What is Section 504?

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. As stated in the law: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . 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 receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."  [29 U.S.C. §794(a), 34 C.F.R. §104.4(a)].*

Section 504 prohibits discrimination against individuals whose physical or mental impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities.

These include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Caring for oneself 

• Performing manual tasks 

• Walking 

• Seeing 

• Hearing 

• Speaking 

• Breathing

• Learning 

• Working 

• Eating 

• Sleeping 

• Standing 

• Lifting 

• Bending 

• Reading 

• Concentrating

• Thinking

The Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Under Section 504, FAPE consists of the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the student's individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of non disabled students are met (from Office for Civil Rights).

For additional information regarding Section 504, please contact the District's Section 504 Coordinator or the Office for Civil Rights.

Section 504 Coordinator

Dr. Kanya Cornish, Assistant Superintendent

kcornish@oglethorpe.k12.ga.us

706 743-8128