When Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, it included Section 504 which forbade discrimination against persons with disabilities by programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, which included virtually every institution of higher education, except the U.S. military academies and a few small religious schools. This was the first civil rights statute designed to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities and was patterned after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was patterned after Section 504. It, too,requires that individuals with disabilities may not be excluded from participation in, or be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination by any institution or business which is subject to the ADA. The ADA does not require that the institution receive federal financial assistance.
Back to Commonly Asked Questions