The physical Ithaca campus is large with some hilly terrain and some historic buildings that may not have certain accessibility features, such as elevators. However, we do have accommodations and services that can be arranged, such as transportation, to help with this. Classes and meeting locations can also be changed to accessible spaces, or modified, based on your specific accessibility needs.  

We are excited that you are interested in Cornell and would love to have a conversation with you about your specific accommodation needs and your program, so that we can let you know more in-depth about ways we can accommodate any potential accessibility barriers that you may encounter. Contact our office to schedule a meeting.  

We want Cornell to be a welcoming place for everyone! 

No. The admissions process and criteria are the same for all students applying to Cornell. Disability status is not a consideration in the admissions process.  

For specific questions about admissions, contact the Cornell school or college you are interested in. 

No. Documentation should be submitted to SDS only after you have been admitted to Cornell and have decided to attend.

For accommodation needs in the application process, such as an alternate format of the application, contact the Admissions team for your program. They would be happy to make arrangements for you, and will consult with our office as needed.  

For applicants to undergrad programs, contact:

• Undergraduate admissions

Graduate school students would contact:

• Graduate School admissions (for Ithaca-based programs), or
• Cornell Tech admissions

Professional program students should contact their specific school:

• Cornell Law School
• College of Veterinary Medicine
• Johnson Graduate School of Management

Visiting students (e.g., taking a summer session course, or in a pre-college studies program) would contact:

• Cornell School of Continuing Education

You are also welcome to reach out to us with questions.  

Yes. We are happy to meet with you to answer general questions about disability services and accommodations here at Cornell. Contact us to schedule a time to meet with someone. We are able to meet with you remotely.

At the high school level, accommodations are determined proactively through meetings with teachers, family members or caregivers, and school staff. However, in college you are responsible for being your own self-advocate. You can still ask your family or caregivers for guidance and share whatever information you wish to with them, but the college will only directly communicate with you about your access and accommodations.  

In college, you are responsible for using the disability accommodation process at your school to request and use disability accommodations. The sections below has more information about using accommodations specifically at Cornell, as well as your rights and responsibilities at Cornell.    

On our New Students page you can read more about the differences between using disability services in high school and college.  

SDS staff are here to help you navigate this transition. Please let us know if you have any questions!  

Review our Get Started page to learn about the process of requesting disability services and/or accommodations.

You can complete our Self-Disclosure Form and give us as much information you are comfortable with; we can then follow up with you and meet with you to discuss your needs. You can contact us to speak with someone or schedule a meeting. 

We will work with you to determine appropriate accommodations for our college environment and your courses. Your high school accommodation plan (IEP, 504, etc.) does not automatically transfer. Please follow the steps to register with our office so that we can begin working with you to develop an accommodation plan for your time here at Cornell.

Learn more about the differences between how accommodations work in high school and college.

We recognize that a person can develop or become aware of a disability at any time. For that reason, we do not have formal deadlines. However, the sooner we hear from you, the sooner we may be able to assist you with your needs.  

Below are the suggested timelines for non-housing requests:

• Summer Semester 
  • May 31
• Fall Semester 
  • Submit by June 15th to allow us adequate time to review your request
• Winter Semester 
  • December 15th, or as soon as possible to allow enough time to arrange accommodations
• Spring Semester 
  • December 15th 

Reference our housing page for deadlines for requests involving housing. 

No, it should be completed by you, the student. You can have a family member or someone else help if assistance is needed. We will be communicating with you regarding your request and it is important that we receive the Self-Disclosure Form in your own words. 

Please refer to our Documentation Guidelines for information on what may be needed. 

Records sent to Cornell Health are not shared with Student Disability Services, and vice versa. If you want us to have a copy of certain health records, you will need to separately send them to our office.

Yes, you should! The disclosure form is an opportunity for you to describe in your own words how your disability impacts you. While documentation is always helpful, the most helpful thing for us is to hear about your specific experiences. If you’re not sure, contact us.  

We will review the information you submitted and contact you regarding next steps. It is helpful to submit all of your information at once, if you can, so that we can take it all into consideration. If we have questions, we will let you know as well.

