Accommodations provided by DRS at UW Tacoma include, but are not limited to, the options listed below.

World Language Requirements

The University of Washington requires two years of high school coursework or college coursework through level 102 in a world language. American Sign Language (ASL) coursework will fulfill UW Tacoma’s world language admissions requirement. Often, students who have tried and failed in a foreign language course such as Spanish, German, Latin, etc., find that they succeed when taking American Sign Language (ASL) courses. Students are encouraged to try taking ASL before giving up completely on learning a second language. Currently, ASL courses are not offered at UW Tacoma. Please check other institutions for availability.

Petitioning the World Language Requirement

If students cannot be successful in traditional world language courses because of deafness, speech impairment or an identified learning disability, they may submit a Graduation Petition requesting to use 10 credits of cultural based coursework. The 10 credits of coursework should focus on a single culture. The Graduation Petition form, personal statement and all supporting documentation (letter of support from DRS, medical records; transcripts showing previous attempts at world language courses) will need to be turned into their academic advisor at least two quarters prior to graduation.  As part of the personal statement, the student is required to provide a list of proposed cultural courses they intend to take to fulfill the requirement.  The petition is then reviewed by the Academic Policy and Curriculum Committee for approval.