Tuesday, August 25, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

Navigate Accommodations & Nondiscrimination Issues to Reduce Liability

Disability accommodations in experiential learning environments have become one of the most complex and high-risk areas facing colleges and universities today. As accommodation requests increase across internships, clinical placements, practicums, fieldwork, and student teaching experiences, institutions are being forced to navigate evolving expectations surrounding mental health disabilities, neurodivergence, chronic illnesses, attendance flexibility, remote participation, and professional standards.

Many institutions struggle to determine their responsibilities under Title II when students are placed with third-party organizations, especially when placement sites resist accommodations or misunderstand disability law. Balancing accessibility obligations with accreditation requirements, technical competencies, patient or client safety, and program integrity can quickly create operational, legal and reputational challenges.

Join us on August 25, 2026, for a practical, legally grounded webinar designed to help institutions proactively manage disability accommodations in experiential learning settings. You will gain actionable strategies for adapting accommodation processes beyond the classroom, improving collaboration between disability services, faculty, legal counsel, and placement supervisors, and responding effectively to placement-site resistance and complex accommodation requests. You will also explore emerging issues shaping higher education, including mental health accommodations in professional programs, remote and hybrid experiential learning, technical standards, professionalism requirements, and the growing use of AI-driven monitoring technologies. 

Leave with practical tools to strengthen compliance efforts, reduce institutional risk, improve documentation practices, and support student success while preserving critical external partnerships.

Topics Covered

Gain tools and strategies to help you: 

• Understand the process for determining reasonable accommodations for your students in their internship and practicum settings in order to adequately meet valid requests, support their academic goals, increase retention and foster persistence.
• Conduct individualized accommodation analyses in experiential learning settings ,rather than relying on blanket assumptions or rigid policies.
• Respond to placement-site resistance to accommodations, while maintaining institutional compliance obligations.
• Understand how to distinguish between legitimate essential requirements and standards that may unnecessarily exclude students with disabilities.
• Provide resources to faculty and staff who coordinate and supervise internship placements to ensure your institution is in compliance with applicable laws, despite the third party nature of internships and practicums.
• Support diverse learners in their academic pursuits and skill development- avoid lawsuits, reasonable accommodations confusion and non-compliance complications.
  

Presenter

Daiquiri Steele, J.D., Ph.D. serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at The University of Alabama School of Law. She teaches Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, Labor Law, Education Law, Torts, Civil Rights, and Legislation & Regulation.
Click here for full bio.