Documentation of Disability

The following guidelines are to be used to verify your disabling conditions. The individual who is verifying your disability must be clear as to how these conditions constitute “an impairment in one or more major life activities” and impact your ability to function as a Westmont student without specific accommodation of your disability. The cost of providing this documentation is borne by the student.

For each of the following impairments your evaluator must provide:

  • Visual Impairment: Provide documentation of your most recent visual acuity and/or visual field examination results, along with a detailed diagnosis and description of the disability.
  • Mobility Impairment: Provide a current diagnosis and description of related functional limitations resulting from your disabling condition, as well as recommended accommodations.
  • Hearing Impairment: Provide a copy of your most recent audiogram, along with a detailed diagnosis and description of the disability.
  • Learning Disability: The following guidelines are provided to insure that reports are sufficient and appropriate to verify eligibility:
    1. Testing must be comprehensive.
      1. Aptitude. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and/or Woodcock-Johnson Psycho educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R) Tests of Cognitive Ability are preferred.
      2. Achievement. Current levels of functioning in reading, mathematics, and written language are required. The WJ-R Test of Achievement are preferred. Specific achievement Academic Skills (TASK), Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2), and Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised are accepted.
      3. Information Processing. Assessment of long and short term memory, sequential memory, auditory discrimination and perception, visual perception, spatial orientation and WAIS-R or WJ-R are acceptable.
      4. Evaluation, summary and recommendations by the person(s) administering or evaluating the testing are required.
    2. Testing must be current within three (3) years. Accommodations shall be based on adequate documentation only. Since assessment is the basis for determining reasonable accommodations, it is in the student’s best interest to provide recent, appropriate and comprehensive documentation.
    3. Documentation must include clear and specific evidence for an identification of a specific learning disability. Diagnostic reports must include test scores and the names and title(s) of evaluator(s), as well as dates of testing and contact information for the evaluator. Certified or licensed psychologists, learning disabilities specialists and education therapists are appropriate evaluations.
    4. Assessment instruments used must be those which have been normed for adults.
  • Psychological Disability: Provide complete DSM diagnosis, summary of evaluation results and any additional psychological and/or neurological testing results. Past and present symptoms should be stated clearly and current medications with their doses and side effects should be provided.
  • Other Disability: Provide a current diagnosis and description of related functional limitations resulting from your disabling condition. (Examples of functional impairments include: diabetes, arthritis, heart problems, cancer.)

* The college reserves the right to require further documentation, evaluation and/or recommendations. A list of testing resources is available in the director’s office.