Documentation Guidelines

Postsecondary institutions differ from high schools regarding the first step of providing academic accommodations. When a person with a disability needs an academic accommodation in high school, a team of people is assigned to discuss that student’s classroom instructional accommodations. This is not the case with colleges and universities. The legislation states that in order to receive services from a postsecondary institution, a person with a disability must first disclose his/her disability to the institution. In most cases, the person would disclose this to the Access and ADA Services Office. Students may be required to provide documentation regarding their disability.

General guidelines for documentation are listed below; however, documentation requirements may vary depending on the disability. Documentation may be needed in order to certify that a disability is present. It is also used to clarify how the disability will impact the student in college courses so that appropriate accommodations can be identified. Students can discuss individual documentation requirements in more detail with our staff.

Additional notes on documentation:

Documentation should be relatively recent in order to reflect current conditions and limitations.
Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and 504 Plans from high school can provide helpful information, but may not be sufficient documentation. Formal evaluations conducted during high school usually include the diagnostic information listed above and typically do fulfill documentation requirements.
All disability documentation remains private and separate from the student academic records.
The Access Office is not limited to the recommendations found in the documentation, but will use the documentation as well as the interview process to determine reasonable accommodations.