In terms of housing, this means that the housing provided to persons with disabilities is not separate or unnecessarily segregated from housing provided to individuals without disabilities. Integrated settings also enable individuals with disabilities to live independently with individuals without disabilities and without restrictive rules that limit their activities or impede their ability to interact with individuals without disabilities.
Examples of integrated settings can include scattered-site apartments providing permanent supportive housing, tenant-based rental assistance that enables individuals with disabilities to lease housing in integrated developments, and apartments for individuals with various disabilities scattered throughout public and multifamily housing developments.
By contrast, segregated settings are occupied exclusively or primarily by individuals with disabilities. Answer: Program accessibility means that a program or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. The concept recognizes that there may be some limits to the degree to which existing housing programs can be made accessible. Thus, under the concept of program accessibility, in an existing housing program, not every single building must be accessible, or every single dwelling unit, but there must be sufficient accessibility so that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the program.
Individuals with disabilities must also have the same range of choices and amenities as those offered to others without disabilities. However, recipients must take steps to ensure that their programs and services are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities to the maximum extent feasible, which means the recipient would be required to take all steps that provide the necessary access, but which would not constitute an undue financial and administrative burden, or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program.
Meeting program accessibility obligations does not exempt recipients from meeting other requirements of the Section regulations, particularly the broad nondiscrimination provisions, and the requirements that designated accessible dwelling units be dispersed throughout buildings and sites. Likewise, recipients whose programs involve new construction or alterations, must meet the Section regulation's requirements for those activities, as well as meeting other applicable requirements in the regulations, such as for dispersion of designated accessible units throughout buildings and sites.
Question: When a mobility accessible unit becomes available should it be offered to the first applicant on the waiting list, or the first person with a disability who requires the accessible features?
The regulations also require reasonable nondiscriminatory steps to maximize the utilization of accessible units. If there are no such persons currently residing in the recipient's projects, the recipient shall then offer the unit to the next available qualified individual with disabilities on its waiting list, provided that the person requires the accessibility features of the unit. The recipient shall skip over applicants without disabilities on the waiting list to offer the unit to the next qualified individual who requires the unit's accessibility features.
If no qualified applicant with disabilities requires the accessible features of a unit, and the recipient places a family where none of the family members have disabilities in that unit, the recipient may include language in the lease requiring this family to agree to move to a non-accessible unit, as soon as one becomes available that otherwise meets the family's needs. Answer: A reasonable accommodation is a change, adaptation, or modification to a policy, program, service, or workplace which will allow a qualified person with a disability to participate fully in a program, take advantage of a service, or perform a job.
Reasonable accommodations may include, for example, those which may be necessary in order for the person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces. Since persons with disabilities may have unique needs due to their disabilities, in some cases, simply treating persons with disabilities exactly the same as others may not ensure that they have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
In order to show that a requested accommodation may be necessary, there must be an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and the individual's disability.
As discussed in the next question and answer, what is reasonable must be determined on a case-by-case basis. However, experience has shown that the following examples are often reasonable accommodations. A federally-assisted housing provider has a policy of not providing assigned parking spaces. A tenant with a mobility impairment, who has difficulty walking, is provided a reasonable accommodation by being given an assigned accessible parking space in front of the entrance to his unit.
A federally-assisted housing provider has a policy of requiring tenants to come to the rental office to pay their rent. A tenant with a mental disability, who is afraid to leave her unit, is provided a reasonable accommodation by being allowed to mail her rent payment. A federally-assisted housing provider has a no pets policy. A tenant, who uses a wheelchair and has difficulty picking up items off the ground, is allowed to have an assistance animal that fetches things for her as a reasonable accommodation to her disability.
An older tenant has a stroke and begins to use a wheelchair. Her apartment has steps at the entrance and she needs a ramp to enter the unit. Her federally-assisted housing provider pays for the construction of a ramp as a reasonable accommodation to the tenant's disability. Question: How do you determine whether a request for a certain accommodation is reasonable? Answer: Whether a particular accommodation is reasonable depends on a variety of factors and must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The determination of whether a requested accommodation is reasonable depends on the answers to two questions. First, does the request impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider? Second, would making the accommodation require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the provider's operations? If the answer to either question is yes, the requested accommodation is not reasonable.
However, even where a housing provider is not obligated to provide a particular accommodation because the particular accommodation is not reasonable, the provider is still obligated to provide other requested accommodations or alternative accommodations to the one initially requested that do qualify as reasonable.
For example:. As a result of a disability, a tenant is unable to open the dumpster provided by his housing provider for his trash. The tenant requests that the housing provider send a maintenance staff person to collect his trash from his apartment daily.
