Events and Accommodations

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers all activities of state and local governments regardless of the government entity's size or receipt of federal funding. Title II requires that state and local governments give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities. All institutional and departmental publications that describe or invite public participation or attendance in programs at the university, and all university-sponsored events held off campus, are required to contain a disability accommodation statement. 

The statement must be in the invitation or announcement of the event and provide an event contact, email, and phone number. The accommodation notice will enable the event planner to arrange reasonable accommodations in advance. A comprehensive description of the event should include location, environmental conditions, availability of captioning or ASL interpreting, and accessibility features of overnight lodging, if applicable.

Suggested accommodation statement

Following is the recommended accessibility statement that should be included on all event notices:

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact (insert name) at (insert phone number) or (insert email) during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.

Response to accommodations requests

When responding to a request for accommodation, event planners should focus on the accessibility issue and the requested accommodation. Respond as quickly as possible to a participant requesting an accommodation because it may take several communications to work through the details of a particular request. The preferred accommodation from the participant should be given primary consideration.

If the preferred option proves difficult to provide or if there are questions, consult with ADA and Accessibility Services team at adaaccess@vt.edu for employee and visitor requests or Services for Students with Disabilities in Student Affairs for student requests.