In higher education, this is not the case. The medical and special education models imply that someone is either monitoring and making decisions for students with disabilities or always looking out for them, assisting them in reaching the most positive and individual educational experience possible. These are civil rights charges. Civil rights imply the strong responsibility on the part of the individual to conduct themselves as first-class citizens. DSS does not have either the right or the responsibility to look over the shoulders of students with disabilities.
Students are ultimately responsible for themselves.
DSS works with students and, when appropriate, with their instructors, to determine two things. First, which accommodations are reasonable and second, identify other student services that may be appropriate and refer students to them. DSS gives students some possible designs as well as the tools needed to build a level playing field for themselves. In the end, the access a student builds is their own. We serve students with disabilities in a civil rights capacity.