### OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY

July 25, 2008 

Dear Colleague:

As we celebrate  the 18th anniversary of the enactment of the landmark legislation,  the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., on July 26, 2008, we reflect  upon accomplishments made towards providing educational opportunities free from  disability discrimination.  The ADA applies in many  aspects of American life including elementary, secondary and postsecondary  education.  Title II of the ADA (Title II) seeks to  ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities, including students, are  not excluded from or denied the benefits of services, programs or activities of  a public entity by reason of disability or otherwise subjected to  discrimination by public entities. 

America is  undeniably stronger because of the ADA  and the contributions individuals with disabilities have made to every aspect  of our society.  The Office for Civil  Rights (OCR) has played an important role in implementing and enforcing the ADA, by working with state  and local education agencies as well as postsecondary institutions to make  groundbreaking strides in providing access to opportunities for students with  disabilities on a nondiscriminatory basis.   We celebrate the continuation of this progress and are reminded that the  foundation of the ADA began 35 years ago this September with the enactment of  Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), 29 U.S.C. §  794.  

At the public  elementary and secondary school level, Section 504 and Title II and their  implementing regulations have furthered a broad mandate for nondiscrimination,  including: 1) requiring that public schools provide students with disabilities  a free appropriate public education; 2) ensuring that these students are  educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate; and 3)  providing that evaluation and placement of these students complies with federal  requirements.

As the ADA  celebrates its 18th anniversary, OCR takes a moment to reflect  specifically on the issues concerning college-age students with  disabilities.  Increasingly, after  completing high school, students with disabilities continue their education at  institutions such as two- and four-year colleges and universities and at  vocational and career schools.  Data from  the U.S. Department of Education's most recent National Postsecondary Student  Aid Study indicated that, in the 2003-04 academic year, more than 2 million  postsecondary students reported having some type of disability.  They accounted for more than 11 percent of  postsecondary students and represented a 2 percent increase in the number of  postsecondary students who reported having disabilities just four years  earlier.  Currently, postsecondary  institutions routinely provide academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and  services, program access, and housing accommodations to students with  disabilities as appropriate to meet the students’ documented disability-related  needs. 

Together, OCR and the academic community learned how to “level  the playing field” without lowering academic standards.  We have demonstrated that sign language  interpreters, real time captioning, textbooks in Braille, accessible web sites,  and other simple steps often successfully allow students with hearing, visual,  and learning disabilities to meaningfully master the same course content as  others.  Several of you have gone beyond  the minimum steps required by the law and formed consortia to achieve economies  of scale in implementing accommodations such as in the production of alternate  media.  You have also learned how to  adjust test conditions to validly measure what students with disabilities have  learned rather than merely measuring the impact of their disabilities.

We now know that  many changes originally intended to benefit students with disabilities often  improve the college experience for everyone.   A college’s math course redesigned to meet the needs of students with  learning disabilities turned out to be helpful to many other students in the  math course.  Real time captioning  intended for students who are deaf or hard of hearing provides every student  two ways to receive the instructional material.   Captioned video has proven to be not only accessible but becomes  searchable and reusable as components of future classes.  “Universal design” in web materials enhances  the flexibility and cross platform usability of instructional sites for all  students across different operating systems, browsers, personal digital  assistants (PDAs), and multimedia.  

Today, we face new challenges and must  implement creative solutions to meet those challenges.  In that vein, I am pleased to announce a  groundbreaking “Wounded Warriors Initiative” to help meet one such  challenge.  Many veterans returning from  Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are “individuals with disabilities”  who intend to pursue higher education.   (See “So You Want to Go Back to School” at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/back-to-school-2008.html.)  Many  of these “wounded warriors” have acquired disabilities during their service,  making them eligible for protection under the ADA and Section 504.  Unlike the vast majority of students with  disabilities who attend college, warriors with disabilities often have no  history of receiving disability-based accommodations in high school.  Accordingly, they are less familiar with  their disability-related rights and responsibilities.  Most colleges and universities have not had a  lot of experience in accommodating students with the types of disabilities  common among wounded warriors, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),  traumatic brain injury, late acquired blindness or deafness, significantly  disfiguring burns, and multiple amputations, among others.   

Traditional  means of support may not work:  warriors  with late-acquired deafness may not know American Sign Language, but can  benefit from real time captioning and other technologies; those with  late-acquired blindness may not know Braille but can use other forms of media  such as digital or recorded books.  As in  other contexts, individualized accommodations should be selected through an  interactive process between the institution and the student.  For example, a particular student with PTSD  may need advance warning of fire alarm tests or a private dorm room, while  another individual with PTSD may benefit from having a roommate and being  socialized to the greatest extent possible.  

During our  18-year journey since the enactment of the ADA and our 35-year journey since  the enactment of Section 504, measurable and undisputable progress has been  made, largely due to the initiatives of education institutions at all levels  and the work of OCR to eliminate disability discrimination.   Despite this undeniable progress, our  collective mission is not fully accomplished.   Inaccessible schools, postsecondary institutions and programs still  exist, and disability discrimination still continues.  At OCR, each year complaints of disability  discrimination comprise the largest percentage of civil rights complaints filed  with our office – to date in fiscal year 2008 (from October 1, 2007 to present)  we have received more than 2800 complaints alleging disability discrimination,  approximately 50 percent of all complaints filed with OCR.  During the remainder of my tenure as assistant  secretary for civil rights, I remain committed to enforcing Title II of the ADA and Section 504 and  providing technical assistance to those institutions, service providers, and  individuals that require and seek assistance.  

I hope you will  join me in celebrating our continued efforts and our shared interest in  realizing the full potential of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

| Sincerely  yours,                     |
|---------------------------------------|
|                                  |
| Stephanie Monroe                      |
| Assistant Secretary for  Civil Rights |

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