Disability Services in Adult Education
Accommodations for Learning Disabled Adults in Continuing Education
Nov 2, 2009
Disability services are designed for adult learners with learning and physical disabilities. All colleges and technical schools, both public and private, are required to comply with the provisions set forth in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. These schools must offer reasonable or fair accommodations to qualified adult students with documented disabilities.
Adult learners with disabilities must arrange for academic accommodations through their school’s disability services office. Disability services then communicate an accommodation plan on the student's behalf with appropriate instructors and staff. This ensures provisions of the student’s special education needs are met so they may achieve their continuing education goals. Accommodations for learning disabled students also include helping adult learners understand school policies and procedures.
Adult Education: Five Types of General Disability Services for Adult Students
Special needs disability services provide students with effective accommodations based on law and current best practices, along with promoting adult learner growth and self determination in achieving education goals. The following are five examples of general resources available for adults at most schools of higher education.
- Confidentiality – all information is considered confidential and cannot be released without a specific release authorization from an adult learner. No person can even request information without the permission of the student receiving disability services.
- Assistive Technology Equipment – typical types of equipment available for adult learners to checkout for their use during classes include four track recorders and players, standard cassette recorders and players, and pocket talkers which are portable devices that amplify sound with a directional microphone.
- Textbooks – in many cases textbooks can be converted into alternative formats such as audio, enlarged print, or computerized text. This conversation is designed for adult students with text access disabilities.
- Website Accessibility – web-based tools that analyze webpages for adult students with disabilities are normally provided by schools. This website accessibility tools provide expanded opportunities for students with disabilities through uses of online computer technology.
- Testing – adult students with learning disabilities requiring assistance for taking exams can arrange for testing accommodations from their school’s disability services. These accommodations typically ensure access to the test materials, along with providing an environment conducive to taking exams. Normally exams are converted into alternative formats for adult learners with print access disabilities.
Education Resources: Four Types of Classroom Disability Services for Adult Learners
The following are four examples of disability services resources available for adult learners during continuing education classroom sessions.
- Interpreters – American Sign Language and Real Time Captioning are normally available for adult students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Any adult student who has difficulty accessing the spoken word in the classroom should request an interpreter to assist with appropriate translation of the spoken word.
- Note Taking – allows adult learners with disabilities, both physical and learning, access to class lecture. Note-takers are typically fellow students in the class. They take notes for themselves and provide a copy of their notes to the adult student with a disability. Generally, note-takers do not know the identity of the student for whom they are taking notes and students with disabilities do not know who is taking notes. This is to ensure confidentiality of both note taker and students with disabilities.
- Research Assistant – the role of a research assistant is to work with adult learners requiring disability services to retrieve books and articles from the library. This role also includes looking up the information in the library's search computers.
- Lab Assistant – assists an adult student with physical disabilities with lab assignments. The lab assistant functionally acts as the student’s hands or eyes, in order to the complete the assignment during class. The student must provide specific instructions to the lab assistant in order to complete the assignment. Lab assistants are required to comply with all safety regulations during lab assignments. When clarification on a particular step is needed, it is the adult learner’s responsibility to interact with their instructor.
Making Connections: Learning Disability Accommodations for Continuing Education
Disability services is a catalyst for ensuring equal learning opportunities for adult students with learning or physical disabilities by eliminating physical, programmatic, policy, informational, and attitudinal barriers. Schools of higher education are required to provide barrier-free environments that facilitate equal opportunities by arranging reasonable accommodations in academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services, training, consultation, and technical assistance to adult learners.
One important point to remember is that schools may use different names for their disability services or maybe even combine services under a variety of categories. However, all schools of higher education must comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
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