To make an appointment, please contact us at owbs@ccga.edu or 912-279-5806.

The Office of Student Well-Being and Support is dedicated to ensuring nondiscrimination and equitable access to programs, courses, and activities for qualified students with disabilities. The office works with students, faculty, and staff in developing reasonable accommodations and strategies for a successful learning experience while maintaining classroom rigor and academic standards.

Step One: Let us know you plan to apply for accommodations. Complete the Request for Accommodations form by going to your MYCCGA and navigating to the Student Well-Being section, then to Well-Being.

Step Two: Schedule an Access Meeting.

Schedule an appointment with the office by emailing owbs@ccga.edu. Appointment types include face-to-face, virtual, or by phone, and can last up to 45 minutes. While documentation is not required to schedule a meeting, students are encouraged to submit documentation as soon as possible. Please review our documentation guidelines for more information.

Step Three: Submit Documentation

You can submit documentation in any of the following ways before, during, or after your initial access meeting:

• Email your documentation to: owbs@ccga.edu
• Drop off in person at the OWBS Office, located on the second floor of the Campus Center (Suite 232).
• Upload it directly to our system by logging into your MYCCGA portal and going to “Student Well-Being,” then to “Well-Being,” then “Uploads.”

Please review our documentation guidelines for additional information. All documentation is kept confidential. If OWBS has not confirmed receipt of documentation within two business days after submission, please contact us.

Step Four: Decision and Accommodation Letter

After the access meeting, students will receive a notification regarding their accommodation requests. Once approved, students will be provided an accommodation letter to provide to their instructors and the option for a 15-minute meeting to ask questions about approved accommodations. Please note the approval process can take up to 30 business days.

Students with no documentation:

OWBS can work with students who have never been formally diagnosed with a disability or cannot afford to get documentation. We recommend these students make an appointment with our office by emailing us to discuss their specific situation, explore options for support, and identify options to move forward with obtaining documentation.

Students who are requesting accommodations must provide complete and current documentation of their disability to Student Disability Services as required by the University System of Georgia. 

The University System of Georgia (USG) general documentation guidelines include the following aspects: appropriate evaluators with identifying credentials and signatures on letterhead; documentation of a physical and/or mental impairment, which include a diagnostic statement based on the most current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and/or International Classification of Diseases (ICD); documentation of a current substantial limitation in a major life activity; identifying information of the evaluating professional.

USG Documentation Guidelines

Documentation for Specific Disability Categories

Acquired Brain Injuries

Brain injury can result from external trauma, such as a closed head or an object penetration injury, or internal trauma, such as a cerebral vascular accident or tumor. Additionally, individuals may acquire brain impairment as a result of neurological illnesses, such as epilepsy or multiple sclerosis. ABI can cause physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and vocational changes that can affect an individual for a short period of time or permanently. Depending on the location and extent of the injury, symptoms can vary widely. Understanding functional changes after an injury and resulting implications for education are more important than only knowing the cause or type of injury.

Acquired Brain Injuries Guidelines

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequently displayed and more severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development. By definition, the disorder is developmental in nature, and therefore, diagnosis requires the manifestation of several symptoms prior to age 12 years. Furthermore, a diagnosis of ADHD is not sufficient, in and of itself, to determine appropriate accommodations. Therefore, objective data provided in a comprehensive assessment of cognitive processing and academic functioning may be required to establish the nature and severity of the student’s functional limitations. Such data may include, but are not limited to, the following: rating scale information, performance on continuous performance tasks, cognitive processing test results, and/or the results of achievement tests.

The ADHD Verification form can be provided to an evaluator to elicit information needed to document ADHD. Please note that this verification form, although helpful in the documentation of the diagnosis of ADHD, may not be sufficient by itself in determining functional impairment. If this form is used, it is requested that the evaluator fills out the form in its entirety and provides the functional impairment in the academic setting.

ADHD Guidelines

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders are characterized by impairment in several areas of development including social communication and social interaction across contexts, and the presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Guidelines

Communication Disorders

Communication disorders is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in language, speech and, communication. This includes difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including the production of sounds, articulation and fluency deficits, difficulty in the acquisition and production of language across modalities (i.e., spoken, written), and difficulties in the social use or verbal and nonverbal communication.

Communication Disorders Guidelines

Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing experience a reduction in sensitivity to sound. Amplification may not assist the individual in interpreting auditory stimuli. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing from birth may experience lags in the development of speech and most often have language-based deficiencies.

DHOH Disorders Guidelines

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities is a general term that refers to a heterogenous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical skills. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual, presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction, and may occur across the life span. Problems in self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities (e.g., sensory impairment, intellectual disability, serious emotional disturbance), or with extrinsic influences (such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate instruction), they are not the result of those conditions or influences. (National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, Learning Disabilities: Issues on Definition).

Learning Disabilities Guidelines

Mobility Disorders

Mobility impairments refer to conditions that limit a person’s coordination or ability to move. Some mobility impairments are congenital while others are the result of illness or physical injury. The functional abilities and limitations resulting from the impairment will vary from individual to individual.

Mobility Disorders Guidelines

Psychological Disorders

Many different psychological disorders can interfere with cognitive, emotional, and social functioning and may negatively impact a student’s ability to function in an academic environment. Some individuals experience significant disruptions in mood, thinking, and behavioral regulation that are secondary to a psychological disorder. The symptoms and associated impairment may be either chronic or episodic. Complete descriptions and diagnostic criteria for psychological disorders are available in the current version of the DSM or ICD. Test anxiety by itself is not considered a psychological disorder.

