From http://ucpgg.org/:
Disability Rights Advocates’ Lawsuit on Behalf of Students with Disabilities in California Public Colleges
May 21st, 2012
by Lateef McLeod
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is a nonprofit legal center dedicated to securing the civil rights of people with disabilities. Last year, this group began conducting an investigation of colleges and universities in the California Community College, state university, and University of California systems to validate the complaints of students with disabilities regarding not receiving adequate accommodations due to school budget cuts.
Because of these budget cuts, services offered by schools’ Disability Students Programs (DSPs) are not adequately implemented. The DRA received a range of complaints from students like not being able arrange an appointment with a DSP before the start of a semester so that they could arrange accommodations for classes. A blind student and a student with dyslexia were told they could not have readers due to budgetary constraints and another was unable to watch the lectures of his class online and take notes because the transcripts were not available. In other cases, students did not receive their textbooks in alternative accessible formats until up to six weeks into the semester.
In light of the rich history of California public colleges and universities providing full inclusion of people with disabilities, this comes as a huge blow.
Further investigation by the DRA uncovered some issues caused primarily by budget cuts and related to systemic problems that span the CSU, community college, and UC systems. The prohibition of the DSPs to provide for their students because of budget constraints will be devastating for students with disabilities who are attempting to acquire a good education. These hardships will surely alter the DSPs relationship with its students.
This DRA investigation implies that some students with disabilities in the California public college system are losing faith that the DSPs can and will successfully accommodate their academic accessibility needs, which in itself is a tragic occurrence.
The DRA has interviewed a few students about this case so far, but is still looking for more testimonials. If you are a student with a disability and attending a California public college or university, you can participate in the investigation by going to the DRA website or contacting Kara Janssen at: (510) 665-8644, ext. 138.
You can also support this important cause by opposing budget cuts to the California college system and supporting the full funding of DSP programs as vital tools to assist students with disabilities to access higher education.
Planet of the Blind 
Another sad indication that the budget woes in our state and country are being addressed and balanced on the backs of those most vulnerable.
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