Diagnostic Information
If you are requesting accommodations, you must show documentation of your disability. Documentation usually is a letter from a qualified professional that states you have a disability and explains what accommodations you need to participate in university programs. If you are a student requesting accommodations, it is your responsibility to self-disclose your disability and to submit all appropriate documentation.
Documentation should include:
· Credentials of the evaluator
· A diagnostic statement identifying the disability
· Description of the diagnostic methodology used
· Description of the current functional limitations
· Description of the expected progression or stability of the disability
· Description of current and past accommodations, services and/or medications
· Recommendations for accommodations and/or services
· Description of criteria for specific diagnosis
· Evaluation methods
· Procedures
· Tests
· Dates of administration
· Observations
· Specific results
· Clinical narrative
· One measure of aptitude (for a learning disability assessment)
· Measures of achievement in reading, math and written language (for a learning disability assessment)
Qualified professionals
Each qualified professional must have expertise in the areas for which he or she is rendering a diagnosis — including the differential diagnosis of the documented medical, physical or psychological condition — and follow established practices in the field. A qualified professional should be fully licensed and credentialed and have no personal relationship with the individual being evaluated.
Qualified professionals include:
· Physicians
· Psychiatrists
· Psychologists
· Optometrists/vision specialists
· Audiologists
Definition of disability
A disability is defined by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (ADAAA) of 2008 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, as a physical or mental condition that substantially limits major life activities. These include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating and working.