Do private colleges have to provide interpreters?
Private colleges must provide access to students with disabilities. According to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended through 1998), no otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in Section7(20), shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency. The Americans with Disabilities Act also supports the requirement that both private and public educational institutions must be accessible for persons with disabilities. Sharaine J. Rawlinson and Jeanne M. Kincaid (in Americans with Disabilities Act: Responsibilities for Postsecondary Institutions Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, 2nd Edition, http://www.mcpo.org/products.asp ) state that a private institution . . . must provide interpreting services if such is necessary to enable the student to access educational opportunities (
