Auxiliary Aids and Services for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities

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This week we are asked to send a letter to a representative of a post secondary program as a student requesting auxiliary aids and services for postsecondary students with disabilities.  The Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Higher Education's Obligations Under Section 504 and Title II of the ADA

U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
Washington, D.C.

Revised September 1998

States:

A postsecondary student with a disability who is in need of auxiliary aids is obligated to provide notice of the nature of the disabling condition to the college and to assist it in identifying appropriate and effective auxiliary aids. In elementary and secondary schools, teachers and school specialists may have arranged support services for students with disabilities. However, in postsecondary schools, the students themselves must identify the need for an auxiliary aid and give adequate notice of the need. The student's notification should be provided to the appropriate representative of the college who, depending upon the nature and scope of the request, could be the school's Section 504 or ADA coordinator, an appropriate dean, a faculty advisor, or a professor. Unlike elementary or secondary schools, colleges may ask the student, in response to a request for auxiliary aids, to provide supporting diagnostic test results and professional prescriptions for auxiliary aids. A college also may obtain its own professional determination of whether specific requested auxiliary aids are necessary.

Examples of Auxiliary Aids

Some of the various types of auxiliary aids and services may include:

taped texts notetakers interpreters readers videotext displays television enlargers talking calculators electronic readers Braille calculators, printers, or typewriters telephone handset amplifiers

closed caption decoders open and closed captioning voice synthesizers specialized gym equipment calculators or keyboards with large buttons reaching device for library use raised-line drawing kits assistive listening devices assistive listening systems telecommunications devices for deaf persons.

It is critical to ensure that young adults can advocate for themselves as they enter post secondary learning environments.