FAQ for TA/CA/IAs
General Needs
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A: Students will typically submit their accommodation letter to the instructor of record. If a student shares a letter directly with you and you are not the instructor of record, you should notify the student that you will be sharing it with the instructor of record as well and then do so. If the instructor of record has a TA who will be involved in implementing those accommodations in some way, the instructor should ask the student's permission to share the accommodation letter with the TA or tell the student that they plan to share with the TA as long as there are no objections from the student (giving the student a way to withhold consent). It's helpful for students if the instructor tells the student the TA’s name at that point if it hasn't already been shared with the student (that way, if the student recognizes the TA and doesn't want to disclose accommodations to them as a peer, there's an opportunity for them to say something). Once the instructor is confident the student is comfortable with sharing their accommodations with the TA, the instructor can do that to whatever extent feels necessary: that might be sharing the whole letter or it might just be giving TAs who are proctoring exams a list of students with exam accommodations and what those are, depending on what the TA is doing for the class and how much they need to know about each student. Accommodations can be shared on a “need to know” basis, but since TAs are sometimes peers to the students in a class, an added layer of consent/opportunity to withhold consent is needed. TAs can be proactive in accessibility for the areas they oversee by asking the instructor if there are any disability accommodations they need to implement/be aware of, and reminding instructors that they should ask the student’s permission before sharing that information with the TA. Students generally understand the importance of this information being shared with TAs in order for their accommodations to be met, but deserve the opportunity to object due to the student peer nature of some TA relationships.
For classes you are not the instructor of record for but are implementing any accommodations for (e.g., extended time on exams), you should first direct questions about accommodations to the instructor but may also reach out to SAS directly at access@brandeis.edu, preferably with a CC to the instructor so they are in the loop. When emailing SAS directly you may include the student’s name as long as nobody is CC’d who doesn’t have a direct need to be aware of the student’s private disability status.