Because the housing development is a small, low-budget operation and the maintenance staff are not on site daily, it may be an undue financial and administrative burden for the housing provider to provide daily trash service to the tenant and the housing provider may refuse to provide the requested accommodation. However, the housing provider is obligated to provide the tenant with a requested alternative accommodation — such as, for example, providing either an open trash can or placing a trash can that the tenant can open in an accessible location so that the tenant may dispose of his trash.
Question: What happens if providing a requested accommodation involves some costs on the part of the federally-assisted housing provider? Answer: Section requires that in making an accommodation, a federally-assisted housing provider will be required to bear costs which do not amount to an undue financial and administrative burden.
In application, this means that a housing provider may be required to spend money to provide legally required reasonable accommodations. For example, a public housing agency receives a request to install the deadbolt lock on the front door of a unit higher up on the door from a resident whose child has autism.
The request makes clear that the child can reach the deadbolt and may wander out of the unit and is not able to follow instructions not to leave the unit because of her autism. The public housing agency would be required to pay for the cost of installing a deadbolt higher up on the door. Answer: An individual with a disability should request an accommodation as soon as it appears that the accommodation is needed.
However, requests may be made at any time. For example, requests may be made when an individual is applying for housing, entering into a lease, or occupying housing. Individuals who develop a disability during their tenancy may request accommodations, even if they did not have a disability when they signed their leases. Section does not prescribe a uniform procedure for requesting a reasonable accommodation to be used with all housing providers. To request an accommodation, an individual need not mention Section or use the phrase reasonable accommodation.
In order to facilitate the process and consideration of the request, tenants or prospective tenants may wish to check with a housing provider in advance to determine whether that housing provider has established any specific procedures regarding requests for reasonable accommodation.
Although the Section regulations do not require it, it is usually helpful that the request be made in writing, so there will be documentation that the request was actually made in the event of a later dispute.
Question: Must a federally-assisted housing provider adopt formal procedures for processing requests for a reasonable accommodation? Section does not require that a housing provider adopt any formal procedures that an applicant for housing or a tenant must follow to request a reasonable accommodation. For example, a child with poor vision may be excluded from a chemistry laboratory due to fear of exposure to flames on a Bunsen Burner.
In order to comply with Section , a school may have to offer a reasonable accommodation, such as providing a computer-assisted program that accomplishes a goal similar to that of the laboratory class.
Section also prohibits discrimination by requiring schools to make individualized modifications for otherwise qualified students with disabilities. This means that schools must provide aid, benefits, or services that are comparable to those provided to students who are not disabled. As such, the materials, teacher quality, length of school term, and daily hours of instruction must be comparable for children with and without disabilities.
In addition, programs for students with disabilities should not be separate from those available to students without disabilities, unless such segregation is necessary for the program to be effective. If programs are permissibly separate, facilities must be comparable.
After being identified, each qualified student with a disability is entitled to an appropriate public education, regardless of the nature or severity of his or her disability. In order to guarantee that an appropriate education is made available, the regulations enacted pursuant to Section include due process requirements for evaluation and placement similar to those under the IDEA.
Insofar as Section does not offer financial assistance to districts, school business officials and other educators need to be cognizant of the cost issues associated with it. As mentioned previously, educators will be responsible for paying the costs related to implementation of Section In other words, Section requires districts to offer many of the same expensive programs and services as does the IDEA but does not provide additional federal funds Rosenfeld, Under these circumstances, school business officials need to be attentive to the potential costs they are expected to absorb in complying with Section It is amazing that, to date, no specific frame of reference is available for school business officials to use in estimating the cost of Section compliance.
This is because data pertaining to compliance have not been reported. In fact, primary data indicate that states do not even have an accurate grasp on how many students are being served under Section To this end, Katsiyannis and Conderman surveyed states on a host of Section related issues. They discovered that information of this nature has not been reported because "states indicated that there was no requirement for such statewide data collection" P. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to render an accurate report on the costs associated with Section Even if states knew exactly how many children were being served under Section , would educational leaders be able to develop a formula for calculating costs to their districts?
This is a reasonable question to ask, considering the difficulties of accurately defining the various Section costs and the myriad issues related to its implementation. Further, even if a formula were available, would it be worth taking the time and effort to develop such figures when Section does not provide aid for implementation? Perhaps one response would be that such data might help to build a case for assistance from the federal government. Even though it is difficult to determine the overall cost of Section compliance, educators should be able to readily calculate the expenses associated with providing tangible items to children with disabilities.
For example, schools that offer free appropriate public education for these children should be able to easily identity the costs of technological devices and personnel such as paraprofessionals, individuals who deliver related services, and a Section Coordinator whose job may fit under a larger heading.
