Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

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Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, Pub. L. No. 93-112, 87 Stat. 394 (Sept. 26, 1973), codified at 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., is American legislation that guarantees certain rights to people with disabilities. Section 504 is widely recognized as the first civil-rights statute for persons with disabilities. It took effect in May 1977. Because it was successfully implemented over the next several years, it helped to pave the way for the Virginians with Disabilities Act in 1985 and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The 30th anniversary of the issuance of final regulations carrying out Section 504 was April 28, 2007.

Section 504 states (in part):

No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 705(20) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.

Codified at 29 U.S.C. 794.

The broad reach of Section 504 is implied in the statutory language above. Section 504 covers "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance". Federal funds underwrite airports all over the country - it is no accident that airports were among the first American facilities to become fully accessible. Federal funds also flow to some 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide, typically in the form of grants and cooperative agreements, but also through financial assistance for students. Colleges, universities, and community colleges became accessible in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s because of Section 504. Public libraries in many thousands of communities receive federal financial assistance, directly or indirectly. These, too, became accessible within just a few years of the implementation of section 504.

The balance of this entry focuses upon how Section 504 relates to K-12 education. That is because another law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also applies to K-12 schools. People sometimes mistakenly assume that, with IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act is superfluous. In fact, however, IDEA only protects a subset of children and youth who have disabilities -- those who satisfy its definition for "child with a disability". Many young people with disabilities do not meet that definition. However, many are protected by Section 504. In addition, Section 504 can be valuable in providing rights to students for issues outside of the school day such as extracurricular activities, sports, and after school care. That is because Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. For example, were a basketball coach to cut a student with a disability from the team simply because he did not want to be bothered by having a player on the team who has a disability, Section 504 is what would offer the student protection against such unjust treatment.

Schools comply with Section 504 with the following process: Identify students with disabilities; evaluate those students; if the student is eligible, create a written accommodation plan, often called a "504 Plan". It is similar to, but often shorter than, the IDEA Individualized Education Program (IEP). Parents, teachers, and school staff are a part of the process. Parents have due process rights; where they disagree with the determinations of the school, they have a right to an impartial hearing.

Violations of Section 504 in the educational environment can be addressed locally with the education agency or with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education. Violations of Section 504 can result in a loss of the federal funding. According to the Department ^[1] individuals may also enjoy a private right of action for violations of Sec. 504. Thus, Section 504 is enforced by OCR. IDEA, by contrast, is carried out by another unit of the Department - the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

1 History
2 Extracurricular Activity
3 Legal Rights under Section 504
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Section 504 was the last sentence in the 1973 Act. However, more than three years later, no implementing rules had been issued. That spurred the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities to make "Sign 504" its #1 priority and to launch a nationwide demonstration led by Frank Bowe, then ACCD's head, in March and April 1977. The regulations were finally issued in late April 1977. Over the next several years, Section 504 was somewhat controversial because it afforded people with disabilities many rights similar to those for other minority groups in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Throughout the Reagan administration, efforts were made to weaken Section 504. Not only did those fail, but the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 extended Section 504 to much of the private sector (notably private employers, stores, hotels, and restaurants), while specifically stating that it made no amendments, weakening or otherwise, to Section 504.

[edit] Extracurricular Activity

Section 504 covers extracurricular and after school programs such as sports, music lessons, and after school care. 34 C.F.R. § 104.37.

The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights has determined that Section 504 applies to

Playgrounds - Hazelton (PA) Area School District, 17 EHLR 907 (OCR, March 7, 1991); San Francisco (CA) Unified Sch. Dist., 23 IDELR 1200 (OCR, November 26, 1995); Mill Valley (CA) Elementary Sch. Dist., 23 IDELR 1190 (OCR, October 10, 1995);
Band Programs - Akron (OH) City Sch., 19 IDELR 793 (OCR, January 15, 1993);
Special Programs and assemblies - Whitman-Hanson (MA) Regional Sch. Dist., 20 IDELR 775 (OCR, August 19, 1993); Atlanta (GA) Pub. Sch., 16 EHLR 19 (OCR, January 9, 1989)
Field Trips and Off Site Programs - Ontario-MontClair (CA) Unified Sch. Dist., 24 IDELR 780 (OCR, February 7, 1996); Elk Grove (CA) Unified Sch. Dist., 21 IDELR 941 (OCR, August 1, 1994)
Clubs - Colquitt County (GA) Sch. Dist., 25 IDELR 244 (OCR, June 6, 1996); South Central (IN) Area Special Educ. Coop., 17 EHLR 248 (September 25, 1990);
After School and Summer Programs - Clayton (MO) Sch. Dist., 16 EHLR 766 (OCR, March 16, 1990); Conejo Valley (CA) Unified Sch. Dist., 23 IDELR 448 (OCR, June 28, 1995);
Graduation - Aldine (TX) Indep. Sch. Dist., 16 EHLR 1411 (OCR, July 12, 1990); and
Late Bus Transportation - Carmel Cent. (NY) Sch. Dist., 20 IDELR 1177 (OCR, September 30, 1993).

[edit] Legal Rights under Section 504

Although not in the text of the statute, courts have held that individuals have a private right of action under Section 504. While punitive damages are not available, compensatory damages are available to plaintiffs. See Barnes v. Gorman, 536 U.S. 181, 185 (2002). Arguably, these rights extend to include emotional distress damages. See Section 504 Brief, arguing that emotional distress damages are available under Section 504.

[edit] See also

504 Democratic Club

[edit] References

Switzer, Jacqueline Vaughn. Disabled Rights: American Disability Policy and the Fight for Equality. Georgetown University Press, 2003.
OCR Senior Staff Memoranda, “Guidance on the Application of Section 504 to Noneducational Programs of Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance,” January 3, 1990.
Lynch, William, "The Application of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the Internet: Poor E-Planning Prevents Poor E-Performance," 12 CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Policy 245 (2004).