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Resources for Faculty
Introduction
Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Services (DHHS) is fully committed to collaborating with
faculty in maximizing educational opportunities for Deaf and hard
of hearing students. We support faculty who work with Valencia's Deaf and
hard of hearing students on all our campuses.
Julie Balassa is the Assistant Director of the Office for Students with Disabilities and is responsible for DHHS and Assistive Technology college-wide.
For more information about our services for students, please navigate
to the Services page of this website.
You just found out you will have a Deaf or hard of hearing student
in your class. Now what?
We
have developed an information packet we hope you will consider a
helpful ongoing resource. In addition, we are always happy to share
information regarding how to work effectively with Deaf and hard
of hearing students, so feel free to contact us at any time. Contact
information can be found on this website or on the last page of
the instructor packet to which you will find a link below.
I have a Deaf or hard
of hearing student in my class. Now what?
Academic Freedom and Accommodations
The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) is Valencia's agent incharge of determining
reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities who register
with our office. These accommodations are determined by trained
OSD staff based on valid documentation presented by the student.
The OSD and DHHS respect and support each faculty member in the
practice of academic expertise and freedom. In order to address any concerns about the co-existence of academic freedom
and accommodations provided to students with disabilities, we offer
for your perusal the Northeast Technical Assistance Center tipsheet
"ADA: Nondiscrimination in
Higher Education. What's the Law?"
When Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, it included
Section 504 which forbade discrimination against persons with disabilities
by programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance,
which included virtually every institution of higher education,
except the U.S. military academies and a few small religious schools.
This was the first civil rights statute designed to prevent discrimination
against persons with disabilities and was patterned after the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
(ADA) was patterned after Section 504. It, too, requires that students
with disabilities may not be excluded from participation in, or
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination by
any institution which is subject to the ADA. The ADA does not require
that the institution receive federal financial assistance.
Who is protected?
Any individual who has a physical or mental impairment which substantially
limits a major life activity; has a record of having such an impairment;
or is regarded as having such an impairment is protected by the
law, as discrimination has many faces. Most faculty, however, will
find themselves dealing with students who meet the first prong of
the definition - an impairment which presents a substantial limitation
to a major life activity.
How does this affect my college or university?
A postsecondary institution must make reasonable accommodations
in order to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity
to participate in the institution's courses, programs and activities.
This includes extracurricular activities. Colleges must make "academic
adjustments" to ensure that a student has an equal opportunity
to participate. Academic adjustments may include extended time for
test taking, completion of course work or graduation; tape recording
of classes; substitution of specific courses to meet degree requirements;
modification of test taking or performance evaluations so as not
to discriminate against a person's sensory, speaking or motor impairments,
unless that is what is being tested.
A college or university must also provide "auxiliary aids and
services," such as qualified sign language interpreters, notetakers,
readers, braille and large print materials, and adaptive equipment.
A qualified interpreter is one who can communicate expressively
and receptively, using any specialized vocabulary in a manner that
is effective, accurate, and impartial. Institutions are not responsible
for providing personal services such as attendants, hearing aids,
glasses, etc. Under the applicable regulations, tutoring is a personal
service. Therefore, it need not be provided unless the school provides
tutoring to other students, in which case it must make that tutoring
program accessible to students with disabilities. Institutions may
not charge money for reasonable accommodations.
Colleges do not have to provide accommodations that would "fundamentally
alter" the educational program or academic requirements which
are essential to a program of study or to fulfill licensing requirements.
The determination of what is a fundamental alteration, however,
is one which requires specific steps and a reasoned, determinative
process on the part of the campus community. Remember, the ADA is
a remedial statute which requires that colleges and universities
question their notions of what is truly fundamental and provide
for alternate methods of achieving the results intended by the educational
program.
What is my Role as a Faculty Member?
As a faculty member, you are an integral part of your institution's
efforts to comply with these laws. Just as you are not free to discriminate
against students on the basis of race, religion, gender or ethnicity,
so too, you cannot discriminate against students with disabilities.
