[nabs-l] Reasonable Accommodations in the College Classroom underthe Ada

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi Roanna,

I think your professor is trying to be accomodating.
The ADA does say we need reasonable accomodations but in post secondary 
education section 504 of the Civil Rights Act covers us as well.
None of us are lawyers. But it is my understanding that civil rights laws 
say we have the right to the same services as our nondisabled counterparts.
So you should be able to participate in a service in a place of public 
accomodation with or without accomodations.
In this case, the service is an educational environment.

For accomodations, they can accommodate you in a number of ways.
They can provide a reader to assist you in picking out the visuals, 
something which most colleges do not do.
They can also modify the assignment so you can complete it alone, or provide 
an alternative assignment that meets the same educational objectives.

In this instance, it sounds like the pictures represent things about you. 
Therefore, you can do the assignment, so a substitute is not necessary. But, 
a modification of the assignment is needed so you can do it alone. You have 
a modified assignment now, so that is fine, but listing things is easier.
than what they had to do in my opinion.

I think picking out pictures involves some analysis and critical thinking 
and they also have to search for them.
So, to be picky, the assignment you get should require these skills too.
Some modifications can be as follows:
1. Searching for sound clips of things about you; like a ball game if you 
like sports or the ocean if you like the beach. This can be put in a word 
file too.
2. Tactile things are also equivalent to seeing. So, a collage of tactile 
pieces along with a short explanation of what it means would also work. For 
instance, a feather if you like birds, a ball for sports or even soft fabric 
to represent a blanket. I don't think this is as realistic for a college 
assignment; you cannot upload this thing, you'd have to bring it to the 
professor, and it may take too long to gather the material. But, still, its 
an idea and an equivalent assignment I think.

3. Describing the pictures you would have picked.

Hope this is helpful.

Ashley


-----Original Message----- 
From: Roanna Bacchus via nabs-l
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2016 1:25 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Roanna Bacchus
Subject: [nabs-l] Reasonable Accommodations in the College Classroom 
underthe Ada

Dear Students,

I hope all of you are doing well.  I have a question for all of
you.  Last Thursday we received our first project in my
Principles of Advertising class.  The assignment is to put
pictures of things that represent us onto a word document and
upload it to our online course site.  Yesterday afternoon I
contacted my professor and explained that I would require sighted
assistance to complete this project.  She told me to submit a
list of my interests, hobbies, and experiences as opposed to the
visual images.  Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, what
other reasonable accommodations can be provided in a college
classrom? I'd love to hear your responses.

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