Information for Applicants with Diagnosed Disabilities

If you have a diagnosed disability (for example, learning disability, ADHD, physical, medical, mental health disability), we encourage you to identify yourself during the admissions process. Even if your circumstances don't impact your admissibility to the University (meeting our admission requirements), we want to make sure you know about the support services we have in place. In no way will identifying yourself be a disadvantage to you. Nothing will appear on your academic transcript that would identify you as a student with a disability. We want to know who you are only so we can ensure you get the support you need during the admission process and afterwards.

If you become a York student, you should contact York University’s Student Accessibility Services to arrange an appointment with an accessibility counsellor as soon as possible after you accept your offer of admission, in order to arrange for academic accommodations. We encourage that you register before classes start so that your accommodation plan is in place before classes begin. Students can register at any point in the year; however, it should be noted that there may be delay to having your accommodation plan in place as the term gets underway. Failure to make these arrangements may jeopardize your opportunity to receive academic accommodations in a timely fashion.

Degree programs with field placement/practicums

If you are a student with a disability applying to a professional degree program (e.g. nursing, social work, education, law, psychology), we want to ensure that we arrange any necessary accommodations for your disability in the practicum/field placement setting. Please note that practicum/field placement accommodations may differ from classroom accommodations due to the particular demands of the learning environment. We urge you to discuss your accommodation needs early in the term with the practicum/field placement coordinator and an accessibility counsellor from Student Accessibility Services.

Disclosure & collaboration

Our past experience strongly suggests that there is an increased likelihood of success in practicum settings when students with disabilities disclose their need for accommodation at the earliest possible stage. Furthermore, we believe that the optimal process for determining appropriate accommodation involves collaboration among the student, CDS disabilities counsellor and the practicum coordinator.