ADA Services & Resources

A disability under the law is any “physical or mental impairment that substantially impairs or restricts one or more major life activities such as: caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, breathing, learning and working.” The disability may be permanent or temporary.

Examples of impairments are:

• Speech hearing, visual and orthopedic impairments
• Cerebral palsy, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy
• Multiple sclerosis, cancer, diabetes
• Emotional illness
• Specific learning disabilities, such as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental aphasia
• Alcoholism and drug addiction (in treatment)

• • Health Impairments include medical conditions and health-related impairments that interfere with a student’s ability to pursue an education.  These conditions may include, but are not limited to, health issues such as epilepsy, cancer, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, various seizure disorders, respiratory problems, muscular dystrophy, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, cardiac disorders and various mental, emotional, and psychological disorders. Instructors and students are encouraged to work together to find alternative methods of accomplishing required tasks.
  • Hearing Impairments (HI)HI students rely on facial expressions, gestures, and body language to facilitate the communication process. Classroom benefits to the HI student might include interpreters in the classroom, written scripts/outline of lectures prior to class presentations of films, slides, or tapes, seating at the front of the classroom positioned so as to see both the instructor, the interpreter, and any visual aids being used, and note-takers.
  • Learning Disabilities (LD)LD is defined as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in the understanding or use of language (either spoken or written). LD disorders may include imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or perform mathematical calculations, perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimum brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia.
  • Physical Impairments (PI)
    Physical Impairments are mobility impairments that impair a student’s strength, speed, manual dexterity, coordination, and endurance.  These conditions can affect a student’s ability to attend class, complete class work, and take tests. Physical impairments may include paraplegia, quadriplegia, partial paralysis, amputations, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and some respiratory/cardiac diseases.
  • Speech-Language Impairments (SLI)
    SLI may involve articulation problems, voice strength, lack of voice, fluency problems (stammering and stuttering), chronic hoarseness, and esophageal speech.
  • Visual Impairments (VI)

Visual Impairments include individuals who are considered legally blind with a visual acuity of 20/200 or more in the better eye after correction.

VI students may require class handouts provided in Braille, enlarged, or recorded on tape, more time to complete tests, and arrangements for textbooks on tape provided through Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic.