Legal Bulletin
October 19, 2001
Legal Obligations of Colleges and Universities:
Access to IT for students in higher education courses
As part of the series of Weekly Legal Bulletins related to the goals of the National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT), this Bulletin will discuss legal obligations affecting access to IT for students with disabilities in enrolled in courses at colleges and universities.
For a definition of information technology, we need to turn to other federal law. Under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which applies to programs and agencies of the Federal government, the term "information technology" includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. The term "electronic and information technology" includes, but is not limited to, telecommunications products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, World Wide Web sites, multimedia, and office equipment such as copiers and fax machines. 36 C.F.R. §1194.4.
Generally, under any of the laws that cover different educational institutions (Section 504 and the ADA Titles I and II) a higher education institution may not exclude an otherwise qualified student with a disability from any part of its program or services, or otherwise discriminate against a student with a disability. This includes exclusion of a student with a disability from any course, course of study or other part of the institution's education. Higher education institutions must provide educational opportunities that are equal to, effective as, and appropriately integrated with the education provided to others.
As part of their legal obligations, higher education institutions must provide students with known disabilities academic adjustments (sometimes referred to as reasonable accommodations) to meet their non-discrimination obligations, including modifying how specific courses are conducted. Exams, and other ways of evaluating the student, must be provided to students with disabilities that impair their sensory, manual or speaking skills in such a way as to best ensure that the results of the evaluation represent the student's achievement in the course, rather than reflecting the student's impaired skills. However, the institution does not have to provide an academic adjustment where it will be an undue burden or hardship, or fundamentally alter the nature of the program and services provided. For example, adjusting the coursework for a music appreciation course, where the core assignments include listening to music, might not be possible when the student wanting the adjustment is completely deaf.
Another part of the legal obligation of higher education institutions is to provide auxiliary aids for students with impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills. Auxiliary aids can include assistive listening devices, closed caption decoders, open and closed captioning, TDD's, videotext displays, taped texts, Brailled materials, or other effective methods of making materials accessible, including the acquisition or modification of equipment or devices. The university has flexibility in choosing the methods by which the aids will be supplied, and need not have all aids available at all times, as long as no student with a disability is excluded from a program because of the lack of an appropriate aid. The obligation to provide auxiliary aids and services can be met in many cases by assisting students in using existing state and private resources, such as state vocational rehabilitation agencies and private charities. However, it is the primary responsibility of the higher education institution to provide the auxiliary aids for students of disabilities. The institution cannot put the burden of acquiring or funding auxiliary aids on the student with a disability when the student needs the aids to have an equal educational opportunity under section 504 or the ADA. However, for "enhanced services," i.e. those exceeding the legal requirements, the university may charge a fee for their provision. A higher education institution is not required to provide personal aids or services for students with disabilities, including individually prescribed devices or readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature.
Information technology may be provided as an auxiliary aid or academic adjustment. The higher education institution when providing an adjustment or auxiliary aid needs only to provide an effective accommodation, not necessarily the exact accommodation requested by the student. For example, in one case, a university did not violate Section 504 by denying a blind student's request for a PC-based reader; other, effective accommodations were provided and the student received an A in the course.