Introduction
Individuals with disabilities who attend or plan to attend Arapahoe Community College (ACC) may need reasonable accommodations or auxiliary aids in order to have equal access to the programs and services offered. There are two laws that require postsecondary institutions to provide these services to otherwise qualified students, Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Students who need accommodations are responsible for requesting these services from and for meeting with the Disability Services office for the following reasons:

• To provide documentation that supports the request for services; and
• To discuss the request, and the nature and impact of their disabilities.

Purpose
The following documentation guidelines have been provided to assist students in obtaining appropriate documentation from qualified professionals. Appropriate documentation of a disability is only one part of determining necessary accommodations. The provision of appropriate documentation to an institution helps students educate appropriate staff and faculty about the impact of their disabilities, needs, and potential accommodations. Institutions may request documentation for the following reasons:

• To verify the existence of a disability;
• To assist in the collaborative determination of individual needs and eligibility for auxiliary aids and services to minimize the impact of the disability;
• To personalize students’ rights to equal access to their institutions.

Evaluator Qualifications
Professionals conducting assessment and rendering diagnoses of specific learning disabilities (SLD) must be qualified. A qualified professional needs to hold a degree in a field related to diagnosis of SLD and have at least one year of diagnostic experience with adults and late adolescents. Recommended practitioners may include: certified and/or licensed psychologists, learning disabilities specialists, educational therapists, diagnosticians in public schools or colleges and rehabilitation services and private practitioners with the above characteristics are typically considered qualified. The diagnostician must be an impartial individual who is not a family member of the student.

• Testing that is comprehensive, including a measure of both Aptitude and Achievement in the areas of reading, mathematics and written language;
• Documentation for eligibility must reflect the current impact the learning disability has on the student's functioning, (the age of acceptable documentation is dependent upon the disabling condition, the current status of the student and the student's specific request for accommodations);
• A clear statement that a learning disability is present along with the rationale for this diagnosis. (Note: individual "learning deficits," "learning styles," and "learning differences," do not, in or of themselves, constitute a learning disability);
• A narrative summary, including all standardized scores (subtest as well as overall scores), which supports the diagnosis;
• A statement of strengths and needs that will impact the student's ability to meet the demands of the postsecondary environment;
• A statement of the functional impact or limitations of the disability on learning or other major life activity and the degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested.

Further assessment by an appropriate professional may be required if co-existing AD/HD or other disabling conditions is indicated. The student and the Disability Specialist at Arapahoe Community College collaboratively determine
appropriate accommodations.