Meeting Performance and Technical Standards for a Program or Activity

According to Section 504, “With respect to postsecondary and vocational education services, an individual with a disability is (further) defined as a person who meets the academic and technical standards requisite to admission or participation in the recipient’s education program or activity.” Factors such as safety will be considered in determining whether a disabled person is qualified. Safety factors can include physical limitations and contagious diseases when determining if a disabled person is otherwise qualified.

Vocational and technical programs will:

• Clearly delineate minimum technical standards
• Be consistent in the application of these standards
• Make all prospective/incoming students aware of the standards
• Make sure students are aware that state licensure requirements may vary and that completion of a degree program does not automatically ensure licensure
• Consider each student’s situation on an individual basis
• Provide information as to why a student did not meet the standards
• Provide a student with the opportunity to modify an behavioral concerns

Outcomes for Performance and Technical Standards

For those standards specific to the individual state licensure programs, a copy will be available for a student to preview. Postsecondary institutions have the freedom to require reasonable physical qualifications for admission into a clinical training program. The standards and outcomes established are not designed to be exclusionary but to establish performance expectations that will enable a student to provide safe patient practice with or without accommodations. The outcomes are program access requirements, not individual functional ability requirements. The following skills may be considered when establishing program performance and technical stands:

• Observation skills
• Critical thinking (intellectual, conceptual, integrative) skills
• Effective communication skills
• Gross and fine motor skills
• ethical behavioral skills
• Social interaction skills

Source: Hill, JoAnne. The Policy Book: Guidance for Disability Service Providers. Horsham. LRP, 2000. 4:1 – 4:3