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Document Index: 234990666

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 794', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 84', '§ 501', '§ 504']

SOUTHEASTERN COMMUN. COLL. V. DAVIS, 442 U. S. 397 - Volume 442 - 1979 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 442 > SOUTHEASTERN COMMUN. COLL. V. DAVIS, 442 U. S. 397 (1979) > Full Text
SOUTHEASTERN COMMUN. COLL. V. DAVIS, 442 U. S. 397 (1979)
Southeastern Commun. Coll. v. Davis, 442 U.S. 397 (1979)
No. 78-711
Held: There was no violation of § 504 when petitioner concluded that respondent did not qualify for admission to its program. Nothing in the language or history of § 504 limits the freedom of an educational institution to require reasonable physical qualifications for admission to
Page 442 U. S. 398
a clinical training program. Nor has there been any showing in this case that any action short of a substantial change in petitioner's program would render unreasonable the qualifications it imposed. Pp. 442 U. S. 405-414.
(c) The line between a lawful refusal to extend affirmative action and illegal discrimination against handicapped persons will not always be clear, and situations may arise where a refusal to modify an existing program to accommodate the needs of a disabled person amounts to discrimination against the handicapped. In this case, however, petitioner's unwillingness to make major adjustments in its nursing program does not constitute such discrimination. Uncontroverted testimony established that the purpose of petitioner's program was to train persons who could serve the nursing profession in all customary ways, and this type of purpose, far from reflecting any animus against handicapped individuals, is shared by many, if not most, of the institutions that train persons to render professional service. Section 504 imposes no requirement upon an educational institution to lower or to effect substantial
Page 442 U. S. 399
modifications of standards to accommodate a handicapped person. Pp. 442 U. S. 412-413.
Page 442 U. S. 400
Respondent, who suffers from a serious hearing disability, seeks to be trained as a registered nurse. During the 1973-1974 academic year, she was enrolled in the College Parallel program of Southeastern Community College, a state institution that receives federal funds. Respondent hoped to progress to Southeastern's Associate Degree Nursing program, completion of which would make her eligible for state certification as a registered nurse. In the course of her application to the nursing program, she was interviewed by a member of the nursing faculty. It became apparent that respondent had difficulty understanding questions asked, and on inquiry, she acknowledged a history of hearing problems and dependence on a hearing aid. She was advised to consult an audiologist.
Page 442 U. S. 401
Southeastern next consulted Mary McRee, Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Nursing. On the basis of the audiologist's report, McRee recommended that respondent not be admitted to the nursing program. In McRee's view, respondent's hearing disability made it unsafe for her to practice as a nurse. [Footnote 1] In addition, it would be impossible for respondent to participate safely in the normal clinical training program, and those modifications that would be necessary to enable safe participation would prevent her from
Page 442 U. S. 402
realizing the benefits of the program: "To adjust patient learning experiences in keeping with [respondent's] hearing limitations could, in fact, be the same as denying her full learning to meet the objectives of your nursing programs." Id. at 132a-133a.
Respondent then filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, alleging both a violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 7 Stat. 394, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (1976 ed., Supp. III), [Footnote 2]
Page 442 U. S. 403
and a denial of equal protection and due process. After a bench trial, the District Court entered judgment in favor of Southeastern. 424 F.Supp. 1341 (1976). It confirmed the findings of the audiologist that, even with a hearing aid, respondent cannot understand speech directed to her except through lip-reading, and further found:
424 F.Supp. at 1345. Because respondent's disability would prevent her from functioning "sufficiently" in Southeastern's nursing program, the court
Page 442 U. S. 404
held that the decision to exclude her was not discriminatory within the meaning of § 504. [Footnote 3]
Because of the importance of this issue to the many institutions covered by § 504, we granted certiorari. 439 U.S. 1065 (1979). We now reverse. [Footnote 5]
Page 442 U. S. 405
As previously noted, this is the first case in which this Court has been called upon to interpret § 504. It is elementary that "[t]he starting point in every case involving construction of a statute is the language itself." Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U. S. 723, 421 U. S. 756 (1975) (POWELL, J., concurring); see Greyhound Corp. v. Mt. Hood Stages, Inc., 437 U. S. 322, 437 U. S. 30 (1978); Santa Fe Industries, Inc. v. Green, 430 U. S. 462, 430 U. S. 472 (1977). Section 504, by its terms, does not compel educational institutions to disregard the disabilities of handicapped individuals or to make substantial modifications in their programs to allow disabled persons to participate. Instead, it requires only that an "otherwise qualified handicapped individual" not be excluded from participation in a federally funded program "solely by reason of his handicap," indicating only that mere possession of a handicap is not a permissible ground for assuming an inability to function in a particular context. [Footnote 6]
Page 442 U. S. 406
45 CFR pt. 84, App A, p. 405 (1978) (emphasis supplied).
Page 442 U. S. 407
A further note emphasizes that legitimate physical qualifications may be essential to participation in particular programs. [Footnote 7] We think it clear, therefore, that HEW interprets the "other" qualifications which a handicapped person may be required to meet as including necessary physical qualifications.
