Accommodations on College Campuses

This episode of Ask About the ADA sees Joe Zesski go in-depth about accommodations college students acquire on campus, from what they are specifically to if the student and administration disagree about accommodations and how to proceed. For a transcript of today's episode, please visit the Ask About the ADA podcast feed on BuzzSprout.

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Accommodations on Campus Episode 7

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JOE ZESSKI: Hello, welcome to "Ask about the ADA," the podcast where we answer your questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it applies to your everyday life. I'm Joe Zesski, the Program Manager of the Northeast ADA Center. We welcome you to today's edition of the podcast, where we are finishing up listening to a webinar that was first presented on May 31, 2023. 

The webinar was called "Transitioning from K-12 to the Post-Secondary Environment". And it focuses on the changing rights and responsibilities for students who have disabilities. So far we've addressed the K-12 environment in terms of what laws apply and what protections they offer, and then how those laws change slightly as a student graduates to college or university. And so in today's episode, we're going to focus more on accommodations, otherwise known as academic adjustments. You're going to hear more about accommodations, what they are, what the process is for students to obtain an accommodation, and then what happens if a student and institution disagree about accommodations, and what should or should not be offered. 

With that being said, let's start listening to the webinar. 

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And let's go to our next slide and talk about accommodations. Accommodation really refers to academic adjustments that are meant to help remove educational barriers for students with disabilities. So they can be changes in the way things are done or modifications in the education environment that will allow a student with a disability to be able to have equal access and equal opportunity. The process of deciding what is appropriate, what is a correct accommodation should be a conversation between the student and the institution. 

And that's, again, why it's important to get the Office for Students with Disabilities involved as the role of these offices is to be the intermediate between the student with a disability and the faculty or other institutional program that we are dealing with. So again, the reasonable accommodation conversation should be interactive. It should get feedback from the student as part of that to figure out what makes the best accommodation. And as I mentioned on the prior slide, it certainly can go gather some guidance from prior accommodations that have been given that you might find such as on a Section 504 or IEP plan. 

And there are all different types of accommodations that are out there. And they can take a lot of different forms. It could be physical changes, changes in the way things are done. And we'll go to our next slide and look at some examples of different types of accommodations. So some accommodations are ones that people often think of. Maybe perhaps a student needs extended time to do an exam. Again, a very typical kind of accommodation. 

Perhaps someone needs an alternate format of materials. Someone may have a print reading, a print-related disability. So maybe they need accessible electronic format or large print materials or Braille. Perhaps someone may need early access to a course syllabus or to a textbook because of their learning disability. That's another example, allowing things such as service animals as an accommodation can fall here under here. Although, service animals in general are very typical reasonable modifications under the ADA in terms of Title II and III. So unless we have specific questions, we won't go too far down that pathway because there are certainly many, many questions that people have in terms of service animals in the education environment. 

Sometimes, an accommodation might be to relocate a class. Perhaps if there is classes in an older building of a college that may have a second floor but no elevator access for some reason, well, in that case, relocating a class might be a form of accommodation and moving it to an accessible location. Recording classes also could be a form of accommodation. Again, I mentioned going through the Office of Students with Disabilities here just in terms of answering technical assistance questions over the years. Sometimes, I have heard feedback from professors and educators that are uncomfortable with being recorded in class. 

It could be a legitimate form of accommodation. And it's important to get the Office for Students with Disabilities involved just to avoid any potential issues that professors may raise in terms of whether or not a student is or is not able to record in a class. So these are just some examples. There are many other different types of possible accommodations. 

One other key aspect that you heard me mention in both Titles II and III of the ADA is to provide effective communication. And let's go to our next slide and look at auxiliary aids and services. And auxiliary aids and services are tools or devices or services that allow a person with a disability to have equally effective communication and an opportunity to participate. So providing these auxiliary aids and services to students with disabilities, again, is covered by both Section 504, as well as the ADA. And there is a wide range depending on someone's disability. 

There are some examples here on the slide. I'll just highlight a couple of them. Qualified sign language interpreter for someone who communicates through sign language is one possibility, as well as CARTs real-time transcription. Perhaps captioning might be necessary. Or perhaps, again, someone may have a print-related disability so they may need to use screen reader technology on a computer. In other words, software that reads what appears on the screen of a computer. Or perhaps someone may have a vision-related disability, where they need the text enlarged. There are special programs that serve that function. 

