Disability Documentation Guidelines

Cleveland State University requires a written report prepared by an appropriately licensed professional that clearly diagnoses a disability and/or provides records showing the history of a disability. Medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and school psychologists are among the professionals who routinely evaluate, diagnose and treat disabilities. This list is not intended to be exhaustive or to restrict assessment in other pertinent areas such as vocational interests and aptitudes. The following guidelines are provided to assure that evaluation reports are appropriate to document eligibility.

Documentation should contain the following:

• Clearly stated diagnosis or condition for which you are requesting accommodations
• State expected duration of the condition
• State symptoms and severity
• State functional limitations and barriers the student experiences related to the diagnosis
• Have clear rationale for requests made in the documentation
• Document must be prepared by a licensed professional and not be a copy of online medical chart information

If documentation does not contain the above information, it may be rejected or accommodation's may be provided provisionally while students get appropriate documentation.

If you have recently graduated from high school and received official accommodations, ODS requires that the Evaluation Team Report (ETR) be provided. Individualized Educational Program (IEP) or 504 plan paperwork on its own is usually not considered adequate documentation. The document would need to have clearly stated the condition or diagnosis, results of diagnostic testing, symptoms and functional limitations associated with the educational plans for it to be accepted.

There are online fee-based and free screening tools which claim to diagnose and produce documentation. These resources are not valid sources of documentation for registering with Cleveland State's Disability and Testing Services for requesting accommodations. If the tools do not involve directly working with a therapist and are not issued by order of a therapist or doctor, you should be suspect of the service that you are purchasing. Results from online screening tools like ADHD Online or online QbChecks are not accepted as documentation by our office. We also do not accept letters from online service animal or ESA registries. The professional working with you should be able to draft a letter or complete a form from their evaluations for you to provide to us which includes the diagnosis, symptoms, functional limitations and accomodation recommendations. 

• Hearing and speech disabilities - Qualified personnel include: ear, nose and throat specialist; audiologist; speech therapist; psychologist; family physician; or other qualified medical specialist.
• Learning disability and attention deficit disorder - Qualified personnel include: licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, school psychologist, family physician or other qualified licensed medical personnel. A recent Multifactor Evaluation (MFE) or Educational Testing Report (ETR) from the student's K-12 school district may also suffice. An IEP, while helpful, is not considered documentation of disability.
• Mental or psychological disabilities - Qualified personnel include: psychologist, psychiatrist, licensed counselor, hospital record, family physician or other mental health professional.
• Mobility, coordination, traumatic brain injury, HIV and AIDS, and health disabilities - Qualified personnel include: family physician, orthopedist, neurologist, cardiologist, rehabilitation specialist or other medical professionals. Medical records must clearly document, diagnose and discuss the condition.
• Visual disabilities - Qualified personnel include: ophthalmologist, optometrist, family physician or other medical specialist.
• Covid Vaccine Requirement Exceptions - Qualified professionals would be MD, DO, NP or PA-C. The documentation would need to clearly spell out the duration of the exception and a recognized clinical contraindication must be identified for each vaccine before a medical exemption is approved.

Documentation Guidelines and forms

The following PDF documents give guidelines for what will be accepted by our office. Most of these documents include a form that must be filled out to register with the Office of Disability Services at Cleveland State. The forms need to be completed by the appropriate healthcare professional and sent to our office either by fax 216-687-2343, ods@csuohio.edu, or by uploading to your online application. Do not mail your documentation to our office.

New Documentation Packets Available

We recommend that students requesting accommodations, have the professional they are working with, complete the below documentation packets to make sure that the information we need is being provided. Each of the following .pdf forms can be downloaded and are fillable.

• General Documentation Packet
• Asthma and Allergies Documentation Packet
• Hearing Documentation Packet
• Assistance Animals Packet

International Students

Students are responsible for presenting documentation to the Office of Disability Services in English. Original documents not currently in English must be either translated by a certified translator or the disability condition and the functional limitations that result must be verified by a qualified professional who can provide written documentation in English. Translations completed by family members or peers will not be accepted.