Respondent contends nevertheless that § 504, properly interpreted, compels Southeastern to undertake affirmative action that would dispense with the need for effective oral communication. First, it is suggested that respondent can be given individual supervision by faculty members whenever she attends patients directly. Moreover, certain required courses might be dispensed with altogether for respondent. It is not
Page 442 U. S. 408
necessary, she argues, that Southeastern train her to undertake all the tasks a registered nurse is licensed to perform. Rather, it is sufficient to make § 504 applicable if respondent might be able to perform satisfactorily some of the duties of a registered nurse or to hold some of the positions available to a registered nurse. [Footnote 8]
Respondent finds support for this argument in portions of the HEW regulations discussed above. In particular, a provision applicable to post-secondary educational programs requires covered institutions to make "modifications" in their programs to accommodate handicapped persons, and to provide "auxiliary aids" such as sign language interpreters. [Footnote 9] Respondent
Page 442 U. S. 409
argues that this regulation imposes an obligation to ensure full participation in covered programs by handicapped individuals and, in particular, requires Southeastern to make the kind of adjustments that would be necessary to permit her safe participation in the nursing program.
We note first that, on the present record, it appears unlikely respondent could benefit from any affirmative action that the regulation reasonably could be interpreted as requiring. Section 84.44(d)(2), for example, explicitly excludes "devices or services of a personal nature" from the kinds of auxiliary aids a school must provide a handicapped individual. Yet the only evidence in the record indicates that nothing less than close, individual attention by a nursing instructor would be sufficient to ensure patient safety if respondent took part in the clinical phase of the nursing program. See 424 F.Supp. at 1346. Furthermore, it also is reasonably clear that § 84.44(a) does not encompass the kind of curricular changes that would be necessary to accommodate respondent in the nursing program. In light of respondent's inability to function in clinical courses without close supervision, Southeastern, with prudence, could
Page 442 U. S. 410
allow her to take only academic classes. Whatever benefits respondent might realize from such a course of study, she would not receive even a rough equivalent of the training a nursing program normally gives. Such a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program is far more than the "modification" the regulation requires.
Under § 501(c) of the Act, by contrast, state agencies such as Southeastern are only "encourage[d] . . . to adopt and implement such policies and procedures." Section 504 does not refer at all to affirmative action, and, except as it applies to
Page 442 U. S. 411
federal employers, it does not provide for implementation by administrative action. A comparison of these provisions demonstrates that Congress understood accommodation of the needs of handicapped individuals may require affirmative action and knew how to provide for it in those instances where it wished to do so. [Footnote 10]
Teamsters v. Daniel, 439 U. S. 551, 439 U. S. 566 n. 20 (1979). Here, neither the language, purpose, nor history of § 504 reveals an intent to impose an affirmative action obligation on all recipients of federal funds. [Footnote 11] Accordingly, we hold that, even if
Page 442 U. S. 412
HEW has attempted to create such an obligation itself, it lacks the authority to do so.
We do not suggest that the line between a lawful refusal to extend affirmative action and illegal discrimination against handicapped persons always will be clear. It is possible to envision situations where an insistence on continuing past requirements and practices might arbitrarily deprive genuinely qualified handicapped persons of the opportunity to participate in a covered program. Technological advances can be expected to enhance opportunities to rehabilitate the handicapped or otherwise to qualify them for some useful employment. Such advances also may enable attainment of these goals without imposing undue financial and administrative burdens upon a State. Thus, situations may arise where a
Page 442 U. S. 413
refusal to modify an existing program might become unreasonable and discriminatory. Identification of those instances where a refusal to accommodate the needs of a disabled person amounts to discrimination against the handicapped continues to be an important responsibility of HEW.
In this case, however, it is clear that Southeastern's unwillingness to make major adjustments in its nursing program does not constitute such discrimination. The uncontroverted testimony of several members of Southeastern's staff and faculty established that the purpose of its program was to train persons who could serve the nursing profession in all customary ways. See, e.g., App. 35a, 52a, 53a, 71a, 74a. This type of purpose, far from reflecting any animus against handicapped individuals is, shared by many. if not most. of the institutions that train persons to render professional service. It is undisputed that respondent could not participate in Southeastern's nursing program unless the standards were substantially lowered. Section 504 imposes no requirement upon an educational institution to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate a handicapped person. [Footnote 12]
Page 442 U. S. 414
"(d) Auxiliary aids. (1) A recipient to which this subpart applies shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that no handicapped student is denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under the education program or activity operated by the recipient because of the absence of educational auxiliary aids for students with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills."
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