Understanding Accessibility

Federal Disability Civil Rights Law

Section 504

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was one of the first pieces of civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. Section 504 prohibits discrimination of people with disabilities by federal agencies and any program receiving federal funding.

Section 504 not only protects people with disabilities from discrimination, but it also requires that they be provided with the necessary accommodations in order to participate in programs/the workplace.

The intent of Section 504 was to ensure people with disabilities have access to employment (and therefore education). Integration of people with disabilities into mainstream society was also a central idea, with separate settings or programs deemed inappropriate unless necessary to ensure equitable benefits.

It's Section 504 that requires our colleges to ensure that people employed at the institution and attending the institution are given the accommodations necessary to succeed in their roles.

Title I of the ADA

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) was passed in 1990 and built upon the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by expanding its protections beyond just agencies and programs receiving federal funding.

Title I of the ADA prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating against people with disabilities. This applies not only to employment but also recruitment, training, hiring processes, etc.

In the case of an employee needing disability accommodations, it is the responsibility of the employer to provide an applicant or employee with the necessary accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job. These accommodations often include modifying documents, providing assistive technology (hardware or software), physical adjustments, etc.

Title II of the ADA

Title II of the ADA expanded the reach of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to state and local governments. Combined with Section 504, this ensures non-discrimination in all government agencies.

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and applies to all public colleges and universities, regardless of whether they receive federal funding.

What Section 504 and the ADA Mean for Serving Students:

These laws require that

• People with disabilities cannot be denied services due to their disability.

  • E.g. You cannot tell a student that they can't enroll in a particular program or take a class because of their disability.

• Students with disabilities must be given appropriate accommodations (assistive technology, extended time, captions, etc.) to ensure they can meet the same objectives as students without disabilities.

  • E.g. You cannot refuse to give extended time on a test or provide documents in an alternative format to a student who has an accommodation request that outlines those needs.

• People with disabilities should have access to material of the same quality and within the same time frame as people without disabilities.

  • E.g. If you record your lecture and make it available to the class on a Friday in order to study for an exam on Monday, that video must be captioned and made available within the same time frame for a deaf student - otherwise they do not have the same access to the study materials as other students, which puts them at a disadvantage. Put simply: students with disabilities should not have to wait for accessible materials as it can hold back their progress in class.

• Students with disabilities should be able to access material as easily as a student without a disability.

  • E.g. A blind student should be able to independently access a website without the assistance of a sighted person.