply the accommodations that have been determined in the interactive process about the accommodations. If you encounter any difficulties, you can contact the DSO staff to get support.

It is the student's responsibility to deliver the accommodation letters to the faculty member(s) on time (at least two weeks before, if possible earlier). Since some accommodations involve arrangements with other offices other than faculty members and students (e.g., planning a separate exam room or a proctor), they may not be organized in a short time. In such a case, the student's accommodation will not be valid in this exam. Apart from this, it is recommended that suitable accommodation be implemented to ensure equal access.

The DSO staff makes the evaluation of all our students who apply and examine their medical reports approved by the specialist physician. With the full-time staff of the DSO taking part in this evaluation process, consistency in practices is ensured by avoiding evaluation bias. In other words, similar practices come into play for students with similar disabilities and/or skills. Another reason why diagnostic information is not included in the accommodation letters is to protect the data related to the health status, which is deemed to be a special category of personal data and to prevent our students from being exposed to possible discriminatory processes. The essential factor in ensuring equal access and inclusive education is to determine which skills of students are negatively affected by the health condition rather than the diagnosis itself and how to overcome them. The accommodation letter should include this information.

In our university, after the director of the DSO signs the accommodation letters, they are given to the student and the student is asked to have them signed by the faculty member(s). This process is carried out in this way to protect our students’ data so that the applications specified for the student are aimed to be seen only by the student, DSO staff and faculty member(s).

To follow up the processes of our students, we archive the original letters in our office. You can get a copy of the letter after you sign it.

Not every disability situation includes visible, concrete signs. Many disability situations cannot be understood by looking at the outward appearance. The DSO staff evaluates of all our students who apply by examining the medical reports approved by the specialist physician. Students who do not have a valid disability and health report cannot benefit from DSO services.

You can contact our staff for arrangements regarding classes and the need for additional proctors.

All students receiving accommodation must fulfill their course and exam obligations like other students. The grade of the student who does not take the exam is determined accordingly. If they have the right to retake the exam like other students, similar accommodations are rearranged.

All students who receive accommodation must fulfill the obligations of the course like other students. If there is no attendance requirement for students who do not receive accommodations in the class, there is no obligation for students with disabilities to attend the course, either.

Although this accommodation is strongly recommended for some disability groups, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disability, it is left to the instructor’s final decision.

If the given accommodation is for the student to take the exam individually in a separate room, the lecturer and/or the course coordinator must arrange this. Since the operation of each department is different, DSO leaves the management of this process to the departments. However, if the resources are limited in terms of space, the faculty member responsible for the exam can speed up the process by contacting DSO staff to find different solutions and contact other departments or the relevant personnel.

The rationale behind this accommodation is that hearing loss/disability negatively affects executive functions such as planning, working memory, attention, emotional and behavioral regulation, self-control, regulating stimuli, thinking, organizing, problem-solving, decision making, and processing information. Developmentally, there may be differences in the receptive and expressive language processes of the individual with hearing loss/impairment, slowing down in the processing speed of information, in the processes of transferring what she/he has read to his memory and recalling the relevant information from his memory. For this reason, individuals with hearing loss/disability may take additional time in exams.

The level of disability is shaped by the interaction of existing health conditions with environmental and personal factors. Even if they have the same disability and health conditions, the needs may differ according to environmental and personal factors. For example, the accommodations of two blind students who know and do not know Braille will also be different. This is perfectly normal; DSO staff carries out evaluation interviews after examining of the health reports for this purpose.

It would be better; we encourage our registered students to apply for the accommodations at the beginning of the semester. However, DSO accepts new registrations at any time of the academic year. We care that students who are newly diagnosed or who have just decided to benefit from the services offered enroll in our office. However, of course, it is the responsibility of the students to apply on time.

You can add a note for students with disabilities to the syllabus and make an oral announcement at the beginning of the semester. If you think that your student has difficulties in your course due to his or her health condition, you can refer your student to the advisor for students with disabilities in your department or our office. You can contact our department to get an idea of whether your course is accessible or not and to discuss what can be done to increase its accessibility.

Yes, it is. Responsibility for the implementation of accommodations not approved by DSO belongs to the faculty member.

Our students are placed in higher education institutions according to the criteria determined by Student Selection and Placement Centre (ÖSYM). Students placed in any of the departments at our university have the right to access the same opportunities as all students on equal terms, and DSO determines its services accordingly. Issues related to the eligibility of our students for the department they are placed in are outside the jurisdiction and responsibility of DSO.

Information about the services received by the student and, if shared with you, his/her disability status and diagnosis are only shared with the personnel involved in the teaching activities (faculty member, course coordinator, research assistant, lab assistant, etc.) if necessary. Otherwise, it must be kept confidential. For example, as a proctor in the exam the research assistant does not need to know the student’s the diagnosis; it is sufficient to understand the responsibilities special to this task.

In addition, if there is a public announcement (e.g., exam place announcement on the notice board) where all students enrolled in the relevant course are listed, a different or unusual note should not be written down for the student who receives support from DSO. This student should be contacted privately and informed about the subject of the announcement.

Lastly, to attract other students’ attention or to ask for their support, announcements regarding the student's special situation should not be made in the classroom, and the disability situation should not be shared without the student's permission.