Psychological Disorders Guidelines

Systemic Disorders

Systemic disabilities are conditions affecting one or more of the body’s systems, including the respiratory, immunological, neurological, circulatory, or digestive systems. Systemic disabilities may change over time. Therefore, the need for – and type of – reasonable accommodations may require updated documentation.

Systemic Disorders Guidelines

Visual Disorders

Visual impairments are disorders in the function of the eyes that cannot be adequately corrected by medical or surgical intervention, therapy, or conventional eyewear. Individuals with visual disorders may not have any usable vision or the vision may be significantly limited.

Visual Disorders Guidelines

What is NOT Documentation

• Pictures of Emotional Support Animals or Service Animals
• Pictures of medication
• Prescription notes
• An entire medical file from birth
• A screenshot of diagnosis or medical provider portal

• Testing Services
• Presentations
• Consultations
• Accessibility/Resources/
  Instruments

Accommodation Testing

Students who would like to take their exams with the OWBS Office will need to register online at least two business days before the exam. Below are the steps of how exam requests are received and handled by OWBS:

1. The student submits the Exam Request via the portal no less than two business days (excluding holidays and weekends) before the scheduled date of the exam. In the portal, click on “Student Forms,” then “Disability Services Forms,” and select the appropriate form.
2. The faculty member will submit their exam to OWBS no less than one business day before the scheduled date of the exam through the Exam Accommodation form. There are two forms available for student use. The Individual Exam Accommodation form is for a single exam and will need to be completed for each class in which a student has an exam that is announced. The Semester Exam Accommodation form is to be used when students have an exam schedule for the entire semester provided by their professor.
3. The student will receive a confirmation email of the arrangements made by our office. They should review the information for accuracy and notify OWBS immediately if any changes need to be made.
4. The student should plan to arrive 10 minutes before the start of the exam.
5. Once completed, the office will return the exam to the faculty member as indicated on the Exam Accommodation form.

A note about time conflicts: If receiving extended time on an exam will cause a time conflict with another class, you must notify your professor as soon as possible so they can work with you on making appropriate arrangements.

To reschedule an exam with OWBS (for example, your in-class exam has been postponed), please contact us at owbs@ccga.edu.

Service Animal

A service animal, defined by Title II and Title III of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Examples of animals that fit the ADA’s definition of “service animal” because they have been specifically trained to perform a task for the person with a disability:

• Guide Dog or Seeing Eye Dog
• Hearing or Signal Dog
• Psychiatric Service Dog
• SSigDOG (sensory signal dogs or social signal dogs)
• Seizure Response Dog

Until Title II and III of the ADA, service animals are limited to dogs. However, entities must make reasonable modifications in policies to allow individuals with disabilities to use miniature horses if they have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities.

Students utilizing a service animal as defined by Title II and Title III of the ADA are strongly encouraged to register their animal with the Office of Student Well-Being and Support, but are not required since the use of a service animal is a civil right. Email owbs@ccga.edu for more information.

Emotional Support Animal

The College of Coastal Georgia provides reasonable accommodations to students living on campus with documented disabilities. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) does not limit the rights of a person with a disability to the ADA definition of a Service Animal. Instead, it identifies Comfort or Emotional Support Animals as an accommodation. The Department of Justice considers residence halls to be dwellings under the FHA definitions, so this guideline applies to students with disabilities living in the College of Coastal Georgia’s residence halls.

For a Comfort or Emotional Support Animal to be permitted to reside on campus, the student applying to bring the animal to campus and the Comfort or Emotional Support Animal must register with the Office of Student Well-Being and Support. The student will provide documentation saying:

1. the student has a disability,
2. the animal is necessary to afford the person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, and
3. there is an identifiable relationship between the disability and the emotional support the animal provides.

To qualify for this accommodation, a student must meet the federal definition of disability and must provide supporting documentation, such as a letter from a physician or other medical professional, stating that the student has a disability and that the Comfort or Emotional Support Animal provides a benefit for the individual with the disability.

Email owbs@ccga.edu for more information.

• Academic Support for College Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Overview
• Accessibility Services
• Acquired Brain Injury
• American Foundation for the Blind
• Asperger’s Disorder
• Autism Internet Models
• Autism Speaks
• Attention Deficit Disorder Association
• Children & Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Pepnet – Deaf/Hard of Hearing
• Association on Higher Education & Disability
• National Center for Learning Disabilities
• Documentation Request Form for Assistive Animals
• Dyslexia Help/Information
• Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking & Technology
• National Center for Civil Rights
• Service and Assistive Animals on Campus Policy
• Supporting College Students on the Autism Spectrum

Useful List of Ted Talks for Understanding Neurodiversity

• Why Everything You Know About Autism is Wrong | Dr. Jac den Houting | TedxMacquarieUniversity
• ADHD as a Difference in Cognition, not a Disorder | Stephen Tonti (Student) at TedX
• Recognizing ADHD in Adults | Heather Brannon | TEDxHeritageGreen
• Behind the Mask: Autism for Women and Girls | Kate Kahle | TedXAustinCollege
• Why are So Many Autistic Adults Undiagnosed? | Kip Chow | TEDxSFU
• Autistic Masking: A Dangerous Survival Mechanism | Leah Reinardy | TEDxHopeCollege
• Autism: How to be Normal (and why not to be) | Jolene Stockman | TEDxNewPlymouth
• Letting Go of Control and Rethinking Support for Autistic Individuals | Amy Laurent | TEDxURI
• Dying Young and Misunderstood: Autism in Adulthood | Elizabeth Weir | TEDxCambridgeUniversity
• Neurodiversity – the Key that Unlocked my World | Elisabeth Wiklander | TEDxGoteborg

To report an accessibility concern, please email owbs@ccga.edu.