Americans With Disabilities Act (the ADA)

This page allows access to relevant, useful, and important resources from the completed asynchronous course, ADA Coordinator Orientation. In this course, participants explored how the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) could help their program become more inclusive by ensuring that their program is responsive to learners with disabilities.

This list of resources includes  grievance procedures, disclosure, confidentiality, reporting abuse and neglect, reasonable accommodations, and programmatic considerations and procedures. 

History and the Law

• Summary of ADA
• Information about specific disabilities and issues as they relate to the law 
• Consequences of the Americans With Disabilities Act 

ADA Compliance (Federal)

General Information about implementing the ADA:

• Access the ADA Network.
• Access the New England ADA Network.
• For small business compliance: go to ADA.gov and open the tab titled "Businesses that Are Open to the Public" and then consult the Primer for Small Businesses. 
• To file a federal complaint, use the Complaint Form given at the ada.gov website.
• If you are interested in learning more about some common ADA complaints, view the ADA charges filed with the EEOC.

These sources provide general information related to implementation of the law, including the difficulties and barriers to implementation:

• A Brief History of the Disability Rights Movement (Anti-Defamation League)
• A Look at the History of the Americans With Disabilities Act (National Center for Learning Disabilities)
• The ADA and City Governments: Common Problems 
• Twenty-Five Years After the ADA: Situating Disability in America’s System of Stratification 
• Watch: What is a “Reasonable Accommodation" 
• A Comparison of ADA, IDEA, and Section 504: Laws in education regarding persons with disabilities

ADA Compliance (The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education)

These resources relate to the ADA standards prescribed by DESE particularly as they relate to the Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS). These standards mandate that each AE program must do the following: have an ADA coordinator, post a Public Notice, establish and disseminate a Grievance procedure, conduct self-evaluation, and have a transition plan. Below are the resources for each of these steps. Students and citizens can also file an ADA grievance with the state of Massachusetts. 

Roles of the ADA Coordinators

Roles of the ADA Coordinators are listed in the first bullet of the ACLS ADA Standards. 

Public Notice

This section gives the steps and resources that you can use to meet the requirements for posting the Public Notice. Use the ACLS Public Notice Repository to do the following:

• Print out the notice in English and in at least three other languages that correspond to the student body you are serving.
• Fill out the form with the information based on your program.
• Post the notice. 
• Ensure that you have the notice available in alternative formats.
• Large print notice: Use your office printer to print a notice in a large font.
• Braille notice: Have the notice transcribed into Braille by using one of these producers of Braille documents or through this directory of producers of reading materials. You may also designate a teacher or staff to become a literary Braille transcriber: the training is free through the National Federation of the Blind. 
• Use a qualified sign language interpreter at meetings and in classes to announce and explain the Public Notice.
• Find a qualified interpreter through the Registry for the Interpreters for the Deaf. You may learn more about Sign Language interpretation by visiting the ADA National Network Quick Tips on Sign Language Interpreters.
• Audio: Use your phone to record an audio file (mp3) of the Public Notice and send it to students who request it.
• HTML format on an accessible website: If you are posting the notice on your website, review Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA or insist that your web developers consider Google accessibility extension for accessible web development.

Grievance Procedure

This section gives the steps and resources that you can use to meet the requirements for posting the Grievance Procedure. Using the ACLS Grievance Procedure Repository, do the following:

• Print out the notice in English and in at least three other languages that correspond to the student body you are serving.
• Fill out the form with the information based on your program.
• Ensure that you have the notice available in alternative formats; you may choose to use the same process you followed for the Public Notice. 
• Consider including a short statement about your grievance procedure on your website or program handbooks for staff and students or posting it in a public space. You may find an example of a short statement about grievance procedure on this ADA Action Guide Form Plan and communicate the grievance procedure to all staff and students in your program.

Self Evaluation

This section gives the steps and resources that you can use to meet the requirements for conducting Self-Evaluation.  

• Access the mandatory Self-Evaluation Checklist for Existing Facilities
• Review these tips and instructions. Should you prefer to hire a professional to complete the checklist for your program, or if you have any questions about it, consider contacting the New England ADA Center, which is the federally funded ADA hub for our region. 
• You may also review: Self-Evaluation Forms compiled by the New England ADA.
• Numerous agencies conduct ADA audits for a fee. To find the one you like, google the keywords: “ADA audit” or “ADA compliance.” Many for-profit entities provide services for auditing spaces and processes as well as for creating accessible materials and websites. We are not recommending any particular one; you must shop around for the one that suits your needs and budget the most. You may include the price for this assessment in your Transition Plan, which you will work on in the next unit.

Transition Plan

This section gives the steps and resources that you can use to meet the requirements for posting the Self-Evaluation. You may choose to use the Transition Plan created by SABES, or you may find samples of transition plans by scrolling through Self-Evaluation Forms compiled by the New England ADA. In the section titled Sample Documents, you will find several other examples of fillable Transition Plans and Action Plans. 

Accommodations

This section contains some general resources for accommodation.

Visit HiSet Accommodation Request Testing to learn about the process for requesting accommodations for HiSET. Accommodations typically include: extended time, private room, additional break time, reader/recorded audio, large print/screen magnification, scribe/keyboard entry aid, and embedded e-test accommodations. Other accommodations are possible and would be based on the evaluation and advocacy.

Note that the GED Testing Center provides specific guidelines for evaluations. If you are referring a student for evaluation in order to apply for testing accommodations, they should bring the guidelines to the provider. The guidelines and the accommodation request for GED testing can be found at GED Testing Center: GED Testing Accommodation Request.

• Read the LINCS Publication on learning disabilities in adult education: Learning to Achieve: A Professional's Guide to Educating Adults with Learning Disabilities.
• Access the Job Accommodation Network website where you can search for accommodations based on disabilities: JAN Publications & Articles Regarding Learning Disability.
• LD Online is a website that contains many strategies for accommodating teaching and learning: All About Learning Disabilities and ADHD.
• Watch the video Introduction to Assistive Technologies created by the European Panel for the Future of Science and Technology. 
• Review some examples and case studies on the use of Assistive Technology.
• Learn about alternative formats libraries to enable access to  learners who are blind or print disabled.