We don't have the ADA in Canada but we do have Human Rights Legislation that does guide us in providing accommodations to students with disabilities. Mostly the issues are fairly clear but I have an issue today that is a complex one - accommodation? vs safety? vs substantive program modification.?

Any thoughts you may have to illuminate this situation would be very welcome.

Day of registration, we find a legally blind student fully registered in Automotive Maintenance. Student has Retinitis pigmentosa which has degenerated over the past year. 50% of the work is done in the shop and each project must be accomplished in the shop and graded. There is specific time to do these projects which involve engines, tools and safety, gasoline and diesel fuel systems, power trains, suspension, steering and brakes.This course introduces shop practices, hand and power tools, measuring and cutting tools, shop equipment, oxy-acetylene welding fundamentals, graphic communications, shop systems, first aid, seals, fasteners, lubricants, air conditioning systems and CFC Certification

Our first thought was to provide an educational assistant to ensure safe practices in the shop. The teacher quickly dispelled that notion as helpful; an ea would require the qualifications of an automotive technician to be truly safe and helpful. Keep in mind that the shop is full of students who are just learning with all manner of equipment. Some of the projects are very detailed and precise. This would necessitate the expense of an automotive technician ($25-30/hr or about $15,000-20,000)

With or without a technician, the teacher is understandably  concerned about safety. The teacher is responsible for the safety of ALL students and the physical plant.

It became clear that this situation was anything but clear! 
It would appear that this student, even with accommodations, may present a significant safety risk to other students.

There is also a question of the validity of the suggested accommodation. The need for an automotive  technican may really be a substantial change in how the program is delivered; is this not one-to-one teaching? - Not an accommodation but a special program created 50% of the course time for a particular student.

Does anyone feel that hiring teachers for one-to-one teaching of certain students with vision disabilities (or motor, or hearing, or psychiatric or some LDs) and providing alternate but equal access to facilities, is a reasonable accommodation for a publically funded college?

We have requested (and will pay for), an opinion by the student's opthamologist about his ability to perform the essential requirements of the course given the program demands  the teacher is completing on the lab component.

My questions:
1) is a technician an appropriate accommodation? or is that a substantive alteration of program?
2) is the safety issue valid?

I would much preferred having this conversation in May - may have saved the student $65, + $300 shop supplies, a year potentially lost due to a career adjustment. But his high school didn't assist him with any transition planning.

Any help to illuminate this situation would be definitely appreciated!!!







Susan Alcorn MacKay, Director
The Glenn Crombie Centre
Cambrian College
Sudbury, On P3A 2V8
http://homepages.cambrianc.on.ca/snrrc