GIAC is committed to assisting customers with disabilities. GIAC provides reasonable accommodations to customers with a documented condition or disability to ensure a fair, equal opportunity to access and take a GIAC exam. Reasonable accommodations are provided based on how a condition or disability impacts an individual's functionality as related to accessing and taking a GIAC exam.

Although GIAC administers assessments globally, GIAC is based in the United States. As such, necessary accommodations are provided to customers with a documented disability as applied by the framework of the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), as amended, to include the U.S. Rehabilitation Act (Section 504). The ADA defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a person's ability to perform one or more major life activities (e.g., walking, talking, seeing, hearing, reading, working), as compared to most people in the general population.

Process to Apply for GIAC Accommodations:

1. Register for your GIAC exam.
2. Once you receive access to your exam in your portal account, do not schedule your exam. Instead, visit the GIAC Special Requests page and select "Request Disability Accommodation" to securely submit your accommodation request. Requests should be submitted at least four weeks before you plan to take your exam.
3. GIAC will review your accommodations request. Please note that some accommodations may require the use of specific proctoring methods. Submission of a request does not guarantee the approval of the requested accommodations.
4. GIAC will notify you by email of approved accommodations and provide the instructions to schedule your exam appointment. If your request is not approved, you will be informed by email of the reasons and the related appeal process.

Note: If you have an accommodations request for products or services at SANS outside of GIAC Certifications, please visit https://www.sans.org/legal/accessibility/accommodations/ to submit your request.

GIAC considers all accommodation requests, including requests for assistive aides, on a case-by-case basis after a careful review of the information submitted. Please note that as each GIAC certification exam measures different certification objectives, you are required to submit a new accommodations request form for each certification attempt. If GIAC approved you for testing accommodations on a previous exam, please note this in any future requests.

Documentation:

Documentation helps GIAC understand a customer's condition or disability and what accommodations may be necessary to ensure a fair, equal opportunity to access and take a GIAC exam. Supporting documentation should be on official letterhead from your healthcare professional or a qualified professional* in the disability or impairment area for which you are seeking accommodations and must:

• Be up to date** and in English.
• Explain the nature and details of your condition or disability and how it impacts your functionality as related to accessing and taking a GIAC exam.
• Specify the exact accommodations requested. If additional time is requested, the exact amount needed must be specified in your documentation.
• Provide sufficient evidence that the accommodations are appropriate for the exam for which they are requested. GIAC may ask for additional documentation based on the nature of the request.

*A professional is qualified if he/she has had extensive graduate-level training and comprehensive experience in assessing and diagnosing the specific disability, condition, and/or impairment to which the accommodation applies.

**In cases where the severity of a condition or disability may change over time, a recent evaluation within the last 1-5 years by a qualified professional in the area for which you are seeking accommodations may be required. Generally, the time-based nature of an evaluation does not apply to physical or sensory disabilities of a permanent or unchanging nature.

Providing proof of past testing accommodations from a similar test setting may also be sufficient to support an accommodations request. Proof of past testing accommodations may include but is not limited to approval of accommodations on a previous GIAC certification exam or similar high-stakes exam. Accommodations may not be approved if the customer has not adequately documented the nature and details of their condition or disability, how it impacts their functionality as related to accessing and taking a GIAC exam, or if the requested accommodations are not reasonable. Accommodations are not reasonable, for example, if they affect the measurement of the skills and abilities a GIAC exam is intended to measure, alter the predictive validity of the resulting exam scores compared with scores achieved under standard conditions, or jeopardize exam security. GIAC reserves the right to further evaluate specific accommodation requests when it has a good faith basis for concluding that any of these situations apply. All test-takers are subject to the terms, conditions, policies, and procedures specific to the GIAC exam they intend to take.

Please note:

• GIAC exams are open-book format and designed to assess a candidate's real-world work role skills. Reasonable accommodations for GIAC exams may differ from traditional closed-book, standardized, knowledge-based assessments. Reasonable accommodations may also vary between GIAC exams due to the certification objectives being measured.
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If you have any questions before applying, email ada@giac.org. Please do not send any sensitive information by email.