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Legislation
SECTION 504 --REHABILITATION
ACT OF 1973
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 provides, in part, that "no otherwise qualified
handicapped individual in the United States…shall, solely by reason
of…handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefit
of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
receiving Federal financial assistance.
THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ACT OF 1990
The Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (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 public and private sectors, transportation, public accommodations,
services provided by state and local government, and telecommunication
relay services.
In part, the ADA states:
A postsecondary educational
institution must make reasonable accommodations in order to provide
a student with a disability an equal opportunity to participate
in the institution's courses, programs and activities, including
extracurricular activities. An institution must make "academic
adjustments" to ensure that a student has an equal opportunity
to participate in the programs and activities of the institution.34
C.F.R. 35.104(a). Academic adjustments may include extended time
for test taking, completion of course work or graduation, tape recording
of classes, substitution of specific courses to meet degree requirements:
modification of test taking or performance evaluation so as not
to discriminate against a person's sensory, speaking or motor impairments,
except where such skills are the factors that the test purports
to measure. 34 C.F.R. 104.44(c).
An institution may also
provide "auxiliary aids and services", such as qualified
sign language interpreters, note takers, qualified readers, Braille
and large print materials, and adaptive equipment. Public institutions
are required to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services
and must give "primary consideration" to the requests
of persons with disabilities, and shall honor those requests unless
the institution can demonstrate that another effective means of
communication exists.
However, an institution
need not provide accommodations that would "fundamentally alter"
the educational program or academic requirement which are essential
to a program of study.
34 C.F.R. Part 35.160, App. A
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