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On Sept. 7, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against ISS Facility Services, Inc., headquartered in San Antonio, alleging the firm violated the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 by denying an employee's request for remote work as an accommodation, and by later firing her for her request (Civil Action No. 1:21‐CV‐3708‐SCJ‐RDC). The ISS employee has a pulmonary illness that makes it difficult for her to breathe and places her at high risk from developing severe illness from COVID‐19. This lawsuit is the first of its kind that the EEOC brought for denied accommodation related to COVID‐19. The EEOC argues that a medical condition making an employee "high risk" qualifies for ADA disability, that remote work is a reasonable accommodation, and that on‐site attendance is not always an essential function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 20 years ago, Marilyn Bartlett won her lawsuit to compel the New York State Board of Bar Examiners to accommodate her dyslexia by providing her extended testing time on the state bar examination. Although postsecondary institutions were already providing extended testing time for students with documented learning disabilities, high‐stakes testing agencies initially resisted comparable accommodations. Prodded by the threat of lawsuits — and in the case of the Law School Admission Council, a 2014 consent decree resolving a lawsuit brought by law school applicants, California, and the Department of Justice — admissions testing agencies reduced test accommodation barriers, but students and graduates with learning disabilities still faced obstacles to test accommodations from professional licensing bodies. A recent federal appeals court decision in Ramsay v. National Board of Medical Examiners reiterates that licensing bodies also must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing students and graduates appropriate extended time on multiple‐choice and written licensing exams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inexplicably, the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, a technical assistance program funded by the Department of Education, has inaccurately opined on the legal question of whether Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act apply to study abroad (see https://bit.ly/2M1X6wQ), asking on its website: "Are institutions required to provide accommodations for students in study abroad programs?" [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the inhospitable campus environment to college students with disabilities who identify as members of marginalized groups as of 2019. Topics covered include the absence of Individualized Education Plans (IEP) in college although there are disability services offices for students with learning issues, and qualities of a good college campus for them. Also noted are such students' unequal employment outcomes due to soft skill deficiencies that are needed in higher education.

Students often ask disability services providers about accommodations for standardized tests and how to request them. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the testing companies must provide accommodations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ANAHEIM, Calif. - With distance learning options at an all-time high, creating online course design that is both pedagogically sound and accessible for all students is at a premium. Key to that goal is understanding the difference between providing accessible content and providing accommodations and how an institution can meet both needs. In a session at the annual Educause conference, Sheryl Burgstahler, director of accessible technology services at the University of Washington; and Martin LaGrow, senior academic consultant from Ellucian, shared strategies to create Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant course design and learn from common problems with specific inaccessible technology that institutions face when creating online course content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult Learner: Former student's claim flatlines; essential requirements not met, Accommodations: SSI application doesn't stop suit about reasonable accommodations, Disability: Failure to request accommodations undercuts former student's suit, Termination: Former employee's disability claim hits a brick wall [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on increasing accessibility for students with disabilities in schools and importance of training of teachers and paraprofessionals on assisting students with disabilities. Topics discussed include providing appropriate environment and school buildings under the US Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), accessibility of school playgrounds under the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and addressing the needs of students with learning disabilities. INSET: Accessibility requires personnel training.

The article discusses the rights of percussion students with disabilities in the U.S. Topics discussed include the prohibition of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), accommodations for music students with disabilities in schools and universities, and ways in which disabled students can participate in percussion including participation in a percussion ensemble and drum circle events and checking on web sites dedicated for musicians with disabilities.

Ensuring that your campus is compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards for online courses and technology accessibility can help your institution avoid hefty fines. But perhaps even more important, compliance enhances the quality of education for all students. Institutions that welcome a diverse student body, including students with disabilities, provide a more well-rounded education for all. Building an accessible campus is about more than just providing captioning on request or the correct screen-reading software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses accommodations for transgender students in U.S. school bathrooms and what sacrifices, if ever, are made for such measures. Topics include the "bathroom ordinance," which was rejected by voters in Houston, Texas, the issue of privacy concerns in bathroom accommodation for transgender students, the legal history of accommodation from religious accommodation in the 1960s and the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, and the cultural creation of sex-segregation in bathrooms.

