COVID Safe Campus Policy & Regulatory Recommendations

Documentation: Students often can’t access disability documentation due to
overly burdensome documentation requirements that disproportionately impact
those affected by health inequity:

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a. Schools often require excessive documentation for mental disabilities
(neuro-developmental, cognitive, psychiatric disabilities) relative to
physical disabilities, such as expensive and difficult to access
neuropsychological testing. Similar issues arise for those with dynamic
disabilities, and other stigmatized disabilities that are systematically
minimized, under-recognized, and reliant on clinical diagnoses.

b. Schools should defer to students treating clinician when that student is in
ongoing care with a health professional who provides documentation.

c. Documentation requirements should not be limited to medical
documentation given the medical model of disability often fails to
consider disability accommodations needs. Disability documentation
should be expanded to include evidence of disability such as:

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1. Any treating healthcare providers who observes functional
impairment

2. Documentation of impairments associated with other
documented medical diagnoses, devices, and medication

3. Non-clinical observations or documentation of impairment
is sufficient documentation for disability accommodations:
(e.g. faculty observations of impairments and access
needs)

4. Accepting evidence that previous use of accommodations
mitigated the effects of disabilities in an academic or
professional setting

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ii. Any documentation a school requires beyond this scope should be
funded by the school:

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1.  Any required medical documentation (e.g. neuropsychiatric testing) needs to be paid for and access to appropriate care facilitated by schools. Provisional accommodations should be provided until formal documentation can be furnished.​