What Is A Functional Limitation?

A disability must limit functioning in school before one can receive an accommodation. Disability Services refers to the affect of a disability on program access as a functional limitation. A disability, in and of itself, does not necessarily require accommodation. There must be a logical link between the functional limitation stemming from the disability and the accommodation requested.

Disability service coordinators identify functional limitations through discussion with the student and review of documentation. The Disability Services Office provides the student with information about the accommodations for which the student is eligible.

Lastly, the student chooses the accommodations that address his or her functional limitation.

A blind student, for instance, may elect to have text available in Braille or have an academic aide read the text aloud. In this case, the disability - blindness, causes the functional limitation - an inability to read printed text.

However, blindness doesn't necessarily prevent one's ability to take notes during a course lecture. Therefore, a blind student may not be eligible for note taking services because the functional limitations of blindness do not affect the ability to take notes.

To facilitate the prompt provision of reasonable accommodations, it is best to have documentation of a disability which details functional limitations. Should the documentation provide inadequate information on functional limitations, the Disability Services Coordinator may require additional documentation that describes them.