Federal Disability Law in a Nutshell by Ruth Colker

Author:Ruth Colker
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642429114
Publisher: West Academic
Published: 2019-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

Generally, postsecondary educational institutions must make reasonable accommodations or adjustments for qualified individuals with known disabilities. An accommodation is not reasonable if it would constitute an undue burden or hardship to provide it or if it would require a fundamental alteration to the program at issue.

The leading case dealing with the “fundamental alteration” issue is Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 442 U.S. 397 (1979). In that case, the Supreme Court held that a nursing school did not discriminate against an applicant with a hearing impairment when it refused to admit the applicant to its program. The Court held that Davis was not otherwise qualified for the nursing program because “nothing less than close, individual attention by a 277

nursing instructor would be sufficient to ensure patient safety if [Davis] took part in the clinical portion of the nursing program.” The Court concluded that because Davis could not function in clinical courses without close supervision, the nursing school could only allow her to take academic courses. The Court held that “[w]hatever benefits [Davis] might realize from such a course of study, she would not receive even a rough equivalent of the training a nursing program normally gives. Such a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program is far more than the ‘modification’ [Section 504] requires.”

A.Suggested Accommodations

The DOE’s Section 504 regulations suggest three types of accommodations that may be made to assist a student with a disability in obtaining a postsecondary education: academic adjustments, modification or alteration of course examinations, and the provision of auxiliary aids.

With respect to academic adjustments, the regulations provide that a college or university:

shall make such modifications to its academic requirements as are necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate or have the effect of discriminating, on the basis of handicap, against a qualified handicapped applicant or student. Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the program of instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded as discriminatory within the meaning of this section. Modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the manner in which specific courses are conducted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.