[Athen] Improving Access to Higher Ed. bill

[Jennifer Sutton]

Greetings, ATHEN:


OI just saw these links in the AFB newsletter. Thought some might be 
interested in this bill.


Best,

Jennifer


<Quote begin>:

Today, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Democrats on the House Committee 
on Education and the Workforce are announcing the introduction of a 
comprehensive
higher education reform bill aimed at the interests of the 
cross-disability community. The bill explicitly calls for the 
development and promulgation of
guidelines to assist colleges and universities with their current legal 
obligations to ensure an accessible instructional experience. Read a 
press release
about the bill at the following link:
http://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/media/press-releases/democrats-unveil- 
legislation-to-expand-access-to-higher-ed-for-students-with-disabilities-

A PDF of the bill is available at the following link:
http://democrats- edworkforce.house.gov/imo/media/doc/ACCESS%20Bill.pdf

The legislation being introduced today, the Improving Access to Higher 
Education Act, among many other important provisions for college 
students with disabilities,
includes the best elements of the stand-alone bills for which the 
blindness community has been advocating, namely the call for the 
development of accessibility
guidelines which should offer greater clarity to colleges and 
universities in their purchasing and use of materials and technologies. 
However, the bill
being introduced today does not include provisions with which many 
groups both within and outside the vision loss community have had grave 
concerns. These
troubling provisions would essentially trade a university's claim of 
voluntary compliance with accessibility guidelines for the setting aside 
of certain
disability civil rights enforcement mechanisms available today. The 
establishment of such a so-called safe harbor and the apparent taking of 
even some
current civil rights protections off the table has been a major point of 
contention among advocates for students who are blind or visually 
impaired and
has led to a number of groups in the vision loss community witholding 
their endorsement of such proposals.


<quote end/>


For more detail, see:

http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/public- 
policy-center/directconnect-newsletter/described-tv-and-accessible-higher-ed-materials-gaining- 
ground/1235