By Holly Zuckerman Access Coordinator Disability Resource Center The Foundation Americans With Disabilities Act ADA 1990 Civil rights law that Prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment State and local government services ID: 729737
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Slide1
Understanding Disability Services
By Holly Zuckerman – Access Coordinator
Disability Resource CenterSlide2
The Foundation
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA – 1990):
Civil rights law that “Prohibits
discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation
.”
FACT: Only minority group that any person can become a member of at any time.
ADA Amendments Act (ADA-AA – 2008):
Creates the current standard for defining a disability and how a person qualifies as having a disability.
Definition of Disability:
(
A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
major
life activities of such individual;
(
B) a record of such an impairment; or
(
C) being regarded as having such an
impairmentSlide3
The Foundation Cont.
Where does UTC fit into the ADA?
Title II: Public Entities – “
(B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.”UTC, as a public entity, is thereby responsible for complying with the ADA and preventing discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of its functions.How is ADA compliance enforced?Department of JusticeRulings/Letters create legal precedentsOffice for Civil RightsSlide4
It’s About Civil Rights
The purpose of the ADA-AA is to ensure civil rights.
Prevent discrimination (including, but not limited to the following)
RetaliationExclusionRefusal of equally effective accommodationsDifferent treatment due to disabilityRespect privacyDiagnosis is a medical condition and therefore confidentialIndividuals with apparent disabilities are still entitled to this respect
Protect equal rights
People with disabilities have the right to achieve the most fulfilling life as possible.
It’s not about providing success, but making sure people with disabilities have the opportunity to succeed by removing the barriers to those opportunities.Slide5
Some More Definitions
Functional Limitation:
The extent to which a disability affects a person’s abilities; the limitations incurred as the result of a disabling condition.
Otherwise Qualified: An individual, regardless of disability, is still responsible for being able to fulfill the essential functions of the task at hand.Accessibility: Infrastructure that should be put in place automatically according to regulations under the law to mitigate the functional limitations of a disability. i.e. ramps; automatic doors; captionsAccommodations: Modifications necessary to reduce the impact of a person’s disability in specific scenarios so that they are able to complete the essential functions of the task at hand. i.e. extended time on exams; ergonomic furniture in offices/classrooms; allowing the use of certain accessible technologyFundamental Alteration: The possibility that an accommodation may change or neglect the essential functions of a task. In this case the accommodation is inappropriate and may not be applied.Slide6
Disability Services Providers
Exist to be the experts in their field on accessibility and accommodations
Attend conferences to stay up to date on new policies and ways for providing access
Members of professional community listserv to give and receive professional adviceProfessional organization provides resources for researching and reviewing policy and litigationServe as liaisons for people with disabilities to ensure accessFirst contact for students with disabilities in order to receive accommodationsWork across campus with faculty, staff and administrators to ensure access is being provided
Have the knowledge to provide the resources necessary for accomplishing accessSlide7
How do we determine accommodations?
4 step, often collaborative process (always done on an individual basis):
What is the person’s diagnosis?
Diagnosis made by a qualified professional in the field pertaining to the diagnosis.What is the individual impact of the diagnosis?Interview between individual and DRC staff helps to understand the individual’s functional limitations.What accommodations are reasonable to help reduce the impact of the individual’s functional limitations?Determined by DRC staff based on functional limitations and knowledge of reasonable accommodations.May require additional explanation from faculty or staff regarding the scenario being accommodated.
Often requires thinking outside the box in unique scenarios; no set rules for what accommodations can be.
Are the accommodations appropriate in the current setting?
DRC staff will often defer to faculty or staff in each situation in order to understand the essential functions of the specific setting in order to know whether or not an accommodation will fundamentally alter those essential functions.Slide8
The Rules We Follow
Rule #1: The process for being granted eligibility to receive accommodations must be as “user friendly” as possible
Rule #2: Accommodations cannot be denied to a qualified person with a disability.
All efforts and due diligence must be made to provide accommodations to the best of the provider’s abilities.Rule #3: Access and accommodations must be as equally effective for people with disabilities as it is for their peers.Keeping two things in mind here:How are the non-disabled peers of people with disabilities able to have access and how can we as closely meet that same level?What is the individual’s functional limitation, and how can we best mitigate that?Slide9
Shaping How We Provide Access at UTC…
TEACH Act:
Technology, Equality and Accessibility in College and Higher
EducationInitiative to provide more specific guidelines for providing access to electronic instructional materials and technologies in higher education.Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) has created an Accessibility Task Force to help with moving forward with the new guidelines for accessible technology. (First state to initiate such a task force in the wake of the TEACH Act)UTC has implemented an Accessible Technology Initiative to ensure that accessibility of products is addressed prior to making purchases of new technology.Slide10
SnapshotSlide11
Most Common Accommodation
Exam Accommodations: Extended time and distraction reduced environment
Fall
’12:Daily Average Exams: ~12Max on a day: 36Total Final Exams: 242Max on a day: 63Total Semester Exams: 1044Fall ’13:Daily Average Exams: ~18Max on a day: 80Total Final Exams: 303
Max on a day: 79
Total Semester Exams:
1488
Procedures for exams are critical for the organization of students at the DRC by the exam coordinator, for academic integrity of the exam on behalf of professors, and for the benefit of students receiving accommodations.Slide12
Contact Info
. And References
DRC Staff:
http://www.utc.edu/disability-resource-center/profiles/ADA-AA: http://www.ada.gov/TEACH Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3505Interested in learning more about the ADA? Take this self-paced ADA basics course online: http://www.adabasics.org/