The International Day of Disabled Persons goals are to highlight issues relevant to persons with disabilities and to mobilize support for instituting laws and programs that promote the rights, dignity, and well being of persons with disabilities. This year's theme "Nothing About Us, Without Us" emphasizes equality of human rights and self-determination of persons with disabilities to effect change in their countries. Each year this observance seeks to increase awareness and support for the full integration of persons with disabilities into every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life in their respective societies.

On Wednesday, November 10, Utah Governor Olene S. Walker and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Chair Cari M. Dominguez signed a joint resolution aimed at enhancing state government employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities nationwide. With this agreement the State of Utah and the EEOC will jointly review Utah's recruitment, hiring, and reasonable accommodation programs to identify best practices that will be recommended for adoption by other states. Utah is one of 11 states to join the EEOC in this pioneer project. The EEOC will provide consultation, outreach, and technical assistance to the various departments of the participating states.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities and Schwab Learning have published Making the "No Child Left Behind Act" Work for Children Who Struggle to Learn. This guide introduces parents to several key parts of NCLB and tools to improve educational services for their child. The No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) is an education reform bill singed into law by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002. The provisions of NCLB call for increased funding to schools, yearly testing for students in public school from the 3rd to 8th grades in math and reading, and new measures to judge the success of schools and the progress of their students to meet the required educational goals mandated by NCLB.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit against Cinemark USA, Inc. filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The suit challenged Cinemark's construction of stadium-style movie theaters that failed to provide persons who use wheelchairs with a comparable line of sight to that of the general public. The consent decree requires all future construction of Cinemark theaters be designed in accordance with plans approved by the DOJ. Under the agreement, Cinemark will also make changes to existing theaters. It has agreed to move wheelchair seating further back from the screen in over 100 auditoriums in 14 existing complexes within the Sixth Circuit, and in theaters located elsewhere as well.

The United States Department of Justice and the City of Pueblo, Colorado, signed the 75th agreement under Project Civic Access to improve access to the cities services, facilities and programs. Project Civic Access is a nationwide initiative by the DOJ to ensure that local governments comply with the ADA. The City agreed to make physical modifications to its facilities to ensure that parking, routes of travel into buildings, entrances, toilet rooms, bathrooms, service counters, telephones, drinking fountains, playgrounds, and wheelchair seating are accessible to people with disabilities. The city also agreed to expand the provision of effective communication, adopt appropriate TTY call-taking procedures for its 9-1-1 emergency services, provide law enforcement officers with information and guidance on effective communication with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, appoint an ADA advisory committee, and train employees on the ADA.

Elizabeth Davis, Director of Emergency Preparedness Initiative, National Organization on Disability

On Thursday, July 22, 2004, President Bush signed an Executive Order on Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness. The Executive Order establishes within the Department of Homeland Security an Interagency Coordinating Council for Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities. This session will discuss the progress made toward this initiative as well as provide some valuable information and resources that can be utilized by individuals, state and local governments, employers and others to incorporate the needs of people with disabilities in their emergency planning process.

The Great Lakes ADA Center through collaboration with the ten regional Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTACs) has developed "ADA Basic Building Blocks", which is hosted by the Southeast DBTAC. The goal of the course is to provide an individual with the basic principles and core concepts of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The course is organized into 12 sections that contain real-life examples and self-tests. ADA Basic Building Blocks also features relevant court cases, a glossary of terms, and additional resources to facilitate research.

The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT) has developed a free new web course called Introduction to Accessible Information Technology in Education. Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR) the course consists of nine interactive lessons that cover: term definitions, problems and solutions, relevant laws and how they apply to accessible IT in education, and strategies for effective accessibility policies. AccessIT is located at the University of Washington and works closely with the 10 regional DBTACs to provide guidance on accessible information technology in educational institutions.

