Legal Requirements

Schools, colleges, and universities are required to provide equal access to their educational programs to all students, including those with disabilities. All elementary and secondary schools and most post-secondary educational institutions are regulated under two Federal laws governing accessibility of education: Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended in 1998). The requirements of Section 504 and Title II of the ADA specify that institutions must be responsive to the needs of individual students and make programs and services accessible to them on request, rather than ensure that all programs are accessible from the outset. However, the settlements made between educational systems and the U.S. Department of Education in response to complaints of disability discrimination have sometimes required the educational institutions to make systemic and proactive changes in their procurement and use of instructional materials to ensure that textbooks and educational technology are accessible to students with disabilities. Creating an accessible NSDL makes sense in this context.

This helpful and concise overview from the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice provides helpful information about US legislation related to disability, including contact information and relevant links. The information is also downloadable as a PDF file.

The national and international policy links on this page are compiled by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG). The links are divided first by country and then by the laws or policies related to web accessibility. There is also information about accessibility policies or laws that are focused on individual US states.

The Us Department of Justice Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) home page offers both information and technical assistance related to the ADA.

These pages and links from the Federal Communications Commission cover the section of the Communications Act related to telecommunications access for people with disabilities.

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) provides pages with the final accessibility standards for electronic and information technology covered by section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. Section 508 requires that the Access Board publish standards setting forth a definition of electronic and information technology and the technical and functional performance criteria necessary for such technology to comply with section 508.

Regulations prohibiting discrimination in education are enforced by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education. Information on disability rights is provided on the OCR Web site.

This document provides a useful legal analysis of legal requirements as well as technical information.