Documentation

Documenting Your Disability

Student Responsibility to Provide Proper Documentation

It is the responsibility of the student to provide documentation to Disability Services that conforms to the Documentation Guidelines as part of the intake process.  The Documentation Guidelines are included in this website.

Documentation must:

• verify the existence of a disability, as defined under Section 504 and under the ADA
• establish a clear connection between the accommodations being requested and the effects of the disability

Practices, Policies and Advice Regarding Documenting a Disability

1. IEP's and 504 Plan
   Students are cautioned against assuming that an IEP and/or a 504 Plan will be sufficient to document a disability.  Students should also be aware that they may not necessarily be entitled to receive the same accommodations at USD that they received in high school.  Postsecondary institutions are governed by a different legal and regulatory framework than are high schools and grade schools when it comes to disability services.  Being "classified" at your high school is no guarantee of service eligibility at a college or university.  Accordingly, we strongly urge new students to schedule an intake with the Director of Disability Services at the earliest possible date.  In this way, students who need to provide additional documentation will have time to address these concerns before the beginning of classes.
2. Incomplete Documentation
   Students must provide documentation that complies with all applicable requirements of the Documentation Guidelines.  If a student is advised by the Director that his/her documentation is incomplete, the student is responsible to pursue whatever additional documentation is required and to pay any costs thereof.  USD reserves the right not to provide services or accommodations until all the documentation specified in the Documentation Guidelines is provided.
3. Second Opinions
   If the student provides documentation that conforms to the Documentation Guidelines (i.e., provides a diagnosis supported by appropriate data), but USD disagrees with the diagnosis, then USD shall bear the cost of any additional testing or evaluation and shall provide appropriate accommodations until such testing or evaluation is completed.
4. Documentation Fails to Establish Need for Requested Accommodations
   The documentation must clearly explain why a requested accommodation is appropriate for the individual student.  If the Director determines that a particular accommodation request is not justified by the information provided in the student's documentation, that specific accommodation will not be included in the Verification Summary.  A student may contact the professional who submitted the documentation to request an addendum that supports the need for the accommodation in question.
5. Confidentiality
   USD considers documentation of a disability to be confidential information.  Accordingly, Disability Services will require that you complete an Authorization which will record your consent to share information about your disability with USD officials on a need-to-know basis.  The Director will only share your actual documentation with those professional staff who assist in evaluating whether it is sufficient to support your accommodation requests.  Information about your disability (but not underlying documentation) will be shared only with those faculty and staff who are involved in providing the approved accommodations and only to the extent necessary to facilitate the accommodation.  Your documentation will be kept under lock-and-key in Disability Services.