Both houses of the United States Congress voted to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 397 to 3 on November 17 and the U.S. Senate passed the bill by voice vote November 19. Now the approved legislation moves to the White House for the President to sign it into law. IDEA is a federal special education law which mandates states will provide services be provided to students with special need by their school systems and allocates funds to the states to support these services. The reauthorized IDEA will enable parents to change a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) without holding a formal IEP meeting and keep their children in the same program from birth until kindergarten, making the transition to school easier for children and their families.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) has scheduled two events to announce the release of reports containing NCD recommendations. On December 1, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. the NCD announced the release of "Righting the ADA." This report contains NCD's legislative proposal, entitled, "ADA Restoration Act" which details actions to be taken to restore the protections of the ADA that the NCD deems to have been restricted by several U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

On December 2 NCD will release its report Livable Communities for Adults with Disabilities at a Congressional briefing in room HC-8 of the U.S. Capitol Building. The briefing will highlight the key findings and recommendations from the report and a panel of experts will provide feedback on the report. The NCD is co-hosting the release of this report with the assistance of the House Bipartisan Disability Caucus and the House Livable Communities Caucus. The report articulates the elements of a livable community for adults with disabilities, highlights existing examples of livable communities that can serve as models, and describes how communities can develop and sustain their livability features.

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court ruling that an employers' policy requiring employees to provide a general diagnosis from a medical care provider stating an employee can return to work violates the ADA. Deborah Conroy a person with asthma and severe pulmonary obstructive disease worked as a corrections officer for the state of New York. She took leave in order to address issues related to her impairments. To return to work the Department of Corrections requires employees to provide a general diagnosis from a medical care provider that they can return and assume their job duties. She claimed that the Department's policy requiring a certification containing a general diagnosis violated the ADA's prohibition against an employer making inquiries about an employee's medical condition or disabilities. The district court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, and denied the Department's summary judgment motion. The Court of Appeals reversed on the issue of whether the Department had raised a genuine issue of material fact with respect to the business necessity defense available under the ADA. The court reasoned that employers have an important safety interest to ensure that employees who were too ill to work are now sufficiently healthy to return and can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an employer's voluntary provision of accommodations for an employee with arthritis and other conditions did not establish that the employee was "regarded as disabled," for purpose of the employee's ADA claim. The Court reasoned that an employer could try to help an employee with health problems without knowing or caring whether the employee's condition met the statutory ADA definition. Also, an employer could provide accommodations in response to state laws, local regulations, or collective bargaining agreements. Connie Cigan worked as a special education teacher for the Chippewa Falls school system for 30 years. The school district accommodated Ms. Cigan over the years after she developed a number of impairments. In 2003 the principal of her school informed her that he would recommend to the board that her contract would not be renewed. Ms. Cigan filed suit under the ADA claiming that she was forced into retirement and she had standing under the ADA because she was "regarded" as being a person with a disability. The Court did not agree with her claim and stated that employee failed to show that the employer was concerned about the employee's possible disability under the ADA when it provided the accommodations.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's granting of summary judgment to the University of Minnesota on the grounds that the student did not present evidence that he was in fact a "qualified person with a disability." Christopher Falcone was admitted to the University of Minnesota Medical School, he advised the University's Disability Services Office that he has learning disabilities and was accommodated. After failing three clinical courses he was dismissed from the program. Mr. Falcone then filed suit against the university, claiming the dismissal violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. He claimed that though he was accommodated the accommodations were provided inconsistently. Specifically Mr. Falcone requested access to weekly feedback sessions and stated that this accommodation would have made the difference in his passing some of his courses. The University did not dispute that Mr. Falcone was in fact a person with a disability. The University defended the dismissal stating that objective information supported their belief that Mr. Falcone lacked the analytical reasoning ability necessary to be a successful student and could not complete the course work with or without accommodations.

The U.S. 9th District Court of Northern California ruled that United Parcel Service (UPS) violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by requiring successful applicants for all driving positions to satisfy the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) hearing requirements despite the fact that DOT certification was not an essential job function in all the positions applicants applied for. In a class action law suit brought by Eric Bates, an individual with a hearing impairment, claimed that UPS's use of the DOT hearing test for driver certification to operate vehicles that weigh 10,001 lbs or more precludes a hearing impaired applicant from consideration as a package-car driver. These vehicles weigh less than 10,001 and are excluded from the DOT certification standards for larger vehicles. UPS argued that the decision not to hire the deaf employees was valid because DOT certification was an essential job function of the positions. UPS further claimed that the deaf employees were unable to communicate effectively with the public and to drive safely, both essential job functions of the package-car driving position. The district court rejected UPS' justifications for denying the otherwise qualified employees the non-regulated driving positions because they were deaf. It found that DOT certification was not an essential job function of package-car drivers and also determined that UPS had never analyzed whether deaf drivers ineffectively communicated with the public and to what extent hearing is necessary to be a safe driver. The court held that UPS was unable to demonstrate that qualified individuals who did not pass the DOT hearing test could not perform the essential duties of the package-car driving position. Subsequent to this ruling UPS was granted a stay pending an appeal of the district courts decision.

