<p>I don’t really know (but neither, I dare say, do most of the other posters on this thread), but my understanding is that the point of talking to the disabilities office is to get accomodations and support. Like a student needs extra time on exams, or a notetaker, or whatever. In other words, you want the disabilties office to actually do something, or they offer some service that the student finds useful. </p>
<p>I don’t think a student who doesn’t anticipate needing anything the disabilities office provides needs to register and disclose just as a CYA move. An unplanned hostpital stay is an unplanned hospital stay whether it is related to some sort of preexisting condition or not. It shouldn’t matter whether the preexisting condition was disclosed to the disabilities office.</p>