Disability Services

Confidentiality

• Introduction | 
• Reasonable Accomodations | 
• For Students | 
• For Faculty | 
• Disability Services Homepage

Wheelock College is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of all disability-related information. Documentation will be housed in the Disability Services office and will be treated as medical information, which may not be released without written or verbal authorization from the student. 

While the records of evaluation and other documentation will not be released without student consent, registration with the Disability Services office and receipt of faculty accommodation letters does give the office a basic level of implied consent to discuss necessary accommodations with others on campus. Specific details of a disability will not be released, but relevant information may be shared. Faculty members, the Student Development Office, Residential Life, and others on campus may have reasonable reason to know certain information in order to best provide accommodations. No information will be provided to individuals outside of the Wheelock community, including a student’s parents, without express consent of the student.

Of note for faculty:

Disability-related documentation should be submitted only to the Disability Services office. If a student provides you with medical or psychological records or other documentation of a disability in the form of an evaluation, refer her/him to Disability Services. Other individuals or offices requesting use of this information will be required to make requests to Disability Services. This helps to ensure that confidentiality is maintained. On the same note, a letter requesting accommodations should only come from Disability Services. Any student with a letter from another source should be referred to Disability Services.

A student who discloses information about a disability to you may not choose to disclose the same information to other faculty members or students. It is NOT safe to assume that another instructor or student who knows the individual knows about the disability or knows the specific information that has been shared with you. Any information about a disability diagnosis, how a disability affects a student, or what assistance is needed should be kept strictly confidential. If you have questions about what information can or should be shared with whom, please speak with the student and/or with the Coordinator of Disability Services.

Rules about confidentiality prohibit the Coordinator of Disability Services from sharing certain information with you. This includes, in some cases, whether the student has sought help for your course or what kind of help was provided. Disability Services may serve as a coordinator of support options and may work on a team with the student and instructor to determine appropriate support. When this is clearly the case, Disability Services may be more at liberty to share information.