Updated June 09, 2015.
Since state colleges and universities, as well as many other post-secondary educational institutions receive federal funding, two separate federal laws relating to Deaf persons, and others with disabilities, must be examined. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794, as amended, concerns itself with any institution receiving any form of financial assistance or loans for the institution or for its students who attend the institution.

The long and short of the legislation states that such institutions must be accessible to students or other individuals with disabilities. This includes, but is not limited to, auxiliary aids for persons with sensory impairments, which would mean providing interpreters, transcribers, note-takers, digital readout computers or other telecommunications equipment. It means the installation of visual alarm systems in conjunction with audio alarms, and, as with public schools, does not allow the institution to charge the student for these services. As with other provisions expressed earlier in this paper concerning employment and public access, Deaf students, or Deaf family members of hearing students, are not to be denied access to any programs or opportunities afforded to any hearing individual.
As was the case in private industry and elsewhere, many colleges and universities expressed concern about the cost of providing auxiliary educational aids, particularly when they required hiring of additional personnel such as interpreters, or when they required technology updates and hardware as in the case of video display monitors and special telephones.

The Department of Education has reminded concerned parties that there are many resources for finding such aids, such as state rehabilitation agencies and private charitable organizations. Furthermore, many Deaf students are eligible for vocational rehabilitation assistance, and may get financial assistance to offset some of the expenses for these aids.

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C.§§12182, and 12183 takes the provisions set forth in the Rehabilitation Act one step further, by including equal rights and access to all state and local government activities and agencies, regardless of receipt of federal funds. Sections of Title III of ADA apply even to private schools and colleges, as well as all other places of public accommodation. The tone of the ADA language is to guarantee that communication is open to the Deaf student as equally and openly as the hearing student, and that all opportunities afforded to the hearing student are there for the Deaf student as well.

The Department of Justice has been very specific in defining the term "auxiliary aid" in 28 C.F.R. §35.160 by listing "qualified interpreters, note-takers, computer-aided transcription services, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, assistive listening devices, assistive listening systems, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption decoders, open and closed captioning, telecommunication devices for deaf persons [TTYs], videotext displays, or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments." The Office of Civil Rights, in order to assist in determining adequate and proper communications delivery, held that there are actually three components of "effective" communication. They are 1. timeliness of delivery, 2. accuracy of the translation and 3 provision of communication in a manner and medium appropriate to the significance of the message and abilities of the individual with the disability. Since all three of these things re assumed to be met in normal classroom settings with hearing students, Deaf students are to be afforded the same proper communications using whatever specified auxiliary aids necessary.

HEALTH CARE

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794 stipulates many of the same things as the sections of law discussed so far. Deaf persons and disabled persons in general, must be given full and complete access to health care facilities that receive government funding of any kind without regard to their disability. Furthermore, necessary auxiliary aids such as sign language interpreters are required. It should be noted, however, that, as important as it is for all interpreters to be fluent and accurate, the importance in a health care environment is even more critical, as it means that both health care provider and patient will be sharing important information about symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and patient expectations. Furthermore, because of the confidential nature of medical records, additional care must be used when selecting interpreters who will be discrete and reliable. Since ASL is a language of signs that is much more than simple fingerspelling, a working vocabulary of medical terminology both in English and ASL is critical. With a few modifications and changes, the Americans with Disabilities Act took what was already stated by the Rehabilitation Act and extended it to include facilities that did not receive government funding.
As has been the case in all situations examined so far, it was determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office that in most cases, it is the Deaf individual who is in the best position to determine the exact services that are needed. This prevents presumptions that hand-written notes will suffice when ASL is the communication method of choice, or the other way around. It opens the doors for hospitals and doctors’ offices to install equipment with video and/or text displays to relay information to patients when that option may be feasible in communities with large Deaf populations. As with other laws examined, the expense of auxiliary accommodations cannot be charged to the patient.