[NABS-L] Online clases, accessibility, and the law

[Sami Osborne]

Hi all,

I hope this email finds you well.

About two weeks ago, I was dismissed from my graduate program at Nyu due to my obtaining less than a 3.0 cumulative GPA. However, I plan to appeal my dismissal due namely to the fact that I only failed one class, while passing the other to I was enrolled in with flying colors (with an A minus and a B plus). The main reason I failed the one class was due to accessibility issues. I naturally plan to include these rather unforseen and extenuating circumstances in my appelate brief that I have to submit to NYK by next week, but I'm also wondering about including something that may very well make my case/arguments more compelling.

My graduate program is all online, meaning I've had no in-person classroom instruction at all. I am aware that in-person instruction is 100 percent covered by the ADA and IDEA, meaning essentially that professors are required by law to provide students with all academic accommodations they request, as well as ensuring that their mode of instruction is as accessible to students with disabilities as possible. What I don't know, however, is whether or not the same holds true for online classes/fully online programs. So I was therefore hoping someone could clarify this for me. If onine instruction is covered under the law, which one(s) do they fall under? Second, I was also wondering whether or not students are required to disclose their disability to the school for online classes the way they have to do for in-person, or whether the school just has to naturally make their online instruction modes accessible regardless of whether or not there are disabled students present. I ran into a similar dillema last spring semester as well, during which I failed that same class due to accessibility issues, which resulted in my having to repeat the course this semester. However, at that time, I did not disclose to NYU that I was disabled because I didn't think it would be that important for online classes especially. Fortunately, I learned from that mistake this time around, and decided to take a more proactive approach by requesting academic accommodations from the Office for Student Accessibility (which did turn out all right but obviously not perfect given that  I ran into accessibility issues with that same class yet again). If the student is required to disclose their disability to the school in order to receive academic accommodations, then that might not belp me a whole lot in my appelate case. If, on the other hand, this responsibility falls purely on the school, then that just might make my case all the more cmpelling.

I'm really hoping someone on here will be able to clarify these two points for me. If you have any additional questions for me or need further clarification on my case, please let me know.

Thanks,

Sami