(a) In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), every registration examination must be conducted in an
accessible place and manner, or alternative accessible arrangements
must be afforded so that no qualified individual with a disability
is unreasonably denied the opportunity to complete the licensure process
because of his/her disability.
(b) Special accommodations can be provided for examinees
with physical or mental impairments that substantially limit major
life activities. Available accommodations include the modification
of examination procedures and the provision of auxiliary aids and
services designed to furnish an individual with a disability an equal
opportunity to demonstrate his/her knowledge, skills, and ability.
(c) The Board is not required to approve every request
for accommodation or auxiliary aid or provide every accommodation
or service as requested. The Board is not required to grant a request
for accommodation if doing so would fundamentally alter the measurement
of knowledge or the measurement of a skill intended to be tested by
the examination or would create an undue financial or administrative
burden.
(d) Procedure for requesting accommodation:
(1) To protect the integrity of the testing process,
an examinee requesting an accommodation must submit documentation
regarding the existence of a disability and the reason the requested
accommodation is necessary to provide the examinee with an equal opportunity
to exhibit his/her knowledge, skills, and ability through the examination.
The Board shall evaluate each request on a case-by-case basis.
(2) An examinee requesting an accommodation must have
a licensed health care professional or other qualified evaluator provide
certification regarding the disability as described in subsection
(e) of this section.
(3) An examinee seeking an accommodation must make
a request for accommodation on the prescribed form and provide documentation
of the need for accommodation well in advance of the examination date.
If the form is submitted less than sixty (60) days prior to the examination
date, the Board will attempt to process the request but might not
be able to provide the necessary accommodation for the next examination.
(e) The following information is required to support
a request for an accommodation or an auxiliary aid:
(1) Identification of the type of disability (physical,
mental, learning);
(2) Credential requirements of the evaluator:
(A) For physical or mental disabilities (not including
learning), the evaluator shall be a licensed health care professional
qualified to assess the type of disability claimed. If a person who
does not fit these criteria completes the evaluation, the Board may
reject the evaluation and require another evaluation, and the request
for accommodation may be delayed.
(B) In the case of learning disabilities, a qualified
evaluator shall have sufficient experience to be considered qualified
to evaluate the existence of learning disabilities and proposed accommodations
needed for specific learning disabilities. The evaluator shall be
one of the following:
(i) a licensed physician or psychologist with a minimum
of three years' experience working with adults with learning disabilities;
or
(ii) another professional who possesses a master's
or doctorate degree in special education or educational psychology
and who has at least three years of equivalent training and experience
in all of the areas described below:
(I) assessing intellectual ability and interpreting
tests of such ability;
(II) screening for cultural, emotional, and motivational
factors;
(III) assessing achievement level; and
(IV) administering tests to measure attention and concentration,
memory, language reception and expression, cognition, reading, spelling,
writing, and mathematics.
(3) Professional verification of the disability, which
shall include a description of:
(A) the nature and extent of the disability, including
a description of its effect on major life activities and the anticipated
duration of the impairment;
(B) the effect of the disability on the examinee's
ability to:
(i) evaluate written material;
(ii) complete graphic sections of the examination by
drawing, drafting, and lettering; and
(iii) complete computerized sections of the examination
that require data entry via keyboard and the manipulation of a mouse.
(C) whether the disability limits the amount of time
the examinee can spend on specific examination tasks;
(D) the recommended accommodation and how it relates
to the examinee's disability;
(E) the professional's name, title, telephone number,
and his/her original signature;
(F) any other information necessary, in the professional's
opinion, to enable the exam provider to understand the examinee's
disability and the accommodation necessary to enable the examinee
to demonstrate his/her knowledge, skills, and ability.
(f) Documentation supporting an accommodation shall
be valid for five (5) years from the date submitted to the Board except
that no further documentation shall be required where the original
documentation clearly states that the disability will not change in
the future.
(g) The Board has the responsibility to evaluate each
request for accommodation and to approve, deny, or suggest alternative
reasonable accommodations. The Board may consider an examinee's history
of accommodation in determining its reasonableness in relation to
the currently identified impact of the disability.
(h) Information related to a request for accommodation
shall be kept confidential to the extent provided by law.
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