The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Law

Below is a summary of the main points of ADA as outlined by Michael Gordon and Shelby Keiser in Accommodations in Higher Education Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

• The ADA is a civil rights, not an entitlement, act. Contrary to the acts that regulate services to students in elementary through high school, the intention is not to create favorable outcomes but to prevent discrimination. Whereas the level of instructional and related services (speech-language, occupational and physical therapy, for example) is aimed at remediation of a problem under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the intention of the ADA is to allow access to educational opportunity.
  

• To be protected under ADA, the individual must be disabled relative to the average person. The impairment must be one that limits a major life activity, such as learning or working, and there must be a substantial limitation relative to what is common to most people. This is considered to be the "average person standard" and, therefore, eliminates the relative standard that is used under educational entitlement acts, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which applies to individuals until the end of high school. For example, a student who has relatively poor writing skills compared to math and reading skills might qualify as having a disability under IDEA even if his writing skills are average compared to his same aged peers. This would not be the case under the strict interpretation of ADA.
  
  There is conflicting case law, however, so an expert is needed to make a judgement as to the degree to which a disability results in a functional impairment (see below) and, therefore, the extent to which accommodations are required to make an educational experience accessible. Whereas the average person standard applies in some cases, in others a more relative standard has been allowed.

• Successful compensation belies substantial limitation. This principle requires the individual to make a "reasonable" attempt to compensate for the disability. A person with poor vision is not considered "disabled" if prescriptive lenses correct the impairment. If there is substantial limitation despite compensation attempts, the disability is more likely to meet the standards set by ADA. The use of the term "reasonable" makes decisions about compensation difficult to determine in some cases as it is open to interpretation whether the "reasonable" accommodation standard has been met.

• To meet the standards of ADA to qualify as a person with a handicap, current, detailed and professional documentation must be provided. Usually, institutions require recent (no more than 3 years old) comprehensive evaluations from a qualified professional who uses prevailing standards of practice. Increasingly, institutions of higher education are becoming more specific in their requirements for the evaluation. (See the Documentation section).
  

• Individuals must meet the essential requirements of the program in order to be eligible for accommodations. This principle of ADA is especially important in light of faculty concerns about admissions procedures and classroom accommodations requested as part of the instruction. An institution is not required to admit anyone or accommodate to the needs of the individual unless he/she is "otherwise qualified" to meet the demands of the program. Therefore, accommodations are used for access issues only, not to change the standard of performance for an individual with a disability.
  

• Accommodations should address the interactions between the functional impairments and task demands. If the individual is "otherwise qualified," accommodations can be designed to assist him/her in gaining full access to the educational experience. The functional impairment must be defined and how it interacts with demands of the task must be determined. There is no guarantee of success as a result of the accommodation. The purpose is within a university environment to correct or circumvent those impediments to full participation in a learning experience.