For purposes of administering services and accommodations to students with disabilities, the Office of Disability Services categorizes disabilities into the following areas: ADHD, allergies, visual, hearing, learning, medical, physical, psychiatric, and seizures. Please keep in mind that these descriptions are not intended to be all-encompassing or universal but rather to provide consistency and continuity in the delivery of services. Descriptions of disabilities are as follows:
Allergies
Students with any type of allergies that may inhibit their ability to learn/live at Suffolk should contact the Office of Disability Services. Types of allergies that the office works with include, but are not limited to the following: food, dust, medical, latex, severe environmental allergies, etc.
Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A diagnosis of ADHD is based on the number, persistence, and history of ADHD behaviors, and the degree to which they impede a person's performance in more than one setting. ADHD diagnosis can include predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type, the predominantly inattentive type, and the combined type.
Blindness and low vision disabilities
Students with this type of disability usually have some degree of conditions in which they are fully or partially unable to see to the same extent as their peers. Students needing academic accommodations should provide documentation from ophthalmologists and optometrists regarding the diagnosis, medical treatment, and recommendations for appropriate reasonable accommodations for students who are both legally blind and have vision impairments.
Deafness and hearing disabilities
Students with this type of disability usually have some degree of conditions in which they are fully or partially unable to detect or perceive at least some frequencies of sound which can typically be heard by others. Students needing academic accommodations should provide documentation from audiologists, otorhinolaryngologists and otologists.
Learning disabilities
A learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. The term includes, but is not limited to, conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
Medical disabilities
The range of disabilities in this category is large and includes chronic health impairments, such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancers, AIDS, hemophilia, epilepsy, and hepatitis, among others.
Physical disabilities
A physical disability is any physiological disorder or condition, anatomical loss or cosmetic disfigurement affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory (including speech organs), special sense organs, cardiovascular, digestive, genitor-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin and endocrine.
Psychiatric disabilities
Mental illness is a term that describes a broad range of mental and emotional conditions. The term psychiatric disability is used when mental illness significantly interferes with the performance of major life activities such as learning, thinking, and communicating, among others. The most common forms of mental illnesses are anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and schizophrenia.
Seizures
Students with seizure disorders, including epilepsy, general and focal seizures should register with the Office of Disability Services, even if the seizure is controlled by medication. The Office of Disability Services will require documentation from a primary physician or neurologist.
