If you need accommodations from the Office of Disability Services, please follow these steps.

Disclose your disability to the Office of Disability Services by contacting us. All undergraduate and graduate students admitted to Ball State receive Self-Disclosure for Disability Forms with their admittance information. Students who would like to disclose a disability should fill this form out and return it to our office. 

If students choose not to self disclose at admission, they can simply contact our office to disclose a disability. Though it is best to disclose a disability before starting classes, students may disclose a disability at any point during your time at Ball State.

After you have disclosed a disability, our office will ask for documentation of your disability. If needed, we can give you a Verification of Disability Form

Have an appropriate licensed professional complete the form, then submit it to our office.

Review our documentation guidelines.

We will review the documentation and determine the following:

  • Does your 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 your disability in an educational setting?
  • What, if any, accommodations would be reasonable and appropriate you?

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

Our office will contact you and ask you to schedule a meeting with us (virtual or in-person).

If you would like to receive accommodations, our office will produce letters for the student to give to your professors.

These letters will verify your disability and list reasonable accommodations.

It is then your responsibility to deliver these letters to your professors and discuss the listed accommodations.

In subsequent semesters, contact our office if you would like to have letters for your professors. We will not assume that you will need these letters.

Exclamation IconIssues

If you encounter problems related to the provision of accommodations you need, please contact our office.

Documentation Guidelines

Our office’s primary mission is to determine if your request for disability-related accommodations is appropriate. An important piece in making this determination is documentation that you provide to us.

Disability documentation for the purpose of providing accommodations must both establish disability and provide adequate information on the functional impact of your disability so that effective accommodations can be identified.

The documentation needs to provide our office with a basic understanding of your disability and enough information to anticipate how the current impact of your disability is expected to interact with Ball State's requirements.

Documentation that is submitted to our office must:

  • clearly state the diagnosed disability or disabilities
  • describe the functional limitations resulting from the disability or disabilities
  • be age-appropriate – describing how the disability or disabilities currently affect the student in an educational setting  
  • describe the specific accommodations requested
  • adequately support each of the requested accommodations
  • be typed or printed on official letterhead and be signed by an evaluator qualified to make the diagnosis (include information about license or certification and area of specialization).

Documentation for Accommodations for Standardized Exams

If you will need accommodations for an exam administered by the Indiana Core Assessments (Pedagogy exam) or Educational Testing Service (Praxis exams or GRE), you will need to submit documentation to those entities.

Please note that approval for accommodations for Ball State classes does not guarantee accommodations for a state or national standardized exam.

For more information, consult the website for the Indiana Core Assessments or ETS Disability Services.

How to Get Tested

Our office does not provide psycho-educational testing for students with disabilities. Below is information on how to get tested if you think you might have a disability. 

Questions and Answers 

Before you decide to be evaluated for a learning disability, ADHD, or a psychiatric disability, there are a few questions you should consider:

  1. Why do you think you have a learning disability, ADHD, or a psychiatric disability?
  2. Have you noticed particular learning difficulties or difficulty paying attention? When did your difficulties start?                                                                                                                               
  3. Did someone refer you to DS for testing? You will want to know what troubles you are having academically and be able to explain them to the person who evaluates you.
  4. Did you qualify for or receive special education services while in high school, or prior to attending Ball State? If you received accommodations for a disability in high school, it is likely you were evaluated for a disability. It is wise to check with your high school or your family members to see if there is an evaluation report of a disability on file for you somewhere. This can save you time and money. However, simply being evaluated for a disability in high school will not necessarily make you eligible for disability services in college. 

You and the professional doing the testing should refer to the nationally developed guidelines relative to learning disability, ADHD, and psychiatric disability testing. See our documentation guidelines.

If your evaluation report does not meet all of these criteria, it may be necessary for you to obtain another evaluation. It is a good idea to sit down with our staff to discuss your documentation and your options for being retested.

Options for Testing

Private Psychologist

This is often the quickest option. A resource to aid in locating private testing services is the yellow pages. Information can be found under “psychologist.” This type of testing may be covered under some insurance policies, so be sure to examine specific policies or contact your insurance agent and/or your medical doctor for a referral. Our office can make referrals to local psychologists who are experienced with testing college-age students.

Psychoeducational, Diagnostic, and Intervention Clinic

Teachers College: 765-285-8526

This clinic can administer evaluations as part of its training program. There will be a fee based on a sliding scale. Contact the clinic for more information.

Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VR)

This agency has offices throughout the state and serves persons with disabilities. If you suspect you have a disability, check with a VR office for an assessment of your eligibility for services. Their evaluations of your eligibility for client services are free, but scheduling may be difficult. (DS has a list of VR locations.) 

Things to Consider

Things to keep in mind when deciding on a testing option:

  • Will your insurance (or your parents’ insurance) pay for this?
  • Have you compared costs of psychologists in the area?
  • Have you checked to see if there is any previous record of a disability on file?
  • Do you need a medical referral for testing?
  • Are adult measures being used in your evaluation?
  • Did you bring Ball State’s documentation guidelines with you to the testing center?