We will work with you to provide appropriate accommodations during your time at Cornell. Accommodations are determined on an individual basis and are based on your specific situation. Your accommodation plan may be different than what you have received before.  

After you submit the Disability Self-Disclosure Form to our office, we will discuss an accommodation plan with you and what may be appropriate.  

Though you are not required to, we encourage all students with disabilities to self-disclose their disability status to our office.

Registering with our office does not obligate you to use any accommodations, nor will your information be shared anywhere else on campus. There is a place on our Self-Disclosure Form to indicate that you are not currently requesting services or accommodations. 

At the beginning of each new semester, you must request your accommodation letters in order to receive your academic accommodations. Filling out a new Self-Disclosure Form is not required, nor are you required to meet with us each semester.  

If you are seeking new or different accommodations, you can request additional accommodations, or contact us if you have questions. 

Our office works with students to provide them with equitable access to Cornell's programs and services. This includes (but is not limited to) academics, housing, and dining. 

There are not certain services or accommodations that are automatically granted. After you submit information to our office, we may meet with you or discuss via email your individual situation and what an appropriate accommodation plan may be. There are many factors that go into this, including the types of courses you are taking and the impact of your condition or disability. 

You can learn more about accommodations and services at Cornell on our website. 

SDS does not charge for accommodations. However, you are responsible for aids or assistance of a personal nature such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, computers to be used at home, or attendants for services of a personal nature (including assistance with bathing, dressing, or life coaching). 

There is not tutoring available through SDS, however there are a number of tutoring resources available at Cornell. 

• Your college’s advising office can provide direction on the best places to find support in your specific courses. Many colleges, schools, departments have their own support services.
• We can also help refer you to appropriate support.
• The Learning Strategies Center (LSC) has drop-in tutoring for a number of undergraduate courses. Study skills workshops and learning support courses are also available.
• The Knight Writing Institute provides writing support.
• The Math Support Center provides support for all Cornell math courses.

There is not formal coaching of this nature at Cornell. However, we can assist you with identifying resources in the community. 

The Learning Strategies Center has workshops and select services on study skills and time management.

We would be happy to meet with you to discuss your situation and provide some guidance. We do not provide testing in our office, but can discuss the testing process and provide you with information on how and where you could go to be tested.  

Staff in Student Disability Services are here to help arrange disability accommodations and services, but do not provide any treatment or testing. We are happy to help provide referral information, or to connect with you with referral services at Cornell Health to help guide you.

Our office can help you with your disability-related transportation needs. Transportation accommodations may include: 

• a free bus pass 
• the approval to purchase an accessible parking permit for campus  
• the use of CULift (the Cornell paratransit service that provides pre-scheduled rides on and near campus). 

The accommodation process may require that we disclose your accommodation needs (though, not your disability) to certain faculty or staff members who are helping to implement your accommodations. This is only done when needed. We recognize your right to determine who receives this information and your right to confidentiality. Your disability-related records are not stored in any central student database at the university, only within our office. 

You are not obligated to disclose what your disability is to your instructor or other course staff. If you receive academic accommodations, you can have us email an official accommodation letter to your instructors. The letter will detail your accommodations, but will not state what your disability is. 

Your disability-status or registration-status with our office will never appear on your university transcript or any other official document from the registrar’s office. Neither will your accommodations. 

The Housing Website has information about what is provided in rooms, and other building features. Please refer to it for answers to many questions about room and residence halls. 

We can work with you to identify housing options to address your disability-specific needs. Examples of disability-related housing accommodations: 

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

More information about Housing Accommodations. 

Yes. You have to complete the housing application process each year you want to live on campus.

SDS will only need to approve you once. You do not need to submit updated or additional information, unless you are seeking additional housing accommodations.

The exception is emotional support animals; we will need updated information each year and will reach out to you about it. 

Due to the manner in which rooms are assigned, it may not be possible for Housing to arrange rooms for other students when arranging a room for you (e.g., with blocking). 

No, the accommodation provided by a room change is for you only. 

Single rooms are approved as an accommodation if you have a disability that would prevent you from living with another person. 

