At Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Ohio, Disability Resources and the Office of Education Abroad work closely to support students with disabilities who wish to study abroad through the institution. Over the years, the two offices have developed and honed their process for supporting reasonable accommodation requests, recruiting students, and preparing students to successfully study abroad.
Self-Assessment for Travel Questionnaire
According to Kevin Sullivan, Assistant Director of Education Abroad, students are encouraged to think about potential challenges as soon as they initiate the application process, referred to as the pre-decision phase. During the pre-decision phase, the applicant fills out a Self-Assessment for Travel Questionnaire. This questionnaire has the student reflect on the following series of questions:
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Study Abroad Concerns: Are there aspects of your study abroad experience that you are anxious or worried about? This question can be answered based on health, disability, or other. You may write “Prefer not to respond” if you do not wish to disclose this information.
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Study Abroad Challenges: What aspects of your study abroad experience may be most challenging for you (e.g. culture, interpersonal situations, etc.)? You may write “Prefer not to respond” if you do not wish to disclose this information.
This allows for students with disabilities to self-identify or disclose a disability at an early stage. Upon reviewing a student’s submission, an education abroad advisor reaches out to follow up on any issues raised and to answer the student’s questions or concerns. If a student with a disability is not already registered with Disability Resources, and they request a reasonable accommodation on their exchange program, they can be referred in order to receive an accommodation.
Our instructions with the pre-decision self assessment let students know they can write ‘N/A’ or ‘Prefer not to respond’ if they prefer not to answer. – Kevin Sullivan
Information Sharing
There is another way through which CWRU staff engage with students with disabilities planning to study abroad. As part of the process for signing up for an education abroad program, all students agree to allow the Office of Education Abroad to share their information with university personnel and faculty as appropriate. This includes both staff at CWRU and the host institution.
As a result, for each study abroad program, Kevin is able to send a list of participating students to Disability Resources, who can then reach out directly to students known to be registered for accommodations. According to Joe Young, Assistant Director of Disability Resources, they try to complete this step at least two months before the start of a program in order to get ahead of any issues that might arise.
Health Information and Self-Assessment for Travel Questionnaire
After a student has been accepted to an education abroad program, they are asked to fill out a Health Information and Self-Assessment for Travel Questionnaire. Students can select “prefer not to respond” or “n/a” for any question, and their responses are protected by FERPA, and not released outside of the CWRU Office of Education Abroad. The questionnaire includes the following:
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Accommodations Abroad: Do you have any disabilities for which you will need accommodations abroad? If yes, are you registered with the CWRU Disability Resources Office? If you need to, begin the registration process as soon as you can. More information on registering with Disability Resources can be found on their website: https://case.edu/studentlife/disability/procedures-and-information
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Allergies: Do you have any food, drug, animal, insect, or other allergies? If yes, please list any allergies below, your reaction, and if your symptoms are life-threatening.
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Dietary Restrictions: Are you on a medically restricted diet or do you have any dietary restrictions? If yes, please describe below.
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Medications Abroad: Do you plan on taking any medications while abroad? If yes, are your medications legal and/or available at your destination(s)? Some medications common in the United States may be considered illegal in other countries. See: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travel-abroad-with-medicine
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Physical Health Condition & Treatment: Have you been treated or hospitalized in the last five years, or are you currently being treated for a serious physical health condition, injury or disease? If yes, please describe below.
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Mental Health Condition & Treatment: Have you been treated or hospitalized in the last five years, or are you currently being treated for a mental health condition? If yes, please describe below.
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Additional Health or Medical Needs: Is there any information related to your health or medical needs that you would like to or feel you need to share with the faculty leader, onsite staff member, program leader, or CWRU Office of Education Abroad?
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Understanding of Personal Responsibility: Did you answer yes to either question about your mental or physical health? If yes, you are responsible for meeting with your healthcare provider to proactively address potential health challenges abroad and create a treatment plan.
At Case Western Reserve University students with disabilities and health conditions are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and to educate themselves before going abroad. To give a few examples, students are encouraged to make their own plan for traveling with or obtaining medications in the host country. They are responsible for identifying the rules in obtaining the permissions to bring a service animal. They are also expected to make their own arrangements for traveling with a personal attendant. This self-assessment questionnaire is part of that process.
Kevin explains that prior to the spring of 2024, students were asked to fill out a medical questionnaire in the pre-decision phase. The result was that the information may have been outdated by the time students had been accepted to a program as students can initiate an application up to three terms in advance of the program start.
Arranging Reasonable Accommodations
Disability Resources sends a copy of the student’s reasonable accommodation letter to their education abroad advisor, who forwards it to the host institution. From that point, the host institution takes charge of arranging any reasonable accommodations on the ground. Disability Resources also engages the student in a discussion about ways that reasonable accommodations may look different overseas. Students are encouraged to connect with their education abroad advisor and research the accommodation process at their host institution early, as programs abroad have various disability accommodation deadlines.
Recruitment
The Disability Resource office also looks for ways to collaborate in the area of recruitment. For example, they have information on education abroad available for visitors. Joe personally keeps a poster for education abroad in his office and regularly talks about his own education abroad experience with students. Kevin says that in 2025 the Office of Education Abroad invited partners including Disability Resources to be represented at Case Western Reserve’s yearly study abroad fair, so that students know that Disability Resources is a part of the process and there to support them.
Conclusion
Case Western Reserve University actively supports students with and without disabilities to participate in education abroad through intentional collaboration between the Office of Education Abroad and Disability Resources including a team approach to recruitment, information sharing, and educating students. Without this collaborative effort, education abroad at CWRU would not be as accessible as it is. The two offices look forward to where this collaboration will take them in the future.
NCDE is a project of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, designed to increase the participation of people with disabilities in international exchange between the United States and other countries, and is supported in its implementation by Mobility International USA.
