Digital Textbook Eligibility

The use of KAMD digital textbooks is limited to qualified students with disabilities. 

The student's eligibility status must be certified by a competent authority as defined in the Library of Congress regulations (36 CFR 701.6(b)(1)) related to the Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind (approved March 3, 1931, 2 U.S.C. 135a), as described below.  It is the Digital Rights Manager's responsibility to have on file for each student receiving KAMD digital textbooks a completed eligibility form that has been signed by the appropriate competent authority. (Click here to download the eligibility form as a Word document) (Click here to download the eligibility form as a PDF document)

Qualified students with disabilities are those who meet the definition as described by the Library of Congress and referenced in IDEA 2004:

From Federal Register 34 CFR Parts 300 and 301, p. 46621, published August 14, 2006:

The Library of Congress regulations (36 CFR 701.6(b)(1)) related to the Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind (approved March 3, 1931, 2 U.S.C. 135a) provide that blind persons or other persons with print disabilities include:

(i) Blind persons whose visual acuity, as determined by competent authority, is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, or whose widest diameter if visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.

(ii) Persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless of optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as preventing the reading of standard printed material.

(iii) Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations.

(iv) Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity to prevent their reading printed material in a normal manner.

Competent authority is defined in 36 CFR 701.6(b)(2) as follows:

(i) In cases of blindness, visual disability, or physical limitations ‘‘competent authority’’ is defined to include doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, ophthalmologists, optometrists, registered nurses, therapists, professional staff of hospitals, institutions, and public or welfare agencies (e.g., social workers, case workers, counselors, rehabilitation teachers, and superintendents).

(ii) In the case of a reading disability from organic dysfunction, "competent authority" is defined as doctors of medicine who may consult with colleagues in associated disciplines.

You will find this federal regulation translated into table form below. 

In the left hand column is a list of types of disabilities which may impact a student’s access to the general curriculum.  The center column indicates whether that particular disability type may qualify a student to receive a digital textbook.  The right hand column defines the “Competent Authority” that must certify that a student possesses that particular disability type before a digital textbook can be issued.

Overview of Federal Regulations Determining Student Eligibility for Digital Textbooks