LAUNCH OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES – COMMUNITY COLLEGE 504 CAMPAIGN

An education is the most important advantage society has to offer. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court stated in Brown versus Board of Education that:

It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.

Yet we've had a long hard fight for our educational rights. Prior to 1975, at least one million students with disabilities were denied access to a public education. Four million others were segregated from mainstream schools and contact with other students.

Today, both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act guarantee that students with disabilities be provided with accommodations that provide access to an equal opportunity for education. However, those rights are in danger. The California Community College system has made deep cuts to disability services that provide accommodations to students who need them to access a higher education. Although system-wide the community colleges have experienced average cuts of about 2.5%, they have cut disability services more than 40%, according to the California Association for Postsecondary Education and Disability.

As a result, accommodations are being delayed up to 7 weeks, and in some cases denied altogether. Mobility assistance, readers, note takers, large print books, audio books, sign language interpreters, captioning, campus transport services and other essential accommodations are being delayed or denied, putting the academic careers of students with disabilities at risk.

In response, YO! Disabled and Proud is partnering with Disability Rights California to launch the new Students with Disabilities - Community College 504 Campaign. We want to empower students around the state to know they have a right to access the services and programs they need in order to participate and succeed in school, by helping them to file a complaint under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act with the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. We hope that if students who have been denied accommodations in the community colleges file a complaint, the Office of Civil Rights will take action to restore their rights.

If you have experienced delays or denial of accommodations at your community college, here's what you can do:

1) Go to our website (www.yodisabledproud.org) and follow the link for Students with Disabilities – Community College 504 Campaign. You will find information on how to file a complaint electronically. Please send a copy of your complaint to princess@cfilc.org.

2) Access youth peer self-help to assist you to file a complaint by calling 1-866-296-9753, TDD 916-325-1695.

3) Access technical assistance from Disability Rights California to file a complaint by calling 1-800-7767-5746, TTY 1-800-719-5798.

We have attached a fact sheet and data sheet about the cuts, as well as a copy of the Disability Rights California "Student Rights Handbook" that fully describes higher educational rights under the law. (Please be advised that this manual is being updated to include changes contained in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which became effective January 1, 2009).

Please join us in defending the rights of students with disabilities to continue to have equal access to higher education in California.