We will review the information that you provide to us to learn more about how your condition limits you and how it may affect your housing needs. A single room may be appropriate, but we may also explore other options with you.

If you work through our office, and we are approving the room change as an accommodation, then you do not have to pay the room change fee. 

However, certain buildings have different rates and you are still responsible for paying the rate for your assigned building. 

No, many of the older residence halls do not, though some low floor rooms may be accessible without stairs. Please see the Housing Website to learn about building amenities. 

You can register with our office if you have concerns about your assigned building/room (or contact us if you are already registered).

Some buildings have air conditioning, some have centralized air filtration (but not cooling), and some do not have either. Please see the Housing Website to learn about building amenities. 

You can register with our office if you have concerns about your assigned building/room (or contact us if you are already registered).

Please follow the steps to register with our office. We can discuss with you what may be possible

Nothing can be hung or mounted on or outside windows, which limits air conditioners as an option. Air purifiers can be brought if they meet the wattage requirements. Fans are also an option. 

Refer to Housing’s Rules and Standards for guidance about wattage for devices. 

Yes, but there are limits on wattage. Minifridges are generally okay. Refer to Housing’s Rules and Standards for guidance. 

Quiet spaces are located in residence halls, libraries, and other academic buildings. For example, you can book a study space in a library.

Cornell has an on campus residency requirement for certain undergraduate students. If you feel you are unable to live on campus due to a disability, follow the steps to register with our office.

Pets are not generally allowed in campus buildings.  

Emotional support animals in campus housing can be allowed in certain circumstances if approved by our office.

Service animals (animals trained to perform a task to help someone with a disability) are allowed on campus. 

Learn more about Cornell’s Policy for Animals on Campus.

Learn more about the process to have an Emotional Support Animal on campus. 

Service animals do not need to be approved. If there are concerns with bringing a service animal into certain spaces (e.g., labs), please contact our office.

For other types of animals, refer to Cornell's Animals on Campus Policy. 

We would work with you to find housing where you could live with your emotional support animal. This will could mean moving rooms. 

Generally students bring a cat, dog, or rabbit. Other types of animals are allowed, but may prove difficult for you to manage in campus housing. 

We recommend connecting with us if you have questions about a specific type of animal.

No. We would make arrangements to accommodate you by allowing the presence of an animal, but cannot assign a larger space for the presence of a specific emotional support animal.

There are many active student organizations on campus! The list is changing every year, and each group has various means of advertising (e.g., websites, Facebook pages). We maintain a selected list of student organizations that have a disability-focus. A full, searchable listing of all the organizations on campus (there are over 1,000!) can be found on Cornell's Student Organizations website. 

For students returning from a health leave, there is a Returning from Leave Student Group that provides connections on campus once you are back. 

Cornell Health also offers different student groups each semester for those with certain medical or mental health conditions.

Neurodiversity @ Cornell is a university-wide community that is mostly student-focused. 

The Finger Lakes Independence Center provides advocacy and has a variety of groups for people with disabilities. Cornell students are welcome.

A disability is a condition that significantly impacts you ability to think, eat, breathe, walk, work, see, speak, learn, etc. Learn more about how disability is defined.

Cornell University has a diverse offering of disability studies courses across multiple disciplines.  

• The ILR School offers many courses on Disability Studies.  
• Additional examples of disability-related courses: 
  • ASIAN 4420 – Cultures of Disability in Japan 
  • DEA 3510 – Human Factors and Inclusive Design 
  • FGSS 4035 – Intersectionality in Disability Studies 
  • HIST 2721 – History of Mental Health and Mental Illness in US 
  • FREN 3520 - (Dis)ability Studies: A Brief History 
• Please note these classes may not be available every semester, or may change. 

We have a Lending Library with resources on a wide range of disability-related topics. If you need help finding something on a certain topic, please feel free to contact us.

Costs related to disabling conditions may affect your financial need, but having a disability does not automatically qualify you for financial aid. 

You can contact the Financial Aid Office at Cornell to discuss your specific situation and to get more information about possible resources. 

We will periodically post information about scholarships on our Facebook page. 

A detailed listing of recurring scholarship opportunities for students with disabilities can be found at the Affordable Colleges website.