What are disability-related housing accommodations?

We can work with you to identify housing options to address your disability-specific needs. A disability is defined as a condition that substantially impacts one or more major life functions (such as walking, breathing, learning, hearing, thinking, etc.). 

Examples of disability-related housing accommodations:

• A wheelchair accessible room
• A ground floor room, or a room near an elevator
• Access to a private bathroom, or a low-use shared bathroom
• Strobe alarms in the room
• Air filtration and/or air conditioning in the room
• A room in a quieter hallway

Requesting Disability-Related Housing Accommodations

1. First complete the Housing Application process, as outlined by the Housing Office. You must do this to secure housing on campus, even if you need housing accommodations.
   • If you currently live on West Campus, in an upperlevel residence hall (e.g., Collegetown), or live in a program house, you should participate in your residence hall’s Continued Occupancy Process before requesting housing accommodations from our office. 
2. Request disability-related housing accommodations
   • If you have not registered with SDS, request housing accommodations from our office by following the steps to register. 
       
     To help the registration process move along, we ask that you submit supporting documentation or information as soon as possible:
     • See our Documentation Guidelines for information and examples of supporting documentation
     • For allergy or asthma requests: You can use our Documentation of Asthma or Allergy Form (pdf), or a letter from your doctor addressing the information on that form
   • If you are already registered with our office, speak with your SDS counselor. They may ask for updated documentation to support your request.
3. Your assigned counselor will follow up with you to discuss next steps
   • If approved, SDS will work with the Housing Office to arrange an appropriate housing option for you. If you meet the deadlines (below), this will take place prior to general room selection and placement.
   • You are still responsible for meeting all of the Housing Office's deadlines and requirements.

Deadlines

We work with the Housing Office to ensure that students who have registered with our office are afforded appropriate housing options before others are assigned campus housing. Given that, it is best to hear from you by certain dates in order to facilitate that process:

Newly-admitted freshmen

• Fall admits: May 15
• Spring admits: December 15

Rising sophomores and upperclassmen

• February 19

Summer students

• May 31

If we hear from your after those dates, we can still work with you to try to identify an appropriate housing option. Availability may be more limited. We can put you on a waiting list to be reassigned to a room that meets your needs, but cannot guarantee one will become available. 

Transfer, graduate, and professional students: Housing options are limited. Start the registration process with our office as soon as you have confirmed your admission to Cornell.

Additional Resources

Visit the Cornell Housing website to learn about more about the different types of housing available here at Cornell. They also offer info sessions, tours, room demos, and other events allowing you to explore the different housing communities and options.