Telehealth.org’s Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy

Telehealth.org is fully committed to conducting all activities in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy and with the ethical principles of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), American Counseling Association (ACA), American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychological Association (APA), National Association of Drug and Alcohol Counselors (NADAAC), and the National Association of Social Work (NASW). More specifically, there are two federal laws prohibiting discrimination against current trainees or prospective trainees with disabilities. Those laws are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). They apply to all aspects of the Telehealth.org’s services.

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

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 trainee with a disability to enable that trainee 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. Additionally, such accommodations must not fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program or activity provided by Telehealth.org.

The venues for Telehealth.org’s live workshops, seminars, webinars and teleconferences are neither set up nor controlled by the Telehealth.org or any of its speakers. In these cases, the representative from Telehealth.org is ONLY the invited presenter, and at times Telehealth.org provides the CE hours because of its many approvals for such hours. The venues for the presentations are selected, contracted and/or managed by the inviting organizations. As a result, hosting organizations are solely responsible to comply with ADA requirements. When a Telehealth.org speaker presents for or co-sponsors with other organizations, where they are in charge of the physical venues or the digital/Web arrangements (as with webinars), Telehealth.org requires that they comply with all applicable regulations and laws, including ADA. Facilities are expected to accommodate and be accessible to persons with disabilities. Reference to the “facilities” includes the room in which the activity is taking place, restrooms, parking spaces, overnight rooms and other meeting rooms. Such sponsoring organizations are to make their ADA/Grievance Procedure Policy available and provide complaint forms in coordination with the facilities, if required.

As mentioned above, it is the policy of Telehealth.org to make every reasonable effort to provide qualified trainees with disabilities with the opportunity to take full advantage of its programs. To that end, all courses are either text-based or have have transcripts of any video or audio segments. We are adding such transcripts on an ongoing basis. In addition, accommodations for the visually impaired can be arranged for taking all post-tests and evaluations by sending the information outlined below to contact@telehealth.org

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 trainees 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 Telehealth.org by calling 619-255-2788 or emailing contact@telehealth.org and fully explaining the situation, as outlined below.

• Accommodations: a written requisition must be submitted to contact@telehealth.org.
• Documentation: It is the responsibility of trainees 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.

• 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.

• 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. Include a detailed description of how this impairment significantly limits activity at Telehealth.org and resulting major life consequences outside of Telehealth.org.

Grievance Procedure

All complaints should be in writing and contain all pertinent information about the alleged discrimination, including but not limited to the as name, address, phone number of complainant and location, date, and description of the problem. Any written documentation related to email or chat room conversations is also important to include. A complaint of Discrimination on Basis of Disability form can be obtained by contacting the Telehealth.org Director of Continuing Education, by sending an email here: contact@telehealth.org

If a trainee who has a disability does not agree with the accommodation, or if a trainee has any other grievance/s, a meeting/s should be scheduled to see if a compromise solution can be worked out by meeting with the Director of Continuing Education for Telehealth.org, who is Marlene M. Maheu, PhD, 5173 Waring Road, #124 San Diego, CA 92120. Such a meeting can be arranged by sending an email to contact@telehealth.org. A review by the Advisory Board will follow within the next 10 business days. If the grievance still cannot be resolved, the complainant will be advised to contact the appropriate 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 secured files of the Director of Continuing Education. A copy of this Grievance Procedure is available upon request. The staff of Telehealth.org sincerely attempts to serve all trainees with the utmost of respect in all situations. If you have a difficulty with a disability, please communicate openly with us and we will do our best to accommodate you.