Office of Accessibility Resources and Services

The mission of the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS) is to pursue ongoing development that provides an accessible university, embraces and celebrates diversity, and ensures those with a disability have equal access and opportunity to the university and its programs.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines an individual with a disability as "a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability. It also includes individuals who do not have a disability but are regarded as having a disability. The ADA also makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person based on that person’s association with a person with a disability."

This includes, but is not limited to:

ADD/ADHD
Anxiety
Blind/Visual Impairment
Brain Injury
Chronic Health Condition
Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Depression
Food Allergy
Learning Disability
Mobility/Motor Impairment
Speech Impairment

Students

Do you need to request an accommodation? We work with students with disabilities to eliminate barriers to learning and living within the Bethel community.

Faculty and Staff

We are committed to providing resources and information about disability-related needs to our faculty and staff here at Bethel.

Parents

We will work with you and your child by coordinating accommodations, providing disability-specific programming and resources, and providing individual support in an effort to facilitate a smooth transition to Bethel.

Employees

Employees seeking accommodations for a documented diagnosis should contact Human Resources (bethelhr@bethel.edu).

BUILD

The BUILD program is an integrated two-year postsecondary, residential program for individuals with intellectual disabilities that provides opportunities for inclusive academic, vocational, residential, spiritual, and social learning experiences.

Google Read&Write

West Pharmaceuticals has provided funding to purchase assistive technology for the Bethel University community through campuswide access to Google Read&Write. From hearing emails or documents read out loud to text prediction, picture dictionaries, summary highlighters along with a grammar, spelling, and confusable words checker, Read&Write makes lots of everyday literacy tasks simpler, quicker, and more accurate. Learn more about the features and how to download Google Read&Write. Google Read&Write is available to anyone with a bethel.edu email address.