ADA & Section 504 Information
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- What is it?
-
The Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) is the civil rights guarantee for persons with disabilities
in the United States. It provides protection from discrimination for individuals
on the basis of disability. The ADA extends civil rights protections for
people with disabilities to employment in the private sector, transportation,
public accommodations, services provided by state and local government,
and telecommunications relay services. The significance of this legislation
is no less than the civil rights acts in the 1960's for minorities.
- Who are the individuals with disabilities?
-
A person with a disability is anyone with a physical or mental impairment
(has a history of such a condition, or perceived by others to be disabled)
that substantially impairs or restricts one or more major life activities
such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing,
hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. The term physical
or mental impairment includes, but is not limited to: speech, hearing,
visual, and mobility impairments, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy,
multiple sclerosis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, AIDS, mental retardation,
emotional illness, and specific learning disabilities such as perceptual
handicaps, brain injury, dyslexia, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental
aphasia.
- Does the ADA affect students at post secondary institutions?
-
Post secondary institutions that receive federal money have been required
to comply with a similar disability nondiscrimination law -Section 504
of the Rehabilitation act of 1973. The ADA upholds and extends the standards
for compliance set forth in Section 504 to employment and promotion practices,
meeting planning, and communications.
- What specifically will the ADA mean to post secondary education communities?
-
Renewed attention will be focused on disability access to the institutions
facilities and programs; as well as employment and promotion issues. Personnel
will be asked to make some of these "reasonable accommodations" for persons
with disabilities qualified to work in campus offices and departments.
Some elements of these changes might be:
- Changes in examinations, training materials, and training policies.
- Providing qualified readers or interpreters.
- Reassignment of disabled employees to fill positions.
- Job restructuring.
- Making existing facilities readily accessible.
- Part-time or modified work schedules.
- Altering equipment or devices where necessary to accommodate disabled employees.
Personnel in the campus disability services office, who are a prime resource
for campus accessibility, may also be called upon for information on accessibility
to business and public accommodations in the campus community.
Because the ADA will increase access to employment, public accommodations,
transportation, and telecommunications, there will be a marked increase
of persons with disabilities on the campus and in the surrounding community.
- How will post secondary institutions benefit from the ADA?
-
Improved access by private business and public transportation will increase
use of campus education, recreational, and cultural facilities and programs,
possibly generating new income and increased enrollment. Also, an increased
number of qualified students with disabilities will enhance the cultural
diversity of campus.
-
By educating and graduating a larger number of persons with disabilities,
post secondary institutions fill a need in business and industry by providing
a qualified pool of workers for an anticipated labor shortage in the next
decade. Alumni with disabilities who are working in business and industry
are highly credible endorsements for an institutions' programs and faculty.
WHAT IS THE LAW?
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that:
"No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States...shall,
solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program
or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
One of the first areas that required further elaboration in the Act concerned
the term "qualified handicapped individual." Congress passed the Rehabilitation
Act Amendments of 1974 in an attempt to clarify participant eligibility.
Section 7 (6) of the Act was amended by adding the following new sentence:
"For purposes of Titles IV and V of this Act, such term means any person
who (A) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits
one or more of such person's major life activities (B) has a record of such
impairment, or (C) is regarded as having such an impairment."
WHO IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAW?
A "qualified handicapped person" is defined as one who meets the academic
and technical standards requisite to admission or participation in the institution's
programs and activities. This would include students with any of the following
disabilities:
- AIDS
- Alcoholism
- Attention Deficit Disorder
- Blindness/visual impairment
- Cancer
- Cerebral palsy
- Deafness/hearing impairment
- Diabetes
- Drug addiction
- Epilepsy
- Heart disease
- Mental illness
- Mental retardation
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscular dystrophy
- Orthopedic, or speech problems
- Perceptual handicaps, such as dyslexia, or developmental aphasia
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE LAW ON POST SECONDARY EDUCATION?
Subpart E of Section 504 is applicable to all post secondary educational
programs and activities which receive Federal financial assistance. In brief,
colleges and universities must be free from discrimination in their recruitment,
admissions, and treatment of students. Reasonable accommodations in the
academic program must be made by the educational institution to insure maximal
participation by all students with disabilities.
Under the provisions of Section 504, colleges and universities may not:
- Limit the number of students with disabilities admitted.
- Make pre-admission inquiries as to whether or not an applicant is disabled.
-
Use admission tests or criteria that inadequately measure the academic
level of blind, deaf, or otherwise disabled applicants, because special
provisions were not made for them.
- Exclude a student from a course of study.
- Counsel a student with a disability toward a more restrictive career.
-
Measure student achievement using modes that adversely discriminate
against the student with a disability.
- Institute prohibitive rules that may adversely affect students with disabilities.
Colleges and Universities could be required to:
- Extend the time permitted for a student with a disability to earn a degree.
- Modify teaching methods and examinations to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
- Develop course substitutions or waivers for students with disabilities.
- Make available such learning aids as four-track tape recorders, word processors, and pocket spell-checkers for students with disabilities.
According to the NEW regulations, accommodations need not produce
the "identical result or level of achievement."
WHAT CAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES DO TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAM MODIFICATION PROVISIONS?
Colleges and universities have sought to implement program modification
provisions by developing affirmative programs that stress individualization
and personal attention. For college students with disabilities "academic
adjustments" may include adaptation of the manner in which specific courses
are conducted, the use of auxiliary equipment and support staff, and modification
in academic requirements.
These students need support services or programs that can provide them
with sufficient flexibility to meet the demands of a post secondary institution.
"Reasonable and timely" accommodations that post secondary
institutions can implement for program modifications may include these options:
- Modify or substitute foreign language or mathematics course requirements.
- Allow part-time enrollment instead of full-time study without affecting financial aid status.
- Permit examinations to be proctored, read orally, dictated, or typed.
- Allow the proctor to clarify examination questions that are unclear.
- Allow extra time for completion of examinations. Increase the frequency of exams or quizzes.
- Change the test format (e.g., multiple choice to essay).
- Permit use of basic four-function calculators and standard desk dictionaries during examinations.
- Use alternative methods for student to demonstrate course mastery (e.g., a narrative tape instead of a journal).
- Review final drafts of term papers with a proofreader and make changes without altering content.
- Provide specially trained tutors for content courses.
- Provide readers, scribes, or note takers.
- Secure removal of structural or architectural barriers.
- Utilize computer software programs to assist in test-taking and study skills development.
The Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) is a nonprofit
organization of persons for the United States, Canada, and other countries
committed to the promotion of full participation of individuals with disabilities
in college life. The Association has been established to strengthen the
professionalism of individuals who are involved with services for students
with disabilities. AHEAD was founded in 1978 to address the need and concern
for upgrading the quality of services to students with disabilities in post
secondary education. The mission of the Association is to provide unique
leadership, focus, and expertise for professionals.
This mission is supported by the Association's commitment to:
- Community
- Networking
- Professional development
- Training
- Research
- Advocacy
For Membership Information Contact:
Membership Director
AHEAD
P.O. Box 21192
Columbus, OH 43221
(614) 488-4972 (V/TDD)
ahead@postbox.acs.ohio.state.edu
