From: Kelly Pierce 
Subject: computer and info. access at u. of illinois
The following is an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint
with the University of Illinois for failing to provide
information access to blind students.  This effort was a
cooperative project among the members of Digit-Eyes:  The Chicago
Blind Computer User Network.  Specifically, the complaint
addresses access to technology and the fields of math and
science.  We believe that the university's discriminatory
practices, such as refusing to hire readers and proctors in these
specialized areas, resulted at the time with no students majoring
in these fields of study.  We believe further that the failure to
provide computer accommodation was an attempt to discourage and
prevent blind students from attending the institution. =20
The complaint, related correspondence and developed policies are
shared in this space as an example of how well-researched and
planned advocacy combined with an institutional leadership that
is committed to diversity, open to change, and flexible in its
approach can yield highly positive results for all involved.  We
are pleased to report that full and total cooperation was
received from the university administration and the chancellor's
office.  As of April, 1998 all of the issues identified in the
complaint have been fully resolved to the satisfaction of the
various parties.  It is hoped that our work here in Chicago can
be useful in expanding access to information and technology to
people  with disabilities in higher education. =20
The student named in the complaint has been fully accommodated in
a timely manner since the complaint was filed internally with the
university.  He can,for the first time, focus nearly all his
energy on his studies and academic program.  Policies and
services are now in place that would provide the same
accommodations to needs similar to that of the complainant.  This
student and two others are continuing to raise issues of
information access as part of the Chancellor's Committee on the
Status of People with Disabilities.
To learn more about access to information, computers, and
software for people with disabilities, check out the Project EASI
web site at http://www.rit.edu/~easi/  To obtain copies of the
letters of finding referenced in the complaint, go to the law
section of the Project EASI web site
(http://www.rit.edu/~easi/law.html).  To discuss the legal rights
of accommodation of people with disabilities, join the ada-law
mailing list or the blindlaw mailing list.   To subscribe to
these and other blindness and technology access mailing lists via
the World Wide Web, go to BLIST: The Comprehensive Index of
Blindness-Related E-mailing Lists at
http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/blist.html   To obtain BLIST via   =20
 e-mail, type the line "GET BLIST INFO" in the body of an
electronic message, and send it to
LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU, omitting the quotation marks. =20
The full text of the complaint filed with the university is
below, followed by official correspondence between the
university, the student, and myself.  An alternative formats
policy and computer accommodation policy developed as a result of
the complaint follow and conclude this package.  The various
documents are separated by a line of asterisks (**).  My personal
log of the case as well as drafts, notes and incidental
correspondence are not included.
kelly=20
June 21, 1997
Patricia Gill=20
ADA compliance Officer=20
Office of the Chancellor=20
University of Illinois at Chicago=20
802 S. Marshfield=20
Room 717=20
Chicago, IL 60612=20
Dear Ms. Gill:
I am a blind student at the university, and will be continuing my
junior year this fall semester of 1997.  I am writing this letter
to inform you of some of the access problems I have had at UIC,
and to request services I feel will help to solve them.  I
believe that these problems are violations of Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act and Section 35.160 of title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act.  I will assert in this complaint
that the practices, policies and procedures of the University of
Illinois have posed significant barriers to my attainment of a
degree in my chosen major and have negatively impacted my
comprehension of course material and the grades received in
particular courses.
The discrimination started after registering for classes my first
semester at UIC.  I was told then by the disabilities
coordinator, Jean Goreman, That it was my responsibility to
contact Recording for the blind and Dyslexic to inquire if my
text books were available on tape, and if not, it was my
responsibility, to purchase the text books from the UIC
bookstore, and take them to another not-for-profit agency, the
Blind Service Association of Chicago at 22 West Monroe, and have
them read on tape there.  I was also told by Jean Goreman, that
if the text books were not available at the UIC book store within
a week before classes start, to call the disabilities office, let
her know, and she would try and find some one to read the books
on tape for me.  These policies turned out to be disastrous as
there was not enough time to find qualified readers in my
specific area of study, math and statistics.  Because of this, I
would receive the chapters needed for my classes a couple days
before an exam, a couple of weeks after an exam, or not at all. =20
In the Spring semester of 1996, the two text books required for
Psychology 100 were not available at RFB&D, and I was forced to
find readers on my own after classes.  In a Fall, 1996 Math 160
class, the text book was not available at RFB&D.  I requested
that the text be provided in Triangle/Ascii text format, which
would allow me to read the material using my computer, screen
reading software and a speech synthesizer.  I was promised that
the text would be provided in this format by the disabilities
office.  However, because of the late start, the first chapter of
the text was not ready until two days before the first exam.=20
Because of this, and the fact that sometimes I would be assigned
a proctor that could not read the exam, I believe I lost positive
points on the exams, which had a negative effect on my final
grade.  In the spring of 1997, I had the following access
problems. =20
In Economics 218, the text was not available at RFB&D, and I was
forced to find readers for some parts of the text, scan and have
the disabilities office edit other parts.  Because of the
graphical nature of the class lectures, the text, and the exams,
and the lack of adequate accommodation, my final grade was
negatively effected.  The text book used in IDS 270 was also not
available at RFB&D.  For access to this class.  I had to scan the
entire text, and submit it to the disabilities office for
editing.  Unfortunately, I received some of the chapters only
days before exams, and I did not get the last chapter at all.  I
had to both scan and edit the textbook for my Accounting 110
class myself, as it was also not available at RFB&D. =20
Another barrier I encountered was the accessibility of classroom
lectures and presentations.  At the beginning of the Spring 1997
semester I believed that my need for reading and description of
material on blackboards and displayed on overhead projectors
could be provided by professors and their teaching assistants by
simply describing material written or displayed in class. This
assumption turned into a disaster when instructors would fail to
read or describe this material. =20
This was particularly evident in my IDS 270 class.  The Professor
would sometimes fail to read tables, equations, and graphs.  When
I interrupted his lecture to reiterate my request for
accommodation, he became upset and irritable.  Additionally, I
asked the teaching assistant for assistance in describing some of
this material.  She declined, telling me it was "my problem" and
to go to the disabilities office and get it from there.=20
Obviously, the staff at the disabilities office could not do this
because they were not familiar with the course material.
