FOR RELEASE Contact: Jim Bradshaw November 28, 1994 (202) 401-2310
"This vital project will help school districts learn how students and workers with disabilities are entitled to legal protections that ensure them equal opportunity and access to the mainstream of American life," said Judith Heumann, assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services.
America's 15,173 public school districts are covered under Title II of the act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all services, programs and activities of state and local governments.
The project will inform school personnel about their responsibilities under ADA and identify resources available to help them comply with the act.
Adaptive Environments will place special emphasis on districts with high enrollments of minority students.
To help districts assess their compliance with the law, Adaptive Environments will use a self-evaluation guide produced by the department's Office for Civil Rights in cooperation with NIDRR.
The department is providing every school district in the country with a copy of the guide.
Adaptive Environments will receive $250,000 from NIDRR each year for the next three years to carry out the project.
NIDRR is a component of the department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
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