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At my uni, students with disabilities are entitled to different kinds of accommodations, but in order to actually receive these accommodations, you need to have a document stating what kinds of support you are entitled to (which, in turn, is based on an interview and medical documentation). Now I'm wondering what the correct word for this kind of document would be. My bilingual dictionary suggests "certificate", but when I google "support certificate" and "accommodation certificate" I seem to only get hits that mean something else entirely. I have also looked through instructions for students with disabilities on different English university websites, but still haven't been able to find an answer.

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    At least in North America, the usual term for extra assistance for people with disabilities is accommodation (support in an academic context more often refers to financial aid, not to disability accommodations). I have seen the document you're referring to called a "Certificate of Disability", but it may vary by institution. Mar 24 at 19:47
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    In the UK we now have the DID card - a Nationally recognised Disabled Identification Card. But that's more relevant to, say, getting on a bus. A university should be quite capable of checking your credentials via some online database, regardless of whether you have some specific bit of paper with you. Papers are too easily forged. Mar 24 at 19:49
  • @FumbleFingers Yes, the uni checks my credentials, but then they write a piece of paper stating what kinds of support (or accommodation) I'm entitled to, which I need to bring to each individual teacher and so on, in order for them to actually help me with the kinds of support I'm entitled to. It's the word for a document like this I'm after... but judging from Canadian Yankee's comment, I guess "certificate" would work after all then :)
    – Gerda
    Mar 24 at 20:22
  • hmmm... or... @CanadianYankee, when you say you've seen "Certificate of Disability", do you mean that this was used for a document certifying that the person has a disability? Because that's not what I'm after – I'm after the word for a document issued by the university, specifying what kinds of accommodation someone is entitled to.
    – Gerda
    Mar 24 at 20:41
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    @Gerda - The context I have seen is that a Certificate of Disability is a form provided by the university that the student's doctor can fill out with the types of accommodations needed and potentially attach additional medical documentation to. This is then returned to the university (possibly with an intake interview as well), which then allows the student to access specific accommodations through the accessibility services department. Mar 24 at 21:07

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Different colleges use different terminology for this document, but many use the term Faculty Notification Letter.

Some other colleges call it an Accommodation Letter.

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  • Yes!!! Thank you!!! This seems to be precisely what I'm after!!!
    – Gerda
    Mar 24 at 22:29
  • faculty can be notified about all kinds of things.
    – Lambie
    Mar 24 at 23:09

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