The U.S. Department of Education will seek public input on possible amendments to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in public and private programs and activities that receive federal funding, including schools and postsecondary institutions.

The Department’s Office for Civil Rights will solicit public comments to help decide how best to improve current regulations to assist America’s students with disabilities. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and, as part of the President’s Unity Agenda, President Biden announced a strategy to address our nation’s mental health crisis. The work that OCR will do this month to listen to and solicit public input regarding improvements to the Department’s disability rights regulations will include input from those people with disabilities who also have mental health needs and their advocates.

A summary of federal policies and regulations related to 504 can be found HERE.

Interested parties may go to www2.ed.gov/policy/rights/reg/ocr/ to submit comments. The Department will also hold listening sessions in the coming months.