ADA Policy and Grievance Procedure

Zur Institute

• The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy
• Notification Requirements and Service Criteria
• Grievance Procedure

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy:

There are two federal laws prohibiting discrimination against students or prospective students with disabilities. Those laws are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). These two federal laws are similar in their substantive requirements. They apply to all aspects of the Zur Institute’s operations.

It is the policy of Zur Institute to make every reasonable effort to provide qualified students with disabilities the opportunity to take full advantage of its programs. The Institute does this, in part, by arranging specific accommodations for students. To request accommodations, students with disabilities should provide the Zur Institute with current documentation of their disability, the functional limitations resulting from the disability, and recommendations for specific accommodations. The Zur Institute and the student will work together to identify appropriate academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services, and/or other reasonable accommodations that may be warranted under the particular circumstances.

Zur Institute is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy and with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists. In addition to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, the ADA imposes an affirmative obligation on the Institute to provide adjustments, modifications, auxiliary aids and services, and other reasonable accommodations needed by an otherwise qualified student with a disability to enable that student to participate in the Institute’s programs and activities – as long as those accommodations do not impose an undue burden on the Institute or co-sponsors of live workshops, and/or fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program or activity provided.

It is the policy of Zur Institute to make every reasonable effort to provide qualified students with disabilities with the opportunity to take full advantage of its programs. To that end, all required courses have transcripts, and we are adding more transcripts all the time. Also, in addition to all webpages and course material, all posttests and evaluations are accessible by the visually-impaired.

ADA Definition of Disabled:

The ADA’s protection applies primarily, but not exclusively, to “disabled” individuals. An individual is “disabled” if he or she meets at least any one of the following tests: 1. He or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his/her major life activities. 2. He or she has a record of such an impairment. 3. He or she is regarded as having such an impairment.

Notification Requirements and Service Criteria:

Self-Disclosure: All students seeking accommodation under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 et seq. or the Americans with Disabilities Act must self-identify with the Administrator of Zur Institute by calling her at 833-961-1344 or emailing her at info@zurinstitute.com.

• • For accommodations, a written requisition must be submitted to this office.
  • Documentation: It is the responsibility of students to submit documentation of physical or learning disabilities from qualified and licensed medical or testing personnel. Expenses incurred in obtaining the professional verification are the individual’s responsibility. The following documentation criteria should be used in forwarding assessments to the Administrator for disabilities verification:

Physical, Sensory, and Health-Related Disabilities

• • 1. Verification of the disabling condition must be obtained from a licensed health care professional that is qualified and currently or recently associated with the individual.
    2. The diagnosis must reflect the present level of functioning of the major life activity affected by the disability.

Psychological Disorders or Attentional Disorders

• • 1. Verification of diagnosis and severity of disabling condition from a qualified professional (e.g., psychiatrist for ADD/ADHD, psychologist or psychiatrist for other psychological disorders).
    2. A detailed description of how this impairment significantly limits a major life activity in an educational setting (for students) should be provided.

Learning Disabilities

• 1. A professional qualified to diagnose a learning disability (e.g., a licensed psychologist, learning disabilities specialist, neuropsychologist), must prepare the evaluation. Collaboration with speech and language clinicians, reading specialists and other educational professionals may be appropriate and necessary for a comprehensive assessment.
  2. Results of a clinical interview with the individual and descriptions of testing procedures, instruments used, test and sub-test results reported in standard scores should be included.
  3. Evaluations must be comprehensive and include test results in the following areas, where applicable; intelligence, reading, mathematics, spelling, written language, language processing and cognitive processing skills. Testing should carefully examine areas of concern/weakness as well as areas of strengths.
  4. A clear diagnostic statement based on test results and personal history must be included.
  5. An evaluation should be no more than three years old. This requirement may be waived if deemed not medically necessary.

Grievance Procedure:

If a student has a complaint, the complaint should be in writing and contain information about the alleged discrimination such as name, address, phone number of complainant and location, date, and description of the problem. A complaint of Discrimination on Basis of Disability form can be obtained by contacting the Director for Zur Institute.

If a student who has a disability does not agree with the accommodation, or if a student has any other grievance/s, a meeting/s should be scheduled to see if a compromise solution can be worked out. If the student does not agree with the accommodation after additional discussion, the student can communicate with the Director for Zur Institute, Dr. Glenn Marks, 321 S. Main St. #29, Sebastopol, CA 95472 (833)-961-1344 , info@zurinstitute.com, and after that with the Advisory Board of the Zur Institute to appeal the decision. If the grievance still cannot be resolved, the complainant will be advised to contact the appropriate (APA, Social Work, BBS) Association’s Ethics Committee, State Association Ethics Committee or State Licensing Board.

Confidential records of all grievances, the process of resolving the grievance and the outcome will be kept in the locked files of the Director for Zur Institute. A copy of this Grievance Procedure is available upon request.

The Director for Zur Institute is Glenn Marks, 321 S. Main St. #29, Sebastopol, CA 95472, (833)-961-1344 , info@zurinstitute.com.