The article discusses the meaning of essential job functions, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Case name: Cooney v. Barry School of Law, No. 16‐11419 (11th Cir. 01/09/18). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some disability services offices offer training to faculty members about academic accommodations and students' concerns. Training efforts should also include residential life staff, who work with students for a major portion of their day and who are in a different dynamic with students, since they themselves are students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case name: Badwal v. Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia, No. 12-cv-2073 (D. D.C. 09/28/15). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses post-secondary education opportunities for students with special needs in the U.S. Topics explored include the compliance of U.S. colleges to nondiscrimination rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the technical assistance being extended by Parent Information and Training Centers to students with disabilities and their families, and the availability of college and career readiness programs for these students.

Case name: Bied v. County of Rensselaer, et al., No. 1:15‐cv‐1011 (N.D. N.Y. 03/30/18). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colleges and universities are entitled to deference with respect to academic decisions, but they must also make reasonable modifications to policies, practices and procedures under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. What happens when these bedrock principles collide? A federal appeals court reinstated federal claims brought by Maxiam Dean, who alleged that a medical school did not accommodate his mental health condition after the school dismissed him for failing to sit and pass his third attempt at Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination by the deadline set by the school, 'declining to extend the deference we ordinarily accord to the professional, academic judgments of educational institutions.' See Dean v. University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, et al., Docket No. 14-1546-cv (2d Cir. Oct. 6, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case name: Toma v. University of Hawaii, No. 16‐00499 (D. Hawaii 01/16/18). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case name: Skotnik v. Moraine Valley Community College, et al., No. 15‐cv‐11619 (N.D. Ill. 09/26/17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to public entities, including state and community colleges. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. Virtually all colleges and universities receive federal financial assistance, and “all of the operations of” a school are subject to Section 504. Most of the case law has focused on admission and expulsion, academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services, and testing. See 34 C.F.R. 104.44. However, schools are also required to ensure nondiscrimination in nonacademic services — housing, health insurance, counseling, financial aid, physical education and athletics, recreation, transportation, and extracurricular activities. See 34 C.F.R. 104.43. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case name: Shank v. Carleton College, No. 16-CV-1154 (D. Minn. 01/09/17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how disability services providers should handle students with disabilities' requests for animal accommodations. Topics discussed include the need for a service animal, limited to a dog or miniature horse, to be trained for tasks related to a student's disability, and for it to be under the owner's complete control. Also mentioned are the varying definitions of service animal by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

Case name: Reddick v. Yale University, et al., No. 3:13cv1140 (D. Conn. 11/20/15). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rising rates of obesity among postsecondary students, students with high body mass indices increasingly ask schools to accommodate their needs by providing classroom, housing, and educational accommodations ranging from special furniture to very large horses in equestrian programs. Although as a matter of course many institutions accommodate these students, their underlying assumption that morbid obesity is a disability within the meaning of Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act appears to be incorrect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case name: Grabin v. Marymount Manhattan College, No. 12 Civ. 3591 (S.D. N.Y. 07/02/15). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larry Markle is the director of disability services at Ball State University, which was named one of 75 colleges that go above and beyond the guidelines set out by the Americans with Disabilities Act by . Under the tutelage of Richard Harris, director emeritus of disability services and one of the founding members of the Association on Higher Education And Disability, Markle has fostered an environment of welcome for more than 400 students with disabilities in the past 11 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions are legally obligated to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the revision of the Association on Higher Education and Disability's (AHEAD) documentation guidance. It states that the new documentation was prompted by the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the revamped Title II and II ADA regulations. It elaborates on the salient points of AHEAD's "Supporting Accommodation Requests: Guidance on Documentation Practices."

The authors discusses the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and other regulations that offer protection to people with disabilities as they are being applied in the case of their fictional character Meredith, an accountant who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). They cite the practice called flagging in law school admissions test (LSAT) conducted by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). They also present the debate on the claim that the disability law is a special right.

Case name: Shaikh v. Lincoln Memorial University, No. 14-6220 (6th Cir. 04/27/15). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When students or employees sue a college or university alleging they were subjected to an adverse action because of their disability, they must be prepared to prove liability and damages. Check out how some courts have ruled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a court case wherein a student alleged that the State University of New York at Delhi violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the American With Disabilities Act. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigated and found insufficient evidence to support the allegation. In the case, State University of New York--Delhi, a student with learning disability claimed that her professor for surgical nursing and anesthesia course failed to provide academic adjustment.

The article discusses a court case Dickinson v. University of North Carolina, et al., No. 1:14cv412 (M.D. N.C. 03/16/15) in which the U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina denied a motion for the dismissal claims brought pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Topics covered include how a dismissed student suing for disability discrimination is not required to plead that the dismissal was not the direct consequence of that discrimination.