Disability & Its Impact
The University of Montana adheres to the civil rights definition of disability. In order to be eligible for program modifications based on disability, students must provide Disability Services for Students with evidence that they have a physical or mental condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, reading and learning, to name a few.
In addition to evidence of a disabling condition, students must provide evidence of how disability impacts participation in University programs in order to qualify for reasonable accommodation. Disability Services refers to this impact of a disability on program access as a functional limitation. So a logical link between the functional limitation and the program modification must be established before Disability Services supports reasonable accommodation.
Disability Services gives just as much weight to a student's self-report on how the disability impacts learning as the office does on a diagnosticians report. Disability Services Coordinators identify functional limitations by interviewing students and by reviewing relevant disability diagnostic reports. In cases where diagnostic reports of disability are required, the documentation serves as a tool used by the disability services coordinator and the student to arrive at reasonable accommodation for that student and that area of study. Students may then choose the types of accommodation that they want to request so that they have a level playing field.
Disability Services provides no diagnostic services. If there is adequate documentation available from other sources, we review that documentation. In cases where there is no existing documentation, or the documentation is insufficient in some way, we often make referrals to appropriate professionals who can diagnose disability and its impact on learning. Disability Services reserves the right to require a diagnostic report to authorize program modifications. The diagnostic report should be documented by a qualified professional who has comprehensive training and relevant expertise in the specialty and appropriate licensure or certification. This person cannot be related to the student.
Disability Services endorses the recommendations for best practices in documentation of disability by its professional organization, the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD). It may prove useful to the student to review Seven Essential Elements of Quality Disability Documentation in order to be familiar with those elements that will help ensure the timely provision of the reasonable modifications requested.
Note that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act protects students with disabilities even when program modifications are unnecessary. These civil rights laws prohibit discrimination for those who have a history of disability or who are regarded as having a disability. In other words disability discrimination may be caused by hostile environments or stereotyping as well as by the denial of reasonable accommodations. While Disability Services is the University entity responsible for reasonable accommodations based on disability, we also serve students who experience discrimination based on a history of disability or being regarded as having a disability, but who otherwise want no program modifications.
