Report: AY 2025 FD/SD Seminar on supporting students with disabilities (February 9, 2026)

[Date and Time] February 9, 2026, 12:45-13:45
[Lecturer] Peter Bernick (Associate Professor, Student Accessibility Office, Nagasaki University)
[Format] Online (Zoom Webinar)
[Language] English
[Participants] 69 faculty and staff members

On Monday, February 9, 2026, the FD/SD Seminar titled  "Supporting Students with Mental Health Conditions: Strategies for Faculty and Staff," was held, inviting Associate Professor Peter Bernick of the Student Accessibility Office at Nagasaki University as the guest speaker.

In the seminar, Professor Bernick introduced an approach that focuses not on diagnostic labels, but on the specific difficulties or impacts students are experiencing. The distinction between legally required “reasonable accommodations” and “individual considerations/support” provided personally by faculty was also explained, along with how class absences may be addressed within the framework of reasonable accommodation. Drawing on concrete case examples and the guidelines (including flowcharts) used at Nagasaki University, the seminar provided a clear and practical overview for faculty and staff.

According to the post-seminar survey, the participants expressed positive feedback, with comments such as “the criteria for decision-making became clearer” and “the concrete examples helped us better understand how to respond in practice.”