Skip to Navigation
Did you know that Thomas Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history with over 1,000 U.S. patents in his name, was hard of hearing?

Disability Documentation

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, individuals with disabilities are guaranteed certain protections and rights of equal access to programs and services. Documentation establishing the presence of a disability and explaining the nature and degree to which the disability affects major life activities including learning is essential for RCPD staff to accurately assess a condition and determine what accommodations would most effectively facilitate student learning. Students with disabilities must therefore provide medical/psychological documentation indicating the presence of a disability that substantially limits a major life activity. A medical or osteopathic doctor or other qualified health professional must document mobility, hearing, visual and chronic health conditions. A dated and signed report on letterhead indicating the following is generally sufficient:

  • The current impact of (or limitations imposed by) the condition
  • Treatments, medications, devices or services currently prescribed or used to minimize the impact of the condition
  • The expected duration, stability or progression of the condition

An audiogram is required in the case of deafness or hearing loss while a visual acuity and fields report is essential for understanding visual impairments. A licensed psychologist or psychiatrist must document psychiatric disabilities. For learning disabilities a complete copy of the most recent psychological assessment plus a copy of the last IEP report is required. Specific guidelines are available on the web describing expectations for documenting learning disabilities (www.msu.edu/~rcpd). A verification form is available at the same web site or by mail for students with attention deficit disorders.

The provision of all reasonable accommodations and services is based upon assessment of the impact of the individual's disabilities on academic or job performance at a given time. Therefore, RCPD requires recent documentation relevant to the individual’s learning/living environment. Information regarding disability is confidential and is available on an as-needed basis to those directly involved in the accommodation process.

After documentation of a disability has been provided and a needs assessment is completed, reasonable accommodations are determined. RCPD will provide a verification letter that includes: (a) verification of disability and registration status with the RCPD (b) an outline of reasonable accommodations.

Log on to the MyProfile page with your MSUNetID and password to register with RCPD, request a contact from a specialist, complete accommodation requests, access the University's Employee Accommodation Request Policy and print documentation for medical forms.


RCPD at MSU © 2007
Web Accessibility
Level Double-A conformance icon, W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict Valid CSS!