DisabledStudents2a175

Verification Process

Steps Involved for Receiving Accommodations from DSD

1. Disclose your disability to the office of Disabled Student Development (DSD). This can be done by contacting the DSD office (Student Center 116; 765-285-5293; dsd@bsu.edu).  Every undergraduate admitted to Ball State by the Office of Admissions will receive a Self-Disclosure for Disability Form with his or her admittance packet. Undergraduates who would like to disclose a disability should fill this form out and return it to DSD.  Graduate students or students taking distance education courses can simply contact DSD to disclose a disability.  Though it is best to disclose a disability prior to admission, students may disclose a disability at any point during their time at Ball State.

2. After the student has disclosed a disability, DSD will give or mail that student a Verification of Disability Form that is to be completed by the appropriate licensed professional and returned to DSD.

3. We will review the documentation and determine the following:

  • Does the student's condition rise to the level of a disability as defined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (amended in 2008)?
  • What are the functional limitations of the disability in an educational setting?
  • What, if any, accommodations would be reasonable and appropriate for the student?

4. We will notify you as to whether the documentation submitted is sufficient or if more information is needed.

5. DSD will meet with the student if the student would like to receive accommodations.

6. If the student would like to receive accommodations, DSD will produce letters for the student to give to his or her professors. These letters will verify the disability and list reasonable accommodations.

7. It is then the student's responsibility to deliver these letters to his or her professors and discuss the listed accommodations with the professors.

8. If a student has problems relative to the provision of accommodations, the student should contact DSD.

9. In subsequent semesters, the student needs to contact DSD if s/he would like to have letters for his or her professors. DSD will not assume that the student will need these letters.