Part of not discriminating against students with disabilities is
the provision of reasonable accommodations or "academic adjustments"
and "auxiliary aids and services". Institutional compliance
is a shared responsibility of which faculty are a necessary part.
Your employment in that capacity requires that you assist the institution
in fulfilling its compliance responsibilities in connection with
the ADA as well as other civil rights statutes.
Suggested Dos and Don'ts
Do:
- Ask questions if you don't understand something or are not
sure how to proceed - your Disability Services office can be very
helpful in this regard.
- Hold up your end with regard to accommodations which have
been determined to be appropriate. This may include asking class
members to volunteer to take notes or providing copies of exams
to the disability services office in order for a student to take
the examination under alternate circumstances, such as extended
time, using a scribe or braille, etc.
- Treat students with disabilities with the same courtesies
you would afford to other students.
- Respect the privacy of students with disabilities. They
need not disclose their disability to fellow students. While they
must disclose disability to a designated official at your college
in order to access accommodations, this does not require disclosure
to everyone. Treat disability information which has been disclosed
to you as confidential.
- Raise appropriate questions. Questions may lead to your
college's addressing certain types of requests more consistently
and more thoroughly in the future.
- Assist students in following the university's policies,
such as possible requirements that all requests for accommodation
be lodged with the Disability Services office and not individual
faculty members alone. This protects students, faculty, and the
institution by ensuring consistency and takes much of the burden
off individual faculty members, who are often ill-equipped to
determine whether an accommodation is appropriate or how to provide
it. Violations have been found in cases where faculty members
have not followed institutional policies.
Don't:
- Engage in philosophical debates about "fairness"
to other, nondisabled students, or whether providing accommodations
somehow violates your academic freedom. These arguments are unavailing
for several reasons. First, philosophical debates about whether
and how equal educational opportunities are provided to students
with disabilities are legally meaningless. Congress has determined
how we as a society should address equal access to education by
passing federal civil rights statutes protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities, without adversely impacting those without
disabilities. Congress has been joined in this effort by most
state legislatures as well. Second, academic freedom is not preemptive
of federal civil rights statutes.
- Decide not to provide the academic adjustments which have
been approved by the institution's designee. You may subject your
institution or yourself to liability.
- Leave a student adrift without accommodations. If no volunteers
are willing to take notes in a class, make sure the student knows
who to see to rectify this in another manner.
- Refuse to permit students to tape record lectures as an
accommodation. General policies which permit instructors to refuse
the use of tape recorders, without providing for their use by
students with disabilities, are legally insufficient.
- Refuse to provide copies of handouts, or orally describe
information written on the chalkboard, or face the class when
referring to something written on the chalkboard, etc., if these
accommodations have been determined to be appropriate for a student.
- Refuse to provide extended time for tests on the mistaken
assumption that doing so would require that all students be given
additional time.
- Refuse to provide accommodations until you have personally
evaluated a student's documentation of disability. Eligibility
for services under the ADA is the job of the disability services
personnel, not the faculty.
- Make assumptions about a student's ability to work in a
particular field. Most often, concerns that students may not be
able to "cut it" are based on fears and assumptions,
not facts. Remember too, that employers are also required to comply
with the ADA.
For more information, contact:
Northeast Technical Assistance Center
Rochester Institute of Technology
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
52 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623-5604
585-475-6433 (V/TTY)
585-475-7660 (Fax)
Email: netac@rit.edu
WWW: www.netac.rit.edu
This NETAC Teacher Tipsheet was compiled by Jo
Anne Simon, Attorney at Law, Brooklyn, New York.
This publication was developed in 1999 under a grant from the U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services (OSERS) and produced through a cooperative agreement between
RIT and OSERS (H078A60004). The contents herein do not necessarily
represent the Department of Education's policy nor endorsement by
the Federal Government.
To access the comprehensive list of NETAC Tipsheets
on a variety of topics related to working with Deaf and hard of
hearing students in the post-secondary environment, navigate to
http://www.netac.rit.edu/publication/tipsheet/
Resources
Links
to sites of Professional interest:
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need Adobe Reader, which is available for free xfrom
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