What is ADA?

The Americans with Disabilities Act is civil rights law that offers civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities. The basic idea behind the law is to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities (physical and mental). The law has origins (and adopted strategies) from civil rights movement which deals with protection against discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, religion, etc. The law is wide-ranging and covers employment, state and local government, public spaces, etc. Interestingly, the ADA does not cover the executive branch of the federal government or air transportation. It consists of five titles that deal with specific aspects of accommodations. Here is a very brief description of each:

• Title I (employment)- affords equal employment opportunities to people with disabilities (for example, employers of 15 people or more required to make reasonable accommodations for working environment to allow persons with disabilities to perform their jobs).
• Title II (State and local government; public entities) – protects against discrimination in State and Local government services (for example, to accommodate access to public transportation or  public schools)  and requires to make reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid discrimination against people with disabilities.
• Title III (public accommodations)- affects facilities such as hotels, restaurants, daycare centers, private schools, etc and requires alterations of new and previously built facilities to allow wheelchair access or provide alternative methods for customer service to accommodate hearing or visually impaired individuals.
• Title IV (telecommunications)- requires telephone and Internet companies to provide alternate services that allow individuals with hearing and speech disabilities to communicate over the telephone. It also requires all videos in projects funded by federal government to be captioned.
• Title V (misc provisions)- mostly provides protection against discrimination in situations related to the rest of the ADA and different services’ issues (for example, a clause against retaliation, attorney’s fees, etc.)

RESOURCES:

http://www.instagrok.com/results.html?query=americans+with+disabilities+act&share_id=_&result_id=IHOOae66PAHgEqWG85TF&action=view

Title II and Section 504:

Why are the terms “Title II” and “Section 504” important to this discussion?

Title II prohibits all public entities, regardless of the size of their work force, from discriminating in employment against individuals with disabilities. Section 504 was a milestone in recognition that the lower social and economic status of people with disabilities was not a consequence of the disability itself but instead was a result of barriers created by society through the lack of opportunities, support services and accommodations and general prejudices. Both Title II and section 504 also helped to define guidelines for non-discrimination for all federal agencies.

What it means for education is that educational programs must be organized to allow handicapped students to have equal access or accommodations delivered in the most integrated manner possible to all educational services. Meaning not only accommodations for physical space but learning support services, accessible instructional materials, and technologies used.

RESOURCES:

http://www.instagrok.com/results.html?query=title+ii+and+section+504&share_id=_&result_id=HtTcDeTAi8uchOZkmOUj&action=view

Reasonable accommodations in an educational setting:

• What is a “reasonable accommodation” and what else are those called in the educational setting?
  Reasonable accommodations are alternate ways to provide access to educational content or alternate format of educational content not otherwise accessible/available to people with disabilities so that they are able to access the same information and participate in the same interactions as the rest of the students. For example, if your course requires students to download and read files online, those files should be formatted for use with assistive technologies (such as screen readers) for students who are visually impaired, or you should be able to provide an alternative like an audio recording. All online materials should also be formatted according to ADA compliance (Checklist_for_ADA_compliance).

• What might make an accommodation unreasonable?
  According to Title II, there are three kinds of accommodations that are not considered reasonable:
  • if making the accommodation or allowing participation poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others;
  • if making the accommodation means making a substantial change in an essential element of the curriculum;
  • if it poses an undue financial burden.

RESOURCES:

http://www.instagrok.com/results.html?query=reasonable+accommodation+titleii+education&share_id=_&result_id=g5VesTFoEOCS1XC4bCbJ&action=view

IDEA and ADA:

What is IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and who does it protect? How does it differ from the ADA?

The major difference between IDEA and ADA is that IDEA ensures educational benefit whereas ADA ensures equal opportunity for access to education:

• IDEA is an education act that guarantees special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities. It includes children from age 3 to 21 and a wide variety of disability categories and requires special evaluation process to determine eligibility (so, the child might not qualify for this educational benefit). IDEA makes sure that children receive education enhanced with individualized accommodations based on the unique nature of disability that benefits the educational outcome (for example, a child under IDEA is placed in special education classes and after-school programs).

• ADA is a civil rights law that protects against discrimination throughout educational career but does not ensure that children receive the individualized assistance for educational benefit. Rather, it ensures that the child has appropriate access to education that is available to children who are not disabled (for example, wheelchair access to classrooms or an alternative access to technology-enhanced educational content such as video captions and/or transcripts for hearing-impaired students).

As a result of these differences, there is a common misunderstanding as to which provision your child falls under. Many parents feel that Section 504 serves the needs of the disabled child better because it allows the child to be integrated into a regular classroom environment. However, Section 504 does not ensure that disabled children receive educational services beneficial to their unique circumstances. It only ensures that they have equal access to the services. If they do not perform well they can be expelled from school (sorry for a bit extreme example) or fall behind the rest of the classroom. IDEA, on the other hand, ensures that children receive specialized accommodations to succeed in an educational environment tailored to their needs as in the case of special ed classes. Children under Section 504 are not necessarily qualified to receive the benefits of services under IDEA, but children under the umbrella of  IDEA also fall under Section 504.

RESOURCES:

http://www.instagrok.com/results.html?query=idea+and+ada&share_id=_&result_id=2cDiptzqNk59w6tyc9oQ&action=view

The Big One:

The big one: how do ADA, IDEA and other legislation in the readings and your exploration so far apply to you in your working (or future working) life (where might or do you find yourself needing to take ADA, IDEA, etc. into account?)

Although I work for a small private institution which does not fall under broader Section 504 or Title II requirements because we do not receive federal funds (we fall under Title III- public accommodations, which means we have a lower standard of burden), ADA compliance is very much a part of my job.  As an Instructional Designer, I have to make sure that all instructional materials and online interactions are if not fully accessible then have a viable alternative because even with “lower standard of burden” to be compliant with Title III we still have to provide accessible alternatives if there is a demand and in a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, I have to ensure that any technology we use is accessible or has an option to extend accessibility. For example, Moodle is a mostly accessible piece of technology but to improve the accessibility further we have installed an accessibility block that extends accessibility features beyond just screen readers and assistive devices. This block allows students with poor vision to control the size, brightness, color of the text from within Moodle without using any other software. Furthermore, I utilize Universal Principles of Design and web accessibility standards for web design and development. A large part of my job as Instructional Designer is to anticipate needs and be prepared in advance, so I try to integrate as many of accessibility best practices as I can beforehand.

More insights on these issues in this collaborative Voice Thread with Heidi Olson: https://voicethread.com/myvoice/#thread/8040252/44323686/45095913