Accommodations for Physical and Medical Disabilities

Students who are seeking accommodations are required to provide documentation to the Dean of Students Office. The documentation must include information that can be used in establishing the need for appropriate accommodations. A student with a disability is one who:  a) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of major life activities b) has a record of such impairment c) is regarded as having such impairment.

Students may request accommodations for any and all of the following disabilities: blindness and visual impairment, deafness, hard of hearing, mobility impairment, or medical conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, asthma, AIDS and other invisible disabilities that may cause functional limitations.

Acceptable Documentation

Appropriate documentation is accepted from licensed professionals such as audiologists to confirm deafness or hard of hearing, ophthalmologists to confirm blindness or visual impairment and neurologists to confirm the existence of epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis or a spinal cord injury as well as psychologists and mental health professionals.

The documentation should include a statement that verifies the individual’s disability, describes the disability’s current impact on the individual’s daily function, current medication and recommendations for necessary accommodations. Diagnostic reports must include the name, title, and credentials of the evaluator and should be presented on letterhead. A letter with a brief statement verifying the disabilities a student has is not considered an acceptable document. Documentation from the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will be accepted for accommodation. All acceptable documentation should be on official letterhead.

Implementing Recommended Accommodation

Upon receiving the acceptable documentation, the Dean of Students Office will review the documentation and make decisions on appropriate accommodations. Actual accommodations will be offered only after meeting with the student and may require further interviews with selected members of the University’s administration and/or faculty.

Age of Documentation

Accommodations are primarily based upon assessment of the current impact of the student’s disability(ies) on his/her academic performance. Therefore, the documentation should have been completed within three years. If evaluation documents are more than three years old, students may be required to provide a more recent diagnostic assessment. This process will assist us in establishing appropriate accommodations

Release Forms

If a student needs accommodations that require the Dean of Students Office to contact faculty, administrators or outside agencies, the student will be asked to sign a release form. The signed release form allows the Dean of Students Office to share information on the student’s disability(ies) with appropriate professionals.

Duration of Accommodations

Accommodations are made only during the semester(s) when a student is actively participating in coursework. A student will not be granted accommodations if his/her accommodation request pertains to academic performances prior to the diagnosis of a disability(ies.)

Responsibilities of Students Seeking Accommodations

It is the student’s responsibility to arrange for testing and to incur the cost of evaluations. It is strongly recommended that a student with physical disability(ies) submit documentation to the Dean of Students Office at the time of admission to the University. Any student with a disability(ies) must keep a copy of his/her disability documentation for his/her own records.

Students in the College or Sawyer Business School should submit documentation to:

Suffolk University, Dean of Students Office, 8 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108 Phone (617) 573-8239, TDD (617) 557-4875, Fax (617) 742-2582.