The ADA National Network provides informal guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability-related laws. The ten regional Centers that comprise the ADA National Network staff a toll-free information line and respond to inquiries submitted online via email or regional Center websites.

Business owners, architects and designers, representatives of state and local government agencies, employers, people with disabilities and their family members, service providers, educational entities, and others interested in the ADA can receive individualized responses - Find Your Region/ADA Center.

Our ADA Specialists can answer most questions immediately and, if necessary, will research complex questions to provide you the most thorough guidance possible. Referrals to local and state/territory resources for disability issues, which are not addressed by the ADA, can also be provided.

The ADA National Network offers a variety of training opportunities to increase your knowledge of the ADA. We provide training on all ADA topics and on all levels from basic to advanced. Trainings are available in-person, webcast, and online.

Lecture slides to accompany ARTID 569A: Inclusive Environments, an Interior Design course given at Iowa State University.

This is a unit about the ADA. It has hands on activities that simulate physical and cognitive impairments to build empathy in relation to the social justice standards.

Michael Cantino from Northwest Regional Education Service District presents Creating Accessible Documents in the Microsoft and Google Suites.

This activity asks students to read and compare the language of selected civil rights legislation.By tracing the changes in language (from "handicapped" to "people with disabilities," for example) and the necessity of restating and reinforcing Constitutional rights, the analysis likewise asks them to think about prejudice, stigma and fundamental rights and freedoms.

This is the syllabus for the Disability Law Clinic that I'm teaching in Fall 2022 Term. The Disability Law Clinic is a one-semester, six-credit, live-client clinic. It handles a variety of civil and administrative matters for low-income clients with disabilities, including disability rights, special education, access to assitive technology, and Social Security matters.

This game is designed to test, reinforce, and enhance students' understanding of Disability Rights Law. I've used it in several different ways: as a game that students play in class, with a prize for the winning student or team (playing the game and discussing the correct answers takes about one hour of class time); as a closed-book quiz that students take in class, followed by discussion of the correct answers (again, about one hour of class time); and as an open-book assignment that students complete before class, followed by discussion of the correct answers in class (about 30 minutes of class time).

Federal ADA Regulations and Standards
The ADA statute identifies who is a person with a disability, who has obligations under the ADA, general non-discrimination requirements and other basic obligations. It delegates fleshing out those obligations to federal agencies. The agencies issue regulations and design standards. The regulations have the details on the rights of people with disabilities and responsibilities of employers, state and local governments, transportation providers, businesses and non-profit organizations. The design standards specify how many entrances need to be accessible, how many toilet rooms and the design for those elements. To know what the ADA requires, you need to read the law, regulations and design standards.

Federal Agencies and Resources
Many federal agencies issue regulations, provide technical assistance and enforce different sections of the ADA. For example the Department of Justice is responsible for title II, which applies to state and local governments, and title III, which applies to businesses and non-profit organizations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handles all things related to the ADA and employment. Below is a list of the relevant federal agencies.

I use this Jeopardy!-style game to test, reinforce, and enhance students' understanding of Disability Rights Law. Playing the game and discussing the answers takes about one hour. I use a free online multiplayer buzzer system that requires students to respond to questions by typing their answers into a text entry field (www.cosmobuzz.net). I give students plenty of time to answer each question and award points for all correct answers. At the end of the game, I award a prize to the winning student (e.g. a Starbucks gift card). I haven't uploaded the answer key here because I don't want students to see the correct answers online; feel free to email me at david.moss@wayne.edu for a copy of the answer key.

Learn About the National Network
[Version en Español]

The ADA National Network provides information, guidance and training on how to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in order to support the mission of the ADA to “assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.”

Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the network consists of 10 Regional ADA Centers located throughout the United States and an ADA Knowledge Translation Center (ADAKTC).

Each Regional ADA Center focuses on its region’s unique needs. This regional focus is critical to ensuring that ADA National Network services meet the needs of a diversity of populations and stakeholders throughout the country.

Lecture slides developed to accompany ARTID 569A: Inclusive Environments, an Interior Design course offered at Iowa State University. These slides cover the history of disability rights in the United States, design standards, and more. Questions are included within the slides for assessment.

The Open for Antiracism (OFAR) Program – co-led by CCCOER and College of the Canyons – emerged as a response to the growing awareness of structural racism in our educational systems and the realization that adoption of open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy could be transformative at institutions seeking to improve. The program is designed to give participants a workshop experience where they can better understand anti-racist teaching and how the use of OER and open pedagogy can empower them to involve students in the co-creation of an anti-racist classroom. The capstone project involves developing an action plan for incorporating OER and open pedagogy into a course being taught in the spring semester. OFAR participants are invited to remix this template to design and share their projects and plans for moving this work forward. 

This document is a revised version of a document originally developed by the Chicago Office of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to clarify the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Section 504) in the area of public elementary and secondary education. The primary purpose of these revisions is to incorporate information about the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (Amendments Act), effective January 1, 2009, which amended the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and included a conforming amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that affects the meaning of disability in Section 504. The Amendments Act broadens the interpretation of disability. The Amendments Act does not require ED to amend its Section 504 regulations. ED’s Section 504 regulations as currently written are valid and OCR is enforcing them consistent with the Amendments Act. In addition, OCR is currently evaluating the impact of the Amendments Act on OCR’s enforcement responsibilities under Section 504 and Title II of the ADA, including whether any changes in regulations, guidance, or other publications are appropriate. The revisions to this Frequently Asked Questions document do not address the effects, if any, on Section 504 and Title II of the amendments to the regulations implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that were published in the Federal Register at 73 Fed. Reg. 73006 (December 1, 2008).

Students participate in a variety of activities modeling different disabilities. They gain a better understanding of physical limitations while performing tasks at workstations without the use of their thumbs (taped down), impaired vision (various glasses) and impaired mobility (using crutches and wheelchairs). After discussing their experiences, they work in teams to create or improve on an adaptive device. Like biomedical engineers, students are challenged to design with the purpose of helping make a particular task easier for another person.

This warm-up should instigate meaningful conversation about accommodations made for deaf people in the workplace. The main activity gives students the opportunity to host an interview and ask some significant and specific questions about another person.

Tips and lessons learned from creating accessible documents. This is not an exhaustive list so please add your own guidance.

Top ADA Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the 13 questions that are asked most frequently. If you have other questions, please check out our ADA FAQ Knowledge Base.

The basic objective of Unified Engineering is to give a solid understanding of the fundamental disciplines of aerospace engineering, as well as their interrelationships and applications. These disciplines are Materials and Structures (M); Computers and Programming (C); Fluid Mechanics (F); Thermodynamics (T); Propulsion (P); and Signals and Systems (S). In choosing to teach these subjects in a unified manner, the instructors seek to explain the common intellectual threads in these disciplines, as well as their combined application to solve engineering Systems Problems (SP). Throughout the year, the instructors emphasize the connections among the disciplines.