I have to take a legal studies course to complete my degree requirements at my state university. The course is offered online but my screen reader can't access the course because of the way it is designed. When I informed my department head about this I was told that since the course is offered on campus at a variety of times and locations that the online course does not have to be accessible to screen reader software and I will have to take the course on campus. Is this right?

Since you attend a state university Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 both may apply. The non-discrimination provisions of Section 35.130 of Title II of the ADA require that state and local governments insure that all programs, services and activities are accessible to qualified individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting and that they have an opportunity to benefit from the services and programs offered by a public entity. Section 504 will apply if the university receives federal funding and the non-discrimination obligations are the same as stated in the ADA. The university must reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures in order to afford an individual with a disability the opportunity to benefit unless it would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. In short entities covered by Title II must provide programmatic access. The fact that the course is available on campus doesn't alleviate the university's responsibility to insure that individuals with disabilities have an opportunity to participate in the on-line course since there is a distinct benefit derived from being able to take the course from a remote location. Requiring individuals with disabilities who can't access the course because of its inaccessible design to take the course on campus while individuals without disabilities have an option on how they will take the course is not providing persons with disabilities with the same options. The difficult part of this question is that there are no enforceable standards under the ADA for access to electronic and information technology. The Federal government must comply with the Section 508 standards of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 but these don't apply to state and local governments. These standards do however provide guidance on how state and local governments can insure access to their electronic and information technology