ADA Guidelines
Definitions
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act provides comprehensive civil right protections for
“qualified individuals with disabilities.” An “individual with a disability” is a person who:
- has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a “major life activity,” or
- has a record of such an impairment, or
- is regarded as having such an impairment.
The ADA Handbook published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the
Department of Justice states: “examples of physical or mental impairments include, but are not
limited to, such contagious and noncontagious diseases and conditions as orthopedic, visual,
speech, and hearing impairments; cerebral palsy, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple
sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mental retardation, emotional illness, specific learning
disabilities, HIV disease (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), tuberculosis, drug addiction,
and alcoholism. Homosexuality and bisexuality are not physical or mental impairments under the
ADA.”
“Major life activities” include functions such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks,
walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals who currently
engage in the illegal use of drugs are not protected by the ADA when an action is taken on the
basis of their current illegal use of drugs.
“Qualified” individuals are defined as follows:
- A “qualified” individual with a disability is one who meets the essential eligibility requirements for the program or activity offered.
- The “essential eligibility requirements” will depend on the type of service or activity involved.
The stated mission of the Department of Occupational Therapy at Samuel Merritt College is to
prepare entry-level occupational therapists who can evaluate, manage, and treat the general
population of acute care and rehabilitation patients/clients, in a variety of health care settings.
Potential occupational therapists are expected to complete the academic and clinical
requirements of the professional MOT program before they can sit for the registration
examination and practice. The purpose of this document is to delineate the cognitive, affective
and psychomotor skills deemed essential to completion of this program and to perform as a
competent generalist in occupational therapy.
If a student cannot demonstrate the following skills and abilities, it is the responsibility of the
student to request an appropriate accommodation. The College will provide reasonable
accommodation as long as it does not fundamentally alter the nature of the program offered and
does not impose an undue hardship such as those that cause a significant expense, difficulty or
are unduly disruptive to the educational process.
Cognitive Learning Skills
The student must demonstrate the ability to:
- Conceptualize a sequential progression of tasks and/or standardized testing and make objective conclusions based on the test results.
- Apply critical thinking in the creation, development, generalization and implementation of adaptations to normative methods of behavior and function.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the basic anatomical structures and physiological
mechanisms that underlie conditions of human dysfunction and occupational
performance. - Analyze the sequential steps, cognitive skills and motor performance of specific
functional tasks relevant to the safety, environment and developmental life tasks of a
patient/client. This analysis should also take into account ethnic background, gender
and cultural variables. - Select constructive activities suited to an individual’s current physical capacity,
intelligence level, and interest, so as to upgrade the individual to maximum
independence, prepare for activities of daily living and appropriate life tasks, assist in
restoration of functions and/or aid in adjustment to disability. - Assess and identify cognitive and functional deficits, and determine adaptive or
compensatory methods of functioning. - Apply critical reasoning and independent decision-making skills.
- Assess patient/client safety and maintain or create safe environments during specific
tasks, to enhance patient/client independence in a variety of potential environments.
Psychomotor Skills
The student must demonstrate the following skills:
- Sitting: Maintain upright posture.
- Standing: Student-controlled activity employable during lecture, clinical instruction and
laboratory time. - Locomotion ability to:
a. Get to lecture, lab and clinical locations, and move within rooms as needed for
changing
groups, partners and work stations.
b. Physically maneuver in required clinical settings, to accomplish assigned tasks. - Manual tasks:
a. Lifting ability sufficient to maneuver an individual’s body parts effectively to
perform evaluation and treatment techniques.
b. Manipulate common tools used for screening tests and therapeutic intervention
of the individual.
c. Demonstrate the ability to safely and effectively guide and facilitate patient/client
movement skills and motor patterns through physical facilitation and inhibition
techniques (including ability to give time- urgent verbal feed back).
d. Manipulate or guide another person’s body in transfers, ambulation, positioning
and assisted or facilitated trunk, head and limb movement.
e. Manipulate bolsters, pillows, plinths, mats, assistive/adaptive devices, and other
supports or chairs to aid in positioning, moving, or treating a patient/client
effectively.
g. Competently perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (C. P. R.) using guidelines
issued by the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross. - Gross motor ability to participate in recreational or movement activities that may involve
tossing, catching, weight shifts, reaching, balancing on equipment, etc. - Small motor/hand skill usage ability to:
a. Legibly record/document evaluations, patient care notes, referrals, etc. in
standard medical charts in hospital/clinical settings in a timely manner and
consistent with the acceptable norms of clinical settings.
b. Demonstrate or complete activities or tests with adequate degree of fine motor
dexterity.
c. Sense changes in an individual’s muscle tone, skin quality, joint play,
kinesthesia, and temperature to gather accurate objective evaluative informationin a timely manner and sense that individual’s response to environmental
changes and treatment.
d. Legibly record thoughts for written assignments or tests. - Visual acuity to:
a. Read patient/client charts or histories in hospital/clinical setting.
b. Observe even the slightest aberrations of patient/client motor performance
during tasks/tests. - Hearing or ability to receive and:
a. Effectively respond to oral requests/instructions from patients and team
members.
b. Interpret the language used to communicate lectures, instructions, concepts,
narratives, questions and answers.
c. Auscultate for internal body sounds, e.g., heart, bowel, lungs. - Communication ability to:
a. Effectively communicate with team members.
b. Articulate detailed instructions to patients, caretakers, family or other clinical
personnel. - Self care ability to:
a. Maintain general good health and self care in order not to jeopardize the health
and safety of self and individuals with whom one interacts in the academic and
clinical settings.
b. Arrange transportation and living accommodations for/during off-campus clinical
assignments to foster timely reporting to classroom and clinical center.
Affective learning skills
The student must be able to:
- Demonstrate appropriate, affective behaviors and mental attitudes to ensure the emotional,physical, mental, and behavioral safety of the patient/client in compliance with the ethical standards of the American Occupational Therapy Association.
- Sustain the mental and emotional rigors of a demanding educational program in occupational
therapy that includes academic and clinical components that occur within set time
constraints, and often concurrently. - Acknowledge and respect individual values and opinions in order to foster harmonious
working relationships with colleagues, peers, and patients/clients.