About the Documentation Guidelines 

At the Disability Resource Center (DRC), our goal is to provide services and support to ensure that students are able to access and participate in all the opportunities available at the university. In keeping with this objective, students are expected and encouraged to utilize the resources of DRC to the degree they determine necessary.

In order to work with the DRC, students must submit documentation of a disability or limiting condition. Complete documentation establishes the individual as a person with specific functional limitations and provides a rationale for reasonable accommodations. A Disability Specialist at the DRC will review your documentation to determine if it is complete and current.

Documentation primarily serves two purposes:

• to establish that a student is entitled to protections against discrimination
• to help determine accommodations that would be useful in providing access to WSU programs and services.

What must be included in my documentation?

• A description of the current functional limitations

Information on how the disabling condition(s) currently impacts you is critical. The most useful documentation is thorough enough to demonstrate whether and how a major life activity is substantially limited by providing a clear sense of the severity, frequency and pervasiveness of the condition(s). It should also indicate side effects YOU experience from medication &/or treatment. A general list of side effects is not useful.

• A description of the expected progression or stability of the disability.

An indication of whether the condition is stable, or cyclical or episodic in nature. It is also important to note if symptoms are triggered by environmental conditions.

• A diagnostic statement identifying the disability

In the state of Washington, a diagnostic statement is considered useful but not necessary. It is essential to provide information on the functional impact and detail the typical progression or prognosis of the condition. While diagnostic codes from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM) or the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization are helpful in providing this information, a full clinical description will also convey the necessary information.

• Documentation must be current

How recent the documentation needs to be is dependent on the facts and circumstances of your condition. If you have a condition that is permanent and non-varying, then documentation that is many years old can be considered current. Conditions that fluctuate or progress require more frequent updates in order to provide an accurate picture.

What is helpful?

• Recommendations for accommodations, adaptive devices, assistive services, compensatory strategies, and/or collateral support services

Recommendations from professionals with a history of working with you provide valuable information for review and the planning process. It is most helpful when recommended accommodations and strategies are logically related to functional limitations; if connections are not obvious, a clear explanation of their relationship can be useful in decision-making. While the post-secondary institution has no obligation to provide or adopt recommendations made by professionals from outside the DRC, those that are congruent with the programs, services, and benefits offered by the college or program may be appropriate.

Who can write the documentation for me?

Typically, documentation is written by the health care professional who evaluated you or who provides your treatment. Documentation should be provided by a licensed or otherwise properly credentialed professional who has undergone appropriate and comprehensive training, has relevant experience, and has no personal relationship with the individual being evaluated. A good match between the credentials of the individual making the diagnosis and the condition being reported is expected (e.g., an orthopedic limitation might be documented by a physician, but not a licensed psychologist).

What if I have incomplete or old documentation?

Please send your documentation for the DRC to review. The Disability Specialist who reviews your documentation will be looking at a number of different factors. Sometimes, we can ask the evaluator or treating physician to provide more specific information and that will be sufficient. In some cases, depending on the information that you send, we may be able to provide accommodations on a temporary basis while we are waiting for more complete or current information.