[Blindmath] What to do when a US college DS office refuses toprovide braille when requested

[Birkir R. Gunnarsson]

Susan

One more question for you on this topic.
I thought Section 504 applied more than the ADA, and complaints should
be filed with the OCR (Office of Cevil Rights), but you seem to lean
towards using the ADA procedure.
Are these one and the same, or are these two separate processes?
Thanks
-Birkir

On 7/19/11, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <birkir.gunnarsson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Goes straight into my web presentation for sure (I give the oral
> presentations tomorrow, but I think the web version will be more
> useful).
> I, too, am curious as to how much time can ellapse between a braille
> requiest being put in and a braille copy being deliverred.
> In my experience professors tend to choose their text books very last
> minute, and I know it can take weeks or months to braille certain
> books (depending on source format and complexity of text, number of
> graphs etc), though I figure students may be able to get completed
> chapters or æunits along the way.
> None of this excludes the need or other approaches, but this is an
> absolutely great overview and useful list of action items for the
> student.
> Thanks
> -Birkir
>
>
> On 7/19/11, Edward <personal.edward at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Wow, that's the most amount of useful information in one email I have
>> come
>> across in a long time.
>> Thanks
>> Edward
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Susan Jolly
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 1:25 PM
>> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [Blindmath] What to do when a US college DS office refuses
>> toprovide braille when requested
>>
>> I've contacted two experts in US disability rights and here is what I
>> found.
>>
>> Federal law applies to all colleges and universities except for private
>> religious schools that accept NO federal money, not even grants, student
>> loans, etc.
>>
>> First, if you are a braille reader and want braille textbooks and
>> materials,
>> that is your right.
>>
>> Second, typically you need to purchase a print copy of your textbook and
>> give it to the DS office.  This is to cover the cost of using a
>> copyrighted
>> book.  This is because publishers typically require this and in any case,
>> accessible materials shouldn't cost less than standard materials
>>
>> (Note that in Califorrnia, the law requires colleges to use texts from
>> publishers that will provide e-format texts,  preferably braille-ready
>> ones.
>>
>> Any college should as a matter of course contact the publisher to see if
>> the
>> text is available in e-format for blind people as that would save the DS
>> office money and time.  However, this is the responsibility of the
>> office,
>> not the student.)
>>
>> Third, if the DS office says they will only provide audio when you
>> request
>> braille, you need to get this in writing.  There are two reasons.  One is
>> that the DS office may rethink its position if you ask for it in writing.
>> (If necessary, ask a sighted person to double check that the document
>> they
>> give you says what it should.) Second, it will help the Department of
>> Justice (DOJ) if you move forward with a legal complaint.
>>
>> Fourth, call your regional ADA Center. There are 10 regional Centers
>> listed
>> on this page with their phone numbers and websites.  The states in each
>> region are given in print as well as being shown on a map.  They should
>> tell
>> you what to do next. Or they may contact the college directly themselves.
>> http://www.adata.org/Static/ContactUs.aspx
>>
>> Fifth, if for some reason your regional ADA Center hasn't solved your
>> problem, contact the DOJ ADA Technical Assistance Program.
>> http://www.ada.gov/taprog.htm
>>
>> Note that you can always call your regional ADA Center for advice even if
>> you don't have written documentation of the DS office's refusal to
>> provide
>> braille.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Susan
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/personal.edward%4
>> 0gmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/birkir.gunnarsson%40gmail.com
>>
>