General Prohibitions: Segregation
Section 504 and its implementing regulations require that people with disabilities be given aid, benefits, services, or training alongside (not segregated from) people without disabilities, except under the following circumstances.
In order to justify providing separate programs or activities to all customers with disabilities, to particular classes or groups of customers with disabilities, or to individual customers with disabilities, a recipient has the burden of demonstrating that:
- the segregation is necessary in order to provide those customers with disabilities with programs or activities that are as effective as those provided to customers without disabilities;
- the separate program or activity is in fact as effective as the programs or activities provided to customers without disabilities;
- an individualized assessment is performed, and the recipient has concluded that the customer could benefit from a special, segregated program or activity, before referring a particular customer with a disability to the segregated program or activity, and
- the ultimate decision whether to participate in the segregated program or activity is left up to the customer. If the customer is qualified for and wishes to participate in, the "regular," non-segregated programs or activities, he or she may not be denied the right to do so.
