Sometimes they do provide alternatives, but state schools can be more rigid. One more time, contact either Office for Civil Rights at the Federal Dept. of Education OR a lawyer who can answer the question, do the appropriate research, contact the right person. The lack of follow up is probably due to the administrator not knowing what to do himself. They are often grateful for the kind of solution a lawyer can provide. It is NOT adversarial to do these things.
I can feel the frustration in your post, and I’m so sorry you aren’t finding the disability services coordinator helpful. I would encourage your student to find out who this person reports to, and work your way up the ladder. They likely report to a Director of the office or, if it’s a small school and they work alone, they report to a dean of some sort. You could certainly file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, and the school will most likely get into trouble for their process, if nothing else. That won’t necessarily answer your question though of whether or not he can have a course substitution. They will require the school to follow a process to get the question answered, but that’s it. They won’t make an accommodation determination.
When you find a supervisor to talk to, your son should be prepared with (1) his diagnosis, (2) his symptoms, and (3) the barriers he encounters in this class as they relate to his symptoms. He should also be prepared with a request of some sort. He may want to ask for an accommodation that allows him to give his speeches one-on-one to the professor OR that allows him to pre-record himself and then play it for the class. You may have more luck with accommodations than with requesting a course substitution.
If your son is certain the substitution is the only option that will work, the school must consider the request on a case-by case basis. According to OCR, determinations about whether or not a requirement is essential to a degree program or course must be determined on an individual basis by a team of qualified experts (not by an individual faculty member of dean). If your son is denied on this basis, he should insist on being provided a written explanation of the process that was used to make this determination. The key here is to be sure there is a proper consideration given to each request.
I find it hard to believe that public speaking is essential to every degree at the school, but I do believe it can be appropriately considered essential to certain degree programs, such as business, political science, and even education. If they determine that public speaking is essential to the degree program at their institution, and they’ve used a proper process, it is very hard to argue that a student shouldn’t have to meet the requirement. This is a core difference between K-12 and college. And that’s where the accommodations come in.
According to Title 34 , in regard to postsecondary education, “Modifications may include…substitutions of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements…” Thanks for all the great info. I will let y’all know how it turns out.
As I said, I have called the Federal Dept of Ed, Office for Civil Rights many times as a resource for advice but I have NEVER filed a complaint. One time they did do some training at our school. it was friendly.
OP, just keep in mind the line right before the part about modifications: “Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded as discriminatory within the meaning of this section.”
This is the part that allows an institution to impose a degree requirement without a course substitution if they deem it essential. For example, a pre-med major is not going to be approved to sub out of Anatomy & Physiology, because that course is essential material for such a major. It sounds like your son’s institution is making this argument, but they can’t do that without a reasoned review of your son’s request. And I’m highly suspicious of their assertion that public speaking is essential to ALL majors at their university. That tells me they aren’t doing an individualized assessment of your son’s accommodation request, so I would push back hard on that point. I hope you find a resolution in speaking to someone higher up at the university!
OP. I suggest keeping a paper-trail. Document all phone conversations via e-mail. This will help to prevent misunderstandings as well.
EVERYTHING should be in writing…not just phone calls. Print out emails you receive and send.
I know families who sent snail mail…requesting a return receipt so they would know the info was received.
Here is a recent thread where a U refused to allow a core curriculum foreign language credit to be waived.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/2119905-waiving-language-requirement-at-a-college-p1.html
U’s that have a core that all students must complete may be inflexible about granting waivers.
I’m not saying that the OP shouldn’t make the contacts. She should. She may be able to get them to work with her ds to receive the outcome that they desire. But, the OP should enter into the process fully aware that her interpretation of what she is reading may not equate to the actual outcome. I hope for her ds’s sake that they are successful in their appeal. But, it may come down to needing to have a plan in place in how her ds is going to fulfill the credit if the school does not budge. It might be prudent to do both simultaneously vs focusing just on the waiver bc it that is the position he ends up in, the anxiety without a plan may be even worse.
Accommodations cannot pose a financial or administrative burden, or substantially change the academic program. These things are slowly being defined in court but the language is vague and open to interpretation.
However, it would seem right now that the problem isn’t that the university is saying no, it is that they are avoiding it because the administrator in question doesn’t know and hasn’t gotten around to finding out or doesn’t know how to find out. This is why legal advice can help everyone, because once info is known, a resolution one way or the other will happen. It may be that no one on campus (or even at the state level) knows and it will take them work to figure it out and they are avoiding it.
Be aware that they are always concerned with setting precedents as well.
I would work on this with an advocate, while working further with a psychiatrist, possibly trying beta blockers. You just take one before the speech, much as musicians do before a performance.
@compmom Except we are only hearing one side of the story. In the OP, she wrote
That makes it sound like maybe he did investigate and was unable to get a waiver.
The OP goes on to state
It may be that the communication between the 2 parties is poor bc expectations and results are mismatched.
A quick Google turned up this result: “All University of South Alabama students, whether they start as freshmen or transfer students, must fulfill general education/core curriculum requirements, as mandated by the State Legislature.” If that applies across the AL system and speech is one of those courses, the answer may have been misunderstood as lack of attention vs actual answer.
I think the disability office is not following up because it is not a problem sizzling on the desk of the person the OP has been dealing with. Several alternatives have been suggested, like video taping the speeches, taking an online course, or taking the course at another school and transferring the credits in. I think it may be easier to work directly with the professor at the BEGINNING of the course about the speeches and doing them privately or on video, or having alternative projects, rather than expecting the disabilities office to be a go between. I’d go to the dean of arts and sciences ask for help? Ask what they do for deaf students, or those who are physically mute and unable to do a speech (that other can understand), or students who speak little English.
The state may require that the course be taken but it doesn’t restrict the professor as to what can count for completing the course. Is a pass/fail option available? What can substitute for the final speech? Have a list of courses that may work for substitution. If the dean sees that your son is trying to complete the course, I bet he’ll be more helpful and trying to figure out a way to complete it.
You can file a complaint but that may take a long time to resolve.
Good points above. We have never found the Office of Disabilities to be the source of real help. They are more like a filter 
Deans are better bets.