Disability Forms & Documentation Guidelines

To protect the integrity of a rigorous academic environment, we require documentation verifying the existence of a disability from a regulated health professional who is operating within their scope of practice to identify a physical, cognitive or emotional condition that is disabling in a post-secondary academic context. This documentation must describe the functional limitations experienced by the student in an academic setting.  

Students with permanent and/or temporary disabilities may access academic accommodations. The type of documentation that you need will depend on your diagnosed disability. If you experience a disability that is not described below, please contact us for more information. 

Note that routine short-term illnesses are NOT CONSIDERED disabilities, though you may qualify for academic consideration as described in the policy section of your academic calendar.

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Documents Appropriate for Academic Accommodations

Acceptable documentation includes either:

  • Functional Assessment Form: Completed by a medical professional (i.e., doctor, nurse practitioner, diagnosing psychologist, or psychiatrist); OR

  • Psychoeducational Assessment: Conducted by a psychologist within the last three years, using adult norms; or was conducted when you were 17 years of age or older, using adult norms.

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Acceptable documentation includes either:

  • Functional Assessment Form:Completed by a medical professional (i.e., doctor, nurse practitioner, diagnosing psychologist, or psychiatrist); OR

  • Psychoeducational Assessment: Conducted by a psychologist within the last three years, using adult norms; or was conducted when you were 17 years of age or older, using adult norms.

Examples of a medical disability include diabetes, epilepsy/seizure disorder, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Acceptable documentation includes:

Acceptable documentation includes:

  • Concussion Assessment Form: Completed by a doctor, nurse practitioner, neuropsychologist, physiotherapist, chiropractor, or occupational therapist; OR

  • Neuropsychological Evaluation

Acceptable documentation includes:

  • Functional Assessment Form: Completed by a medical professional (i.e., doctor, or specialist physician/audiologist); OR

  • Current Audiologist Assessment: Completed within the past year

Acceptable documentation includes a psychoeducational assessment that meets either of the following criteria:

  • Was conducted by a psychologist within the last three years, using adult norms; OR

  • Was conducted when you were 17 years of age or older using adult norms.

If the assessment was conducted within the last three years but prior to the age of 17, students may require reassessment before completing their degree. If you have questions about when you may need to update a psychoeducational assessment, including potential funding avenues and timing of your assessment, please reach out to sasintake@uoguelph.ca.

➝ Guidelines for Psycho-Educational Assessments 

Documentation must conform to established standards, including but not limited to:

  • The credentials and signature of the assessor, who must be a registered psychologist or psychological associate;

  • A description of the procedures used for the assessment, including relevant contextual information;

  • Evidence that appropriate psychometric testing has been employed, including instruments validated against adult norms;

  • Information about the severity of the functional limitations experienced by the student;

  • Ruling out of other possible explanations for the observed assessment results (differential diagnosis);

  • An indication that the results are believed to be a reasonable representation of the student’s normal abilities;

  • Confirmation that a specific learning disability exists.

Acceptable documentation includes:

Examples of a mental health or psychiatric disability include Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Eating Disorder, etc.

Acceptable documentation includes:

  • Functional Assessment Form: Completed by a medical professional (i.e., doctor, nurse practitioner, psychologist, or psychiatrist)

  • For access to interim accommodations, this form may be completed by a non‐diagnosing professional who is well suited to report on the functional abilities/limitations of the specific disability (such as an Occupational Therapist, Social Worker (MSW), Registered Psychotherapist). Verification of disability by a diagnosing professional will be required for access to ongoing accommodations if appropriate.

If you have more than one disability that would require different documentation, please ensure that the relevant diagnosing health care practitioner is completing each form. Depending on the disability and the accommodation needs, it may not be necessary to submit multiple forms of documentation. Please email sasintake@uoguelph.ca if you have questions.

Alternative Documentation Options for Interim Accommodations 

If you do not have documentation that conforms to the guidelines above, you may submit one of the following items, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis. While lacking some of the details we typically require, the following sources of information may provide a starting point for establishing a basic, interim accommodation plan. In many cases, they will be considered appropriate for a limited period, ranging from a few weeks to a couple of semesters.  

  • OSAP Disability Verification Form 
  • Audiogram 
  • Student Housing Services' accommodation request form 
  • Assessments for workers' compensation (e.g. WSIB) or income programs for long-term disability (e.g. ODSP)
  • Functional Assessment Form completed by a non‐diagnosing professional who is well suited to report on the functional abilities/limitations of the specific disability (such as an Occupational Therapist, Social Worker (MSW), Registered Psychotherapist) 
  • Medical notes, including the following, at minimum: 
    • your name 
    • the date it was issued
    • the general type of disability 
    • the contact information of the health professional who issued it and it must be within the scope of their practice to diagnose the disability 
  • In some situations, medical notes are only useful for limited interim accommodations. Such items typically lack the necessary details about how the student is affected by their disability or have insufficient information about what to expect in the medium- to long-term. 

The criteria we use for evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of this information include (but are not limited to): 

  1. completeness of the information, including confirmation that a disability exists in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Code, 
  2. the complexity of the student's needs, 
  3. the types of accommodations involved, 
  4. the academic requirements the student is facing, 
  5. policy and legislative requirements the student and SAS are likely to encounter, and 
  6. requirements of funding programs needed to support the requested supports/accommodations.  

Individual Education Plan (IEP) 

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept an IEP as documentation of disability-related needs in an academic setting. There are many differences in the approaches to accommodations at the high school level as compared to post-secondary education. In some cases, an IEP may help with guiding the process of getting updated documentation.  

Documentation that Cannot Be Used for Academic Accommodations 

The following are examples of the types of documentation that cannot be used for academic accommodation:  

  • Results from blood tests, ultrasounds, EEG's, or other medical procedures 
  • Prescriptions or photographs of medication bottles 
  • Photographs of hospital bracelets 

While these are examples of documentation that would not be progressed to an Advisor, SAS can provide coaching regarding your documentation options.  

SAS reserves the right to verify the authenticity of all documentation we receive. Falsified documents will be considered academic misconduct or non-academic misconduct, depending on the circumstances. 

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