In order to receive accommodations, students with disabilities are responsible for providing documentation to the Office of Disability Services. This documentation must both establish disability and provide adequate information on the functional impact of the disability so that accommodations can be identified.

  1. Documentation should contain the diagnostic criteria, presenting problems, relevant histories (medical, developmental, psychosocial, family, academic, employment), and/or comorbidity.
  2. Documentation should come from an appropriate licensed professional who is knowledgeable about the field of the disability. Professionals qualified to administer diagnostic evaluations include the following:
    1. licensed psychologists, neuropsychologists and/or psychiatrists for psychological disabilities
    2. licensed medical providers for medical and/or physical disabilities
    3. either licensed psychologists or licensed medical providers for specific learning disabilities
  3. Documentation should provide a detailed assessment that gives clear evidence of a disability that conforms to the federal disability definition based on standardized tests and other evaluative methods deemed appropriate by the evaluator. 
  4. Documentation should provide a clinical summary of the testing results that is precise and clearly states the following:
    1. the formal diagnosis (must meet DSM criteria for psychological diagnosis/es)
    2. specific deficit areas due to diagnosis/es
    3. current limitations to major life activities resulting from these deficits
    4. provide a clear sense of the severity, frequency and pervasiveness of the condition(s)
    5. suggestions for accommodations for the disability and the rationale for the accommodations
    6. provide pertinent test scores and observational data
    7. If requesting an emotional support animal (ESA) or a medical single room, the provider must identify the disability related need for the specific accommodation, and explain how it alleviates one or more of the identified substantially-limiting major life activities (thereby reducing the identified symptoms or effects of this individual’s existing disability). Please also identify what type of support animal is being requested.
    8. All documentation must be no more than 3 years old, and must be signed, dated and typed on official letterhead.
  5. To begin your registration, please visit Accommodate to upload your documentation. You will need your Duquesne Multipass to log in. If you do not have your Multipass, you may email%20the%20documentation.

The Office of Disability Services will determine whether or not documentation submitted is sufficient to move forward with the accommodations process; we will explain what additional information is needed if documentation is deemed insufficient.