[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 82 (Friday, April 29, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-10273]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: April 29, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Parts 300, 307, 315, 318, 346, 350, 351, 359, 361, 363, 365,
366, 367, 369, 371, 373, 374, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 385, 386,
387, 388, and 389
RIN 1820-AB26
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Programs
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking; nomenclature
changes.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)
for revision of certain program regulations administered by the Office
of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to change the
term ``severe'' in all its forms to ``significant'' in referring to an
individual's disability. No final regulations will be issued based on
the NPRM. However, the Secretary does plan to incorporate the change in
program regulations implementing Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973, as amended (Act). These program regulations are currently being
developed to implement changes required by the Rehabilitation Act
Amendments of 1992 and the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1993. The
Secretary expects to publish these proposed regulations shortly.
DATES: The NPRM is withdrawn effective April 29, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory March, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3124, Mary E. Switzer
Building, Washington, DC 20202-2741. Telephone: (202) 205-8441 for
voice or TDD services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 27, 1993, the Secretary published
an NPRM in the Federal Register proposing to revise certain program
regulations administered by OSERS to change the term ``severe'' in all
its forms to ``significant'' in referring to an individual's disability
(58 FR 57938) (Nomenclature NPRM). Also on October 27, 1993, the
Secretary published a separate NPRM (58 FR 57942) on the indicators of
minimum compliance with the evaluation standards under the Centers for
Independent Living Program (Indicators NPRM). The Indicators NPRM
notified the public of the Nomenclature NPRM and advised the public to
direct their comments on the proposed nomenclature change to the
Nomenclature NPRM.
The Secretary received 37 comments on the Nomenclature NPRM
expressing a wide range of points of view about the proposed change.
Commenters favoring the change generally expressed the view that the
term ``significant'' is less pejorative than ``severe'' in referring to
an individual's disability. These comments were generally received from
commenters with an interest in the Independent Living Services and
Centers for Independent Living programs authorized by Title VII of the
Act. Commenters opposing the change raised several issues. Some
suggested that the change is technically not accurate and that a change
in meaning would result despite departmental assurances to the
contrary. Others suggested that the change would be confusing and
burdensome to implement and that the change should be made through
legislation rather than through rulemaking. These comments were
generally received from commenters with an interest in the Vocational
Rehabilitation Services programs authorized by Title I of the Act.
The Secretary received 102 comments on the ``Indicators NPRM,'' of
which 56 included comments on the proposed change of the term
``severe'' to ``significant.'' Of these 56 comments, only 4 expressed
concern with the proposed change. Approximately 28 commenters
specifically approved of the proposed change, and 24 commenters used
the new terminology in their own comments, implicitly indicating their
approval of the proposed change. That is, these 24 commenters used the
term ``significant'' instead of the term ``severe'' in their comments,
even though they did not specifically approve of the proposed change.
The remaining 50 commenters expressed no views on the proposed change
and did not use either of the terms ``severe'' or ``significant'' in
their comments.
Based on the favorable support for the nomenclature change received
from the independent living community, the Secretary plans to propose
the change in program regulations implementing Title VII of the Act.
The proposed Title VII regulations would implement changes to the Act
made by the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-569) and
the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-73). The
Secretary expects to publish these proposed regulations shortly. The
Secretary does not plan to make the nomenclature change in any other
program regulations.
Dated: April 25, 1994.
Howard R. Moses,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services.
[FR Doc. 94-10273 Filed 4-28-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