Be aware too, that when we talk about some of this software and some of these devices, these are intended for shared use systems. In other words, a school is not under an obligation to provide someone with a personal hearing aid or to provide a screen reader program for someone's personal computer. The providing a screen reader example refers to when there perhaps is a college lab with computers in it or in the library. Some computer in that library should probably provide screen reader access. Now if a college or university provides every student with a laptop, which is rare, but it does happen. In that case, having a screen reader on that laptop or other similar assistive technology probably would be appropriate in that case. It's an unusual case, but I have heard of colleges and universities that do provide all technology to their students. 

So we talked about examples of accommodations and auxiliary aids and services. When does a school have the right to say, well, no, we're not going to provide that or we're not able to provide that? Well, there are times when modifications are too substantial in terms of they would make a fundamental change or fundamental alteration in what it means to complete a course. 

So for example, if we have a student who is involved in nursing who requests for some reason to be excused from a lab and the requirement to do a lab, that kind of request does not have to be honored because doing labs as part of a nursing program is going to be essential to the essential academic requirements for that particular degree program. So it would be a fundamental alteration to waive the requirement to do a lab. That being said, the school is under responsibility to make sure that the lab is accessible to the nursing student with a disability. 

So they may need to make modifications or allow the student to conduct the lab in a slightly different way. But the school is not required to waive the requirement for a lab. Also, post-secondary institutions are not required to waive essential technical standards in order to make an accommodation for someone with a disability. So let's say someone has difficulty using their hands because of a form of arthritis. And let's say they're a dental hygienist, for example, and there are requirements to be able to manipulate certain equipment. 

While the school, again, should look to see if there are accessible or alternate ways that someone with this disability can use the equipment, they don't have to lower the technical proficiency standards required to pass a course that's related to the study of being a hygienist. So again, that's important to keep in mind as well. Also, there are times when the cost of an accommodation may be simply prohibitive. This is possible. And however, it's something that colleges and universities should be aware of to consider very judiciously and be able to explain and articulate why something is too costly of a burden to provide. 

And again, it can't simply be because it costs money. It has to be because it is simply an undue burden to provide an accommodation to someone. And even if that is the case, the college and university are obligated to see if there are less costly alternatives that could be provided, that can remove the barriers that might be there for a student with a disability. 

Lastly, there are times when allowing an accommodation might pose a risk or threat of safety to others. If that's the case, if there is a risk to the safety of others, a school does not need to allow that accommodation. Again, however, the school has to make this decision based on objective facts and evidence, and make an individualized assessment of the case. They must then see if there are accommodations that can be made to lessen that risk or to minimize the risk. In other words, if there are alternatives that would make it safer. 

Schools should be aware of their responsibilities as well. Decisions that they make must be based on evidence and not on stereotypes and personal opinions. It's important for schools to make their decisions about whether or not to provide accommodations based on facts. Schools also want to be sure that they include students in the process. That they've engaged with the students in trying to determine what is best and what is effective. 

Colleges and universities also want to avoid having-- generally speaking, having faculty or professors involved in the accommodation process in terms of decision-making. Because if there should be at some point a dispute where the Department of Justice or the Department of Education is sought out because a student is filing a discrimination complaint, one of the things that is considered is are the appropriate professionals making the decision about an accommodation? So as I mentioned earlier for students to seek out Offices for Students with Disabilities, the same would be true for faculty and other professors. They should refer requests that they might receive for accommodations to the Office for Students with Disabilities. 

It's also important that schools be clear in terms of not retaliating against a student who has filed an internal complaint against a school perhaps for not providing an accommodation. Retaliation is something very much to be aware of and avoid. And schools, as a matter of good practice, should have a unifying policy, a consistent, clear procedure to follow for requesting accommodations. If a student disagrees with an accommodation decision, how they can appeal, what are the means for a student to resolve that situation, and try to establish their rights thereafter. 

As I mentioned earlier, I would touch very briefly on physical access. And be aware, colleges and universities do have physical access requirements as do any other facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. For the ADA, any facilities designed or constructed for first occupancy after January 1 of 1993 must comply with the older ADA standards known as the 1991 ADAG. Or any newer places, places that are built after March and occupied after March 15 of 2012, they must follow the most recent ADA physical standards known as the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Any alterations do need to comply with the most recent standard. 

