Students diagnosed with physical and/or mental impairments qualify as persons with disabilities when their conditions substantially limit them in one or more major life activities. Illinois Institute of Technology provides reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities with consultation from their academic programs. Reasonable accommodations are adjustments to policies, practices, or procedures that facilitate equal access and opportunity for students with disabilities to the university's programs, activities and services. In order to ensure that students' needs are directly linked to these accommodations, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allow higher education institutions to require disability documentation to verify disability status and the need for reasonable accommodations.
CDR's Documentation Guidelines
Documentation must be:
- Recent enough to assess the current impact on learning or a major life activity. Refer to specific documentation guidelines for each type of disability (below). Students requesting accommodations due to a chronic medical condition must submit documentation dated within six (6) months as well as annually updated documentation.
- Sufficiently comprehensive to establish clear evidence of a substantial impact on one or more major life activities.
- Sufficient to establish a direct link between the underlying impairment and the requested accommodations.
- Issued by a medical or other qualified, licensed professional, printed on letterhead, dated, signed, and including the professional's licensing information.
Documentation must also include:
- The student's history of receiving reasonable accommodations and academic adjustments, if such history exists.
- Specific recommendations for accommodations as well as an explanation as to why each is recommended.
Note
- Referrals for all types of disability evaluations are available from the CDR. The student must bear any cost incurred in obtaining additional information. Refer to specific documentation guidelines for each type of disability (below). If the original documentation is incomplete or inadequate to determine the extent of the disability or reasonable accommodation(s), the CDR has the discretion to require additional documentation.
- Students must complete the application process and submit disability documentation before they can receive accommodations and services. The CDR reserves the right to deny services or reasonable accommodations while the receipt of appropriate documentation is pending.
- Documentation written in a language other than English must be translated and notarized. All such documentation, as well as documentation from outside the United States written in English must follow CDR guidelines.