Medical Students with Disabilities: A Generation of Practice

Medical Students with Disabilities:
A Generation of Practice
Institutional
“Must Do’s”
✔ Evaluate policies and procedures.
Review institutional policies on a regular
basis to ensure that they are in compliance
with federal statutes and regulations,
reflect advances in adaptive and assistive
technology, and achieve the maximum
degree of compliance under the circumstances.
Make sure policies are realistic
and “livable,” and then consistently adhere
to those policies as situations arise.
Be conscious of the timing of policy
revisions and implementation and be
wary of implementing policies that
single out or address a specific student
after a student has raised a disabilityrelated
issue.
✔ Develop/refine technical standards
and essential program requirements.
Develop technical standards for admission
to and graduation from the educational
program with great care and consideration.
Include those skills and abilities that are
essential to the completion of the
educational program. Skills and abilities
required for admission should be tied
directly to those required for graduation.
Any skill or ability required for admission
should be tied directly to what is taught
and assessed in the curriculum or it
should be removed from the technical
standards. Consider including “the ability
to work as a member of the healthcare
team” and “attendance” as essential
program requirements.
Where a required course is an essential
element of the overall program, the school
is not required to waive the requirement as
an accommodation. Prospectively analyze
which course requirements are essential to
a student’s medical education and limit the
school’s requirements to those identified
courses. Other course offerings should be
treated as electives. With respect to the
requirements of individual courses,
schools should consider which elements
are essential.
✔ Review application forms and interview
questions.
Never ask an applicant about a past
“handicap” or “disability.” Broad
questions about past mental health
history are unlikely to be allowed outside
of a counseling or similar educational
program. However, an institution may
ask an applicant whether he or she is
able to meet the program’s technical
standards with or without reasonable
accommodations.
A student’s disability is irrelevant in
determining whether a student should be
readmitted to a program. An institution
may deny readmission to a former student
with a disability if the student was
dismissed based on the student’s performance,
behavior, or academic record.
However, the institution should be careful
to not base its decision not to readmit
a former student with a disability on
stereotypes or nonfactual information.
✔ Train employees and inform students.
Provide training, on an ongoing basis, to
academic administrators, faculty, and
staff regarding students’ rights and each
party’s responsibilities with respect to
disability accommodation. The institution’s
employees must understand their role in
assisting the institution in meeting its
compliance obligations. In addition,
students should be informed of their
rights and responsibilities and the
institution’s procedures regarding
disability accommodations.
✔ Be careful when determining that an
impairment is a disability.
Evaluate each student’s case on an
individual basis, relying on recent
diagnostics and evaluations. Avoid
overgeneralizations, broad categorizations,
or relying on past accommodations
made by other educational programs.
Remember that merely having an
impairment does not result in a student
being disabled for purposes of the ADA
or Section 504.
More than a mere risk of injury is
required before an institution may
disqualify an applicant or student with a
disability from participation in a program.
Any denial of admission or decision to
dismiss based on the risk of future
injury to the individual or others must
be examined with special attention to
the requirements of the ADA and
Section 504.
✔ Monitor institutional compliance.
It is imperative that an effective
monitoring system be adopted to ensure
that institutional policies are properly
followed and that any policy violations
are dealt with promptly. Too often,
institutions rely on students to alert
administrators to problems with their
compliance systems. All compliance
procedures should include monitoring
provisions that regularly assess the
effectiveness of the system and ensure
that modifications are made as needed.
✔ Maintain records.
Protect the institution by thorough documentation
that institutional procedures
and policies reflect the current state of
the law and were properly followed, and
that the action was properly reviewed
and justified.
31 Association of American Medical Colleges, 2005