Again, that's the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design. And what are the requirements, though, for Titles II and III. Are they different? And the answer is yes, they are slightly different. For Title II, the most important thing for these colleges, universities-- again, Title II refers to public universities and colleges. So again, state, community, and other related institutions-- their highest priority is to provide program access. So if they have a building that is built before the ADA, it doesn't mean that, oh, we don't need to comply. This building was constructed in 1982. We don't have to meet the ADA standards. 

No, that's not how it works. Any changes and alterations have to comply with the most recent standard. But when a Title II entity looks at their programs, services, and activities as a whole in their entirety, their most important obligation is to provide program access. So this is an instance where, as I mentioned earlier, relocating a class may be necessary. Let's say there's a state university. It has a building constructed in 1980. 

For some reason, there is no elevator to a second floor in this building and there's multiple classes located here. But a student has to use a mobility aid. They can't access it. That class may need to be relocated for the student if they are taking a class as a form of reasonable accommodation. 

For Title III, the emphasis in terms of physical access is providing readily achievable barrier removal. This essentially means there's an ongoing obligation to improve physical access. Again, there's no grandfather clause in the ADA. So buildings built before the ADA still are required where it's readily achievable to remove any barriers that exist in terms of physical access. That's the physical built environment. 

Let's quickly touch on the virtual environment, which in today's day and age is ever more and more important. This could be a webinar in itself. And in fact, we have done webinars just on this topic alone in the past. Be aware that any courses and materials that are offered online do have to be accessible to students with disabilities in the same manner, with the same ease of access, and the same ability to communicate as students without disabilities. So again, effective communication is important to keep in mind whether you're talking about videos that a university may post online, perhaps massive online courses that might be offered, or perhaps different learning management systems. All of those do need to be accessible if a student has a disability that prevents them from using it. 

There's no hard and fast standard under the ADA. However, much of both the activity of the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, as well as private lawsuits have focused on the international standard known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Currently Version 2.1, that can be a rough standard. And if you have more questions about that, please reach out to us here at the Northeast ADA or your local ADA Center and they'll be able to provide you much more detail about that. 

So let's say that a situation comes up, a student goes through the processes that institution has for filing complaints or disagreements, and ultimately they still believe that they are being discriminated against. What can they do? A student can contact two places-- the Department of Justice or the Department of Education Offices for Civil Rights. So with the Department of Justice, they enforce education as it relates to Title III of the ADA, as well as Title II of the ADA. 

The Department of Education enforces Title II of the ADA, as well as section 504 of the ADA. I do have the telephone numbers for both departments where someone can contact them to file a complaint. For the Department of Justice, it's 1-800-514-0301. For the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, it is 1-800-421-3481. 

If someone is not sure, you can always contact the Department of Justice to file a complaint. And even if it's not in their jurisdiction, it's not what they cover or enforce, they will forward a complaint to the appropriate federal agency for enforcement activity and consideration. So be aware those are the places to go if someone needs to assert their rights under the laws. 

I will say again, just to sum up what we've been talking about, for students with disabilities, again, it's a change in environment and what their responsibilities are. If you work with students who have disabilities, I would encourage them to find out at least the basics of what the Americans with Disabilities Act is, at least as it relates to education so that they know their rights and they know where to go if they have questions. It's a transition again from having things come to you to needing to be more independent, more of a self-advocate. And to do that self advocacy, you have to have background knowledge of what your rights are and what your rights are not and how you need to work within the laws and systems that are there to assert your rights. 

So if I was to give a takeaway message for today, that's what it would be. 

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That's it for today's edition of "Ask about the ADA". I hope you've enjoyed listening to the rebroadcast of this webinar and I hope this has been informative for you. If you have questions about rights in an educational setting, please don't hesitate to reach out to us here at the Northeast ADA. You can find us on the web at northeastada.org. You can also call us at 1-800-949-4232. And of course, you can also follow us on social media by looking for @northeastada. 

Thank you, as always, to Will Warren, our student producer, and Peter Quinn of the YANG Tan Institute's media team for providing polish to these episodes. And thank you all for being a part of the conversation and joining us. And we hope that you'll join us again in the future. 

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