WebAim, the Utah State University accessibility project, has released their latest tutorials on technology and accessibility. The first, "Accessibility Features of Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004" covers the new additions to accessibility features built into the Dreamweaver package. Dreamweaver is a web-authoring tool used to create web pages. Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004 now allows developers to be prompted when inserting web widgets that commonly have accessibility issues, such as form objects, frames, media, and images. Dreamweaver now also can validate against common accessibility standards and give the author feedback. Previously, this functionality was limited to plug-ins, but is now a built-in feature. The Dreamweaver development environment also has improved functionality with screen-readers and other assistive technology. The tutorial includes step-by step instructions on how to create accessible content. The information will help novices, web developers and other programmers to create accessible pages using the stock Dreamweaver interface.

The second tutorial titled, "Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash Content", gives an overview of some of the functional limitations people with disabilities face when working with inaccessible Flash presentations. The tutorial explains in depth how Flash supports (or doesn't support) assistive technology, such as screen readers. Next, the tutorial details how to create text equivalent for flash content, and how they work with assistive technology. Another important how-to in the tutorial is how to create keyboard-accessible content, which is a requirement of most accessibility standards. Finally, the article gives other pointers, such as disabling or hiding non-important information (to lessen the cognitive load for users), ways to detect screen readers with Flash, notes about using sound, information about shortcut keys, and notes about the inherent inaccessibility of the product for authors to assistive technology. Any questions related to these topics can be directed to Bob Alvarez, Project Coordinator of Accessible IT Initiatives or call the Great Lakes ADA Center 800-949-4232 (V/TTY).

In a continuing effort to have diverse representation on the Board of Trustees and Professional Advisory Board, ADA-OHIO has added individuals who represent the Somali and Hispanic populations. These representatives will assist in the committee's outreach to these communities by assisting the staff and membership in tailoring our information to meet their unique needs and help the committee in learning more about the Somali and Hispanic cultures. Angie Plummer is Executive Director of the Community Refuge and Immigration Services in Columbus, OH. She is also an attorney and formerly the ADA Coordinator for the Ohio State Department of Administrative Services. Diego Solis is Attending Pediatric Dentist for The Ohio State University Nisonger Center. His focus is children of limited income who receive medical services through the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Solis is also active on several committees of Latino Empowerment Outreach Network (LEON).

ADA-Indiana as part of its celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act is offering a commemorative calendar. Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will be used to support Indiana's 15th Anniversary ADA Celebration in July 2005, and will fund other ADA-related activities in the state. To promote accessible polling places ADA-Indiana funded the Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities guide for local election officials in Indiana. The guide called, "Removing Barriers for Voters with Disabilities" is tailored for Indiana counties provide information on local resources, grant templates to fund barrier removal, and information to promote accessible voting. Local election officials were encouraged to use the guide in conjunction with federal publications, such as the "ADA Checklist for Polling Places" from the United States Department of Justice that was distributed to all 92 county election officials in the state by ADA-Indiana.

The Michigan ADA Steering Committee has added three new members to the state steering committee. The new members are Ross Heron of Disability Access Inc., Jackie Heron of EMWAKEN, Inc and Linda Williams of the Michigan Rehabilitation Services. Mr. Heron provides guidance and information to employers regarding the ADAAG, building code compliance, and ergonomic workstations. Ms. Heron disseminates information and conducts trainings on chronic disease and disability management, and self-help skills. Linda Williams is a Rehabilitation Counselor at Michigan Rehabilitation Services in Detroit, MI. She has conducted ADA/Disability Awareness training to employees at the City of Detroit IT Department.

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