Assistive Technology as Reasonable Accomodations for College Students

This post will focus on college students and their needs for assistive technology. 

Under the Section 504 and the ADA, colleges MUST provide, at no cost to the student, reasonable accomodations to make their programs accessible to students with disabilities.  For example:  scheduling a class in a first-floor classroom to accomodate a student who uses a wheelchair
 providing sign language interpreters for a student who is deaf, and arranging for extended time on tests for a student who has learning disabilities. 

The term "reasonable" in the phrase "reasonable accomodations" is not defined in the law and is still being debated in the courts.  It is generally understood to mean that providing the accomodation will not cause "undue burden" to the institution.  However, under Section 504 and the ADA, many college students with disabilities are finding access to assistive technology tools to be important accomodations.

Resource:
Dell, A., Newton, D., & Petroff, J. (2012). Computersand Internet to Teach Math. Assistive Technology in the Classroom (). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.. (Original work published 2008