Yet another problem I am having is taking exams.  I am an IDS
(Information and Decision Sciences) major, and many of the
proctors assigned to administer the exams to me are unfamiliar
with charts, graphs, and/or the symbolic mathematical notation on
these exams, and are unable to read and write questions and
answers for me.  I discovered this when I took exams in my ECON
218 course, where students assigned by UIC to assist me were not
at all familiar with advanced mathematics.  I believe that I
should have exams administered by competent persons who can read
and write mathematical notation.  =20
An additional accessibility barrier is in using computers and
computer software.  The Business computer Laboratory in the
Educational Social Work building does not have a computer
accessible to the blind, equipped with speech synthesis to read
the monitor.  Access to this lab is essential because many
business classes are taught there.  This includes IDS 270, which
I took in the Spring 1997 semester.  Because of the lack of an
accessible computer in this classroom, I purchased the Minitab
software program with my own funds and installed it on my laptop
computer which I brought to class.  I do not believe that I
should have to provide my own computer, accommodation, and
software to take a class when the other students are not expected
to do so.  Further, I will be penalized if my equipment were to
break.  I will be taking other classes which require the use of
this  lab in the fall.
I believe that the university comes under the provisions of
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and its
implementing regulation at 34 C.F.R. Part 104, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and
activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the U.S.
Department of Education.  UIC receives such financial assistance
and, therefore, is subject to the provisions of those statutes
and regulations. =20
The Regulation, at section 1 04.43(c) states: "A recipient to
which this subpart applies may not, on the basis of handicap,
exclude any qualified handicapped student from any course, course
of study, or other part of its education program or activity."=20
Section 104.44(d)(1) states: "A recipient to which this subpart
applies shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that no
handicapped student is denied the benefits of, excluded from
participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under
the education program or activity operated by the recipient
because of the absence of educational auxiliary aids for students
with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills."  I also
believe that UIC is subject to the regulations under Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and its implementing
regulation at 28 C.F.R. Part 35.  UIC is a public entity as
described in the regulation.
Title II at 28 C.F.R. SS 35.130 (b)(1)(iii), states, that
recipients and entities in providing any aid, benefit or service,
may not afford a qualified individual with a disability an
opportunity to participate that is not as effective as that
provided to others.  Title II recognizes the special importance
of communication, which includes access to information, in its
implementing regulation at 28 C.F.R. SS 35.160 (a).  The
regulation requires a public entity, such as a state university,
to "take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with
applicants, participants, and members of the public with
disabilities are as effective as communications with others."
Thus, the issue is not whether I or any other student with a
disability is merely provided access or an accommodation of some
kind, but the issue is rather the extent to which the
communication is actually as effective as that provided to
others.  Effective communication for me might include textbooks
produced by the university and delivered in a timely manner
consistent with my course schedule, in-class readers or
notetakers to describe complex charts and graphs and readers
competent in the subject material for exams.  Title II also
strongly affirms the important role that computer technology is
expected to play as an auxiliary aid by which communication is
made effective for persons with disabilities.
In order to remedy the access problems stated above, I am
requesting the following accommodations given that title II
Section 35.160 (b) requires a public entity to "furnish
appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to afford
an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to
participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service, program, or
activity conducted by a public entity."
1.  The university must provide access to textbooks, workbooks
and related course materials in a timely manner with competent
and qualified readers or scan the text into an ASCII text file
with Triangle format enhancements for scientific notation.  To
accomplish this, the University of Illinois would need to change
its policy of accepting textbook production requests only one
week before the beginning of a semester.  This is a policy and/or
practice that without question sets up the student with a print
impairment for failure and below par performance as such a late
start cannot keep pace with academic reading schedules. =20
Although referral and identification of community resources that
could assist people with disabilities is welcome, it does not
lessen the university's responsibility in respect to the ADA or
the Rehabilitation Act to provide access to textbooks to blind
students.  The reading services coordinator of the blind Service
Association stated in a June 18 conversation with Kelly Pierce
that the association has no contractual relationship with UIC to
assist the university in meeting its legal obligations in respect
to the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act.  Providing university staff
to students to read textbooks in person is not acceptable.  The
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil rights in a letter
of finding dated January 15, 1992 (Docket Number 09-91-2157.)
states:  "Although readers may supplement audio-cassette and/or
Braille versions of textbooks, because accessibility through
readers is much more time consuming and provides significant less
flexibility to the student, it does not meet the purposes of 34
C.F.R. 104.43 and 104.44."  In addition, the letter of finding
concurs with the belief that blind students who are not read to
or provided material in a specialized language,  such as scienti
ic notation, prevents students from participating in university
programs and majoring in particular subject areas.  "Failure to
translate specialized material, such as mathematical symbols and
equations, into a language specifically created to communicate
such material to the visually impaired, has the result of
strongly deterring visually impaired students from taking
courses, or concentrating in areas, that involve higher
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