Section 504: Addressing Accommodations

As you've learned, Section 508 talks about what is necessary to make content accessible for all learners. Accessibility is held to be a universal standard.

Often, Section 508's requirements for accessibility are confused with Section 504's requirements for what is commonly called "accommodations" in higher education. Every institution has a disability services (sometimes even called accommodations) office designed to provide intervention for students with very specific needs. However, there is no overlap between the institutional requirement to provide accessible content, and the requirement to provide special accommodations. In other words, it is not the accommodations office's job to make content meet basic requirements.

Higher education institutions are required to make their programs accessible to qualified students with disabilities. Qualified students with disabilities are determined by the admissions criteria of the individual higher education institution. Students wishing to receive accommodations must initiate the process, which varies per higher education institution. This process largely subscribes to the medical model of disability as many higher education institutions require medical documentation of diagnosis and functioning regarding the disability during the accommodation application process. These colleges and universities are required to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities who attend their institutions (taken from Wikipedia).

If you'd like to learn more about Section 504, read the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights article entitled Protecting Students with Disabilities.

An Example

So what's the difference between an accessibility issue and an accommodations issue? Let's look at some specific examples.

Ruth is a hearing-impaired student and is taking an online course. This particular course features the use of narrated videos and podcasts from the instructor. According to Section 508, Ruth should expect "access to information that is comparable to access available to others." This is a reasonable expectation. She should not have to announce her disability and request special assistance; it should be assumed that all audio content will include a reasonable equivalent transcript or captions, depending on the situation. This is an institutional responsibility.
Micah has a cognitive disability, and has great trouble gathering meaning from the written word. He has a medical diagnosis for this and documentation from his doctor. Micah is taking a class in-person, and the instructor gives the students a written exam. This is not a situation that can be easily anticipated; the instructor would not be expected to be prepared to provide an auditory alternative. Therefore, it falls upon Micah to request an accommodation officially. The disability services (or accommodations) office will determine, based on his documentation, the appropriate intervention. Most likely, this would include providing a staff member who will assist in administering the exam to Micah orally.

Helpful Explanation

The Disability Thinking blog provided this helpful explanation from their August 2013 post entitled Accessibility vs. Accommodation:

"Accessibility is what we should expect to be ready for us without asking or planning ahead. It can be provided by following an easy to implement set of standards and practices that make "adaptation" unnecessary. We can benefit from accessibility without announcing or explaining our disabilities.
Accommodation is for adaptations that can't be anticipated or standardized. They are different for each individual. Although we should expect there to be a general willingness to accommodate us wherever we go, we can't expect actual, specific accommodations unless and until we ask for them. We do have to announce, and may have to explain our disabilities a bit in order to get accommodations.

Accessibility is the baseline of equal service, and accommodation is the second step to take when accessibility alone isn't enough."

Key Takeaway: Accessibility is an institutional responsibility to make content available for the needs of diverse learners. Accommodation only addresses very specific, documented special needs.