Disability-Related Housing Accommodations

Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a housing accommodation is reasonable only when it removes a disability-related barrier to ensure equal access to Butler’s residential life. While we want every student to thrive, accommodations are not intended to guarantee a student’s success or provide an “optimal” environment. In a university learning environment, personal success is the responsibility of the student; Butler’s responsibility is to ensure the access to that opportunity is open and equitable.

The distinction between a functional necessity (access) and a personal preference for a better outcome (success/comfort) is critical:

• Access: This addresses the barrier. It is essential for a student to inhabit a space on equal footing with peers (e.g., a wheelchair-accessible shower). Without this, the student is effectively barred from the residence.
• Success: This addresses the outcome. These are enhancements that might make a student’s experience “better,” “easier,” or more likely to result in a high GPA, but are not required for basic entry or habitation (e.g., a single room to ensure a quiet place to study or a better night’s sleep).

Accommodations are designed to provide the same access to opportunities everyone else has. They are not meant to ensure a specific level of success or exempt students from the standard responsibilities, costs, and behavioral expectations required of all Butler students. They are also not designed to be part of treatments for a specific condition or disability.

Disability-related housing accommodations are not based on preference, comfort level, or prior living experience. A single room is approved only when documentation shows that a student’s disability creates a significant barrier to access that may be supported by an accommodation of some kind.

Many students live with a roommate for the first time in college. While this can be an adjustment, unfamiliarity or discomfort with shared living, even if impacted by a disability, may not qualify as a disability-related need.

Documentation of a diagnosis confirms that a student has a disability, but that is only the first step. To approve a reasonable accommodation, we must also understand the functional impact of that disability within the campus housing environment.

Housing accommodations are not based solely on a diagnosis, but on the demonstration of:

• The Functional Impact: How the disability creates a substantial limitation in daily living.
• The Intersection: How that limitation hits a specific barrier in Butler’s housing (e.g., how a mobility impairment intersects with a third-floor walk-up).
• The Connection: A clear link between the disability and the specific request.

We may ask for more information to better understand how your disability creates a barrier to access that is different from the challenges or preferences experienced by the general student body.

Butler provides many places on campus where you can study alone in distraction-limited areas and peace-and-quiet quiet:

• Discover the many nooks in academic buildings or the residence hall study rooms.
• Reserve a study room in either the Irwin Library or Science Library.  
• Check out the sun room on the third floor of Jordan Hall.

While some students may prefer to study in their rooms, a single room for this purpose is not generally an access need.

All students should consider locking valuables, including medications.

We recommend buying a lockbox or small safe to keep tucked away and out of sight, and lock your dorm room door when you leave.

In shared housing, each student should understand what they can control. It’s unrealistic to control the whole room, but it is realistic to manage your own things and set boundaries with your roommate. All Bulldogs will learn how to share a space and set boundaries and express them with their roommates.

This is an intentional part of the college journey and a core component of the intended learning experience. Living in a residential community, such as Butler, provides an extremely valuable opportunity to develop interpersonal skills that extend far beyond the classroom. However, it is a new skill for many students who either have been only children or have never had to share a room with a sibling. It gets easier with practice!

• If you need help navigating these conversations, your Housing & Residence Life live-in staff are excellent resources for guidance on conversation starters and effective boundary communication.

A great place to start is with your Resident Assistant (RA) or your Area Coordinator. These staff members are specifically trained to provide support, facilitate healthy dialogue, and help you find the right words to address shared living concerns. Whether you need a neutral third party to help mediate a discussion or simply want to brainstorm how to bring up a specific boundary, they are there to ensure your residential experience is a successful one. 

At the beginning of the semester, you and your roommates will create an agreement. It is fundamental to express your likes/dislikes and comforts/discomforts and take the time to talk about it together.

Just about any college alum can recall a less-than-perfect roommate situation. It can happen, and a new year doesn’t make that past bad experience go away. However, it is possible to move on in a positive way. Taking what you can learn from a bad roommate situation and applying those lessons to a new situation is how to utilize a growth mentality to come through adversity.

• Work with the Counseling Center to talk through your past experiences and determine strategies and receive support for moving into a new roommate relationship.
• Make an appointment with Housing & Residence Life staff, such as your your Resident Assistant (RA) or your Area Coordinator, to discuss your fears or concerns; attend one of the various events held in your residence hall to potentially meet new roommate possibilities; partake in the roommate matching process to read profiles of other students seeking a new roommate to find a good match.

Needing space to decompress or manage anxiety is understandable. In some cases, a single room may feel like the most supportive environment. However, feeling supported is not the same as demonstrating that a private room is necessary for equal access. Housing accommodations are intended to address disability-related barriers to access in the residential environment.

In general, Butler residence hall rooms are double rooms, with a few exceptions. All Bulldogs have the opportunity to seek out and discover places in their campus community to decompress, unwind, or process their emotions in places other than the room where they sleep. Here are several ideas:

• Enjoy solitary walks around campus or around Holcomb Gardens.
• Find a private nook in the library or other academic buildings to nestle in and read or think.
• Make use of the Resource & Relaxation Room in the Counseling Center or study rooms in the residence halls for quiet time, meditation, and/or contemplation.
• Work with Housing & Residence Life staff, such as your Resident Assistant (RA) or Area Coordinator, to set up and host a Roommate Agreement meeting. They are skilled at working with roommates in a neutral fashion to help with boundary setting and expectation management to create a healthy living environment for each roommate.