Likewise, districts should be able to document the expenses they incur when they construct new facilities or modify existing ones, as well as the monies invested in training personnel about their duties under Section and the cost of litigating disputes. On the other hand, analyzing elusive hidden costs associated with Section can be difficult.
School personnel will spend varying amounts of time that may be hard to quantify on activities that ensure compliance with Section Teachers and other school personnel typically are responsible for evaluating students, meeting with parents to determine whether a child is eligible for services under Section , writing Section individual accommodation plans, and resolving disputes about the delivery of educational services.
School personnel also spend time implementing and monitoring students' progress on their individual accommodation plans through such tasks as modifying worksheets or documenting the administration of medication. At first glance, it seems almost impossible to calculate all these costs accurately. They include not only the amount of time that staff members spend working directly with students but the amount of time spent planning and advocating for students' needs.
Add to that the cost of program modifications. Yet, if school officials are going to be able to plan and budget accordingly, they must have a way to get a handle on such costs because these are all expenses that districts incur as a result of Section Further, along with educational services, some medical services that may not have been required as related services under the IDEA may indeed be required under Section Administrators must be mindful of their responsibility to offer these services and cover the additional costs Wristen, Similarly, Section requires that eligible students be able to participate in nonacademic activities, such as athletics and clubs, that are school sponsored.
Department of Education, The IDEA does not have this requirement. Schools must be ready to absorb these costs as well. Two additional cost issues related to Section one an expenditure, the other a forfeiture - need to be considered. If they are not in compliance with the law, school districts, and ultimately states, may face the possibility of having to pay for compensatory education and damages as well as equitable relief in the form of additional services.
Similarly, under extreme circumstances that have yet to be imposed, districts and states run the risk of forfeiting federal funds in other areas if they are noncompliant. The due process procedures must allow the parents or guardians of students in elementary and secondary schools to challenge evaluation and placement procedures and decisions.
A review procedure also must be available to parents or guardians who disagree with the hearing decision. Recipients operating federally funded programs must provide education and related services free of charge to students with disabilities and their parents or guardians. Provision of a free education is the provision of education and related services without cost to the person with a disability or his or her parents or guardians, except for fees equally imposed on nondisabled persons or their parents or guardians.
If a recipient is unable to provide a free appropriate public education itself, the recipient may place a person with a disability in, or refer such person to, a program other than the one it operates. However, the recipient remains responsible for ensuring that the education offered is an appropriate education, as defined in the law, and for coverage of financial obligations associated with the placement.
The cost of the program may include tuition and other related services, such as room and board, psychological and medical services necessary for diagnostic and evaluative purposes, and adequate transportation. Funds available from any public or private source, including insurers, 4 may be used by the recipient to meet the requirements of FAPE. If a student is placed in a private school because a school district cannot provide an appropriate program, the financial obligations for this placement are the responsibility of the school district.
If a recipient school district places a student with a disability in a program that requires the student to be away from home, the recipient is responsible for the cost of room and board and nonmedical care. To meet the requirements of FAPE, a recipient may place a student with a disability in, or refer such student to, a program not operated by the recipient.
Part B of IDEA requires participating states 5 to ensure that a free appropriate public education FAPE is made available to eligible children with disabilities in mandatory age ranges residing in the state. To be eligible, a child must be evaluated as having one or more of the disabilities listed in IDEA and determined to be in need of special education and related services.
Evaluations must be conducted according to prescribed procedures. The disabilities specified in IDEA include: mental retardation, hearing impairments including deafness, speech or language impairments, visual impairments including blindness, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, specific learning disabilities, deaf-blindness, and multiple disabilities.
In specific instances detailed in the Section regulation for example, with respect to reevaluation procedures and the provision of an appropriate education , meeting the requirements of IDEA is one means of meeting the requirements of the Section regulation. States must ensure that their political subdivisions that are responsible for providing or paying for the education of children with disabilities meet IDEA requirements. All states receive IDEA funds.
Section applies to any program or activity receiving ED financial assistance. If you would like more information about Section and the other laws enforced by the Office for Civil Rights, about how to file a complaint, or, if you are a school or school district, about how to obtain technical assistance, contact the Enforcement Office that serves your state or jurisdiction.
For further information, please contact our Customer Service Team toll-free at ED enforces Title II in public elementary and secondary education systems and institutions, public institutions of higher education and vocational education other than schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other health-related schools , and public libraries.
The requirements regarding the provisions of a free appropriate public education FAPE , specifically described in the Section regulations, are incorporated in the general non-discrimination provisions of the Title II regulation.
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