Once a student with a qualifying disability has matriculated to the University of New Haven, if the student wishes to use reasonable accommodations and/or services, the student must initiate a request for reasonable accommodations by self-identifying to the Accessibility Resources Center. Students will be required to provide documentation attesting to the presence of a disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act of 2008.

Under these laws, a person has a disability if they:

• Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual.  Major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working.  Major life activities also include the operation of a major bodily function, including but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.

The diagnosis of a disabling condition does not automatically qualify an individual for accommodations of either an academic or personal nature. The condition must, as the law stipulates, be substantially limiting. The degree to which a condition imposes a functional limitation on the student’s ability to perform a major life activity or the operation of a major life function is a significant determining factor in establishing the need for accommodations from the Accessibility Resources Center.