Looking Through The Eyes Of Others:
Providing Services To Students With disAbilities
Think Ability rather than Disability 
 

DO:

1. Extend the time permitted for a student with a disability to earn a degree.

2. Modify teaching methods and examinations to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

3. Develop course modifications for students with disabilities.

4. Assume the availability of such learning aids as four-track tape recorders, word processors, and pocket spell-checkers for students with disabilities.

5. Provide open/closed captioned public service announcements and telecommunications services to persons with hearing and speech impairments.

6. Ensure comparable accessibility to all college programs and facilities at no additional cost to the student and staff with disabilities.

DO NOT:

1. Limit the number of students with disabilities admitted.

2. Make pre-admission inquiries as to whether or not an applicant is disabled.

3. Use admission tests or criteria that inadequately measure the academic level of blind, deaf, or otherwise disabled applicants, because special provisions were not made for them.

4. Exclude a student from a course of study.

5. Counsel a student with a disability toward a more restrictive career.

6. Measure student achievement using modes that adversely discriminate against the student with a disability.

7. Institute prohibitive rules that may adversely affect students with disabilities.

Section 504 of t he Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) provides that: "No otherwise qualified individuals with handicaps (disabilities) in the United States…shall, solely by reason of her or his handicap (disability), be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance" (Public Law 93-112).

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) expands the mandate for reasonable accommodations included in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The new law (ADA) reinforces previous state and federal statues preserving the rights of persons with disabilities but does not replace them. The ADA extends to the private sector and allows for greater access to employment, public accommodation, transportation, and telecommunication.

Another key difference between Section 504 and the ADA is that under Section 504 people must bring complaints to federal agencies to investigate, but under the ADA people can sue institutions directly.

Colleges and universities must comply with the ADA. An institution may not discriminate against an individual solely on the basis of disability. 34CFR Section 104.44 (d)(1) requires that an institution take such steps as necessary to ensure that the individual with a disability is not denied the opportunity to benefit from or participate in the institution's programs.

Essentially, the institutions must provide reasonable accommodation to the student's known disability in order to afford him/her an equal opportunity to participate in the institutions programs, courses and activities including extra curricular activities.

An institution must provide a student academic adjustment (such as adaptation of course instruction and modification of test taking and performance evaluation) to ensure that the student receives an equal opportunity to participate. An institution must also provide auxiliary aids and services to students with disabilities (such as qualified interpreters and adapted equipment). However, an institution is not required to provide attendants, individually prescribed devises, readers for personal use or study or other devices of a personal nature. An institution is only obligated to provide tutorial services to students with disabilities in the same manner as it does to non-disabled peers. The institution may choose the methods by which the auxiliary aids will be supplies so long as the methods used provide an equal opportunity. The institution may not charge the student for necessary accommodation.

The institution is not required to provide academic adjustments or auxiliary aids and services if such provision would fundamentally alter the nature of the program or the academic requirements that are essential to a program of study or to meet licensing prerequisites.

An institution must provide students with notice of the nondiscrimination requirements of Section 504. Students have a right to file a grievance with the institution. The institution's grievance procedures must provide the student with due process. Every college and university receiving, federal, financial assistance must have a compliance coordinator for Section 504 and every public college and university must have one or more compliance coordinator(s) for the ADA.

Facilities constructed after June 3, 1977 must be readily accessible and usable to individuals with disabilities. All programs and services must be provided in a manner that affords the student maximum integration with his/her non-disabled peers. Facilities constructed prior to June 3, 1977 need not necessarily be made accessible so long as the program or activity, viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to students with disabilities. However, the student must be afforded an equal opportunity to enjoy the full range of services offered by the institution.

• Informal screening and assistance with off-campus resources regarding disabilities

• Academic pre-advisement and progress follow-up consultation

• Referral to and coordination with other on-campus resources, i.e., Student Support Services, Admissions, Financial Aid, academic departments, Center for Academic Enrichment, Residential Life, computer lab

• Note-taking modifications: note-takers, NCR (carbon-less) paper, permission to tape record or use lap top computers during class

• Testing modifications for classroom, placement and national standardized exams: extended time; separate location; use of word processor, tape recorder or calculator; oral exam (tape recorded answers); enlarged print; braille; readers

• Letters to instructors and academic advisors verifying student's request for accommodations

• Coordination with on-campus departments and outside agencies to provide books on tape and sign language/oral interpreters for the deaf

• Accessibility to on-campus facilities.

• TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf) to enable hearing and speech impaired persons to communicate via telephone (located in Counseling and Career Services Office)

• Video magnifier or CCTV (Closed Circuit Television System) to enlarge printed material (located in Page Library)

• Keys to chairlifts for physically challenged students

• Promotion and encouragement of peer support, student advocacy, and career preparation

• Self identify (voluntarily notify L.U. Coordinator of disability via written request for appropriate accommodations)

• Provide documentation of disability to the Disability Coordinator

• Abide by university, state, federal, and rehabilitation guidelines to maintain good academic standing and to secure and maintain financial assistance

• Adhere to university policy in regards to attendance, timeliness, and completion of assignments

• Obtain their own textbooks, materials, and personal aids as needed for courses taken. (Pre-registration and early consultation with instructors are highly recommended.)

• Meet periodically with instructors throughout each semester to discuss, arrange, and verify instructional accommodations, testing arrangements, academic progress, and other concerns related to classroom performance

• Prepare to take specially-arranged tests on the same day and, if possible, at the same hour of the class period, without missing other class

It is very important that when making reference to persons with disabilities we do not use descriptives that are offensive. Following is a list of unacceptable and preferred terms for referring to persons with disabilities.

Unacceptable Term The disabled Mongoloid The blind, deaf Retard Patient, case Confined to a Wheelchair Wheelchair bound Deaf and dumb, Deaf mute CP, spastic Epileptic fit

Preferred Term Person with a disability Person with Down's Syndrome Person with visual or speech disability Person with mental retardation Client, individual Person who uses a wheelchair Person who uses a wheelchair Person with hearing or speech impairment Person with cerebral palsy Seizure

Cynthia L. Washington
Disabilities Services Coordinator;
Counseling and Career Services
304 Founders Hall
681-5167
Monday - Friday         8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.

• All university brochures should include the Notice of Non-Discrimination

• A Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD) is located in the Counseling and Career Services Office (304 Founders Hall) and can be checked out for on-campus use. For a demonstration on the use of the TDD or assistance in using Relay Missouri (800) 735-2466 V/(800) 735-2966 TDD, call the Counseling and Career Services Office

Applicants for admission and employment, students, employees, sources of referral of applicants for admission and employment, and all professional organizations holding professional agreements with Lincoln University are hereby notified that this institution does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs and activities. Any person having inquiries concerning compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), is directed to contact the University Section 504/ADA Coordinator in 304 Founders Hall, or telephone (573) 681-5167. The Section 504/ADA Coordinator has been designated by the University to coordinate the University's efforts to comply with the regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, Section 504 and ADA. Any person may also contact the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, regarding the University's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, Section 504 or the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lincoln University Faculty and Staff should contact the Office of Human Resources at 681-5018.