Skip to content

First Year Students

Learning

Student Accessibility Services

phone: 919-668-1267 | tty: 919-668-1329 | relay service: 711 within the United States

fax: 919-668-3977 email: sdao@duke.edu | access.duke.edu/students

Welcome to Duke University from the staff at the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO). SDAO is responsible for and is committed to providing educational opportunities for students with disabilities in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. As part of this responsibility, SDAO determines eligibility for disability-based services and accommodations to qualified duke students, both undergraduate and graduate. 

Our goal is to provide and coordinate reasonable accommodations that enable students with disabilities to have equal access to all Duke University programs and activities. Services and accommodations are provided to students with a variety of disabilities including, but not limited to, blindness/low vision, deafness/hard of hearing, learning disabilities, mental health or psychological disabilities, mobility disabilities, and chronic health disabilities as well as other medical conditions. 

FAQs

A student with a disability is one who has a medical condition that substantially limits or restricts one or more major life activities compared to most people in the general population. 

All accommodations and services are individualized and based on the student’s medical condition and functional limitations. Current documentation from the student’s medical provider showing the student’s functional limitations as well as recommendations for effective accommodations must be provided as part of the accommodation request process.  

Academic and non-academic accommodations, such as housing and transportation accommodations, may be provided through SDAO. We also provide a variety of assistive technologies such as assistive listening devices, specialized software and books in alternative formats to students qualifying for services. Please see our website for a more comprehensive list of available assistive technologies: https://access.duke.edu/resources/assistive-tech-tools. 

SDAO will work with each student to assess which accommodations are appropriate and whether requested accommodations are reasonable. Moreover, students can continually work with SDAO to revise current accommodations or explore new accommodations. 

Our offices are located in an accessible location at Bevan Building, 1121 West Main Street. You may reach the SDAO by calling 919-668- 1267 or by emailing sdao@duke.edu. 

Students should submit a Request for Consideration for Reasonable Accommodations form and supporting medical and academic documentation as soon as possible or upon matriculation. Our online request form, documentation guidelines, and other useful information can be found on our website: access.duke.edu/requests.

For campus accessibility maps, visit maps.duke.edu.

LEARN MORE ABOUT US

Please visit our website for more complete information about SDAO and the services we offer: access.duke.edu.

DIAL 711 for relay service within the United States.