N.M. Code R. § 6.75.4.7 - DEFINITIONS

A. "Alternate accessible format" as used in the Braille Access Act has the same meaning as "specialized formats" as used in the IDEA and both terms mean one of several alternatives to traditional printed instructional materials, including but not limited to Braille, audio or digital text or large print formats which are exclusively for students as defined in this rule.

B. "Department" means the public education department.

C. "Educational institution" means "public school", including charter schools, or "state agency" or "state institution" as defined in Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978.

D. "Educational purposes" means materials that are necessary for instruction of a student.

E. "Instructional materials" means textbooks, workbooks, teacher manuals or editions, blackline masters, transparencies, test packets, software, CD-ROMs, videotapes and audio materials.

F. "National instructional materials access center" or NIMAC means the center established pursuant to 20 U.S.C. 1474(e) of the IDEA.

G. "National instructional materials accessibility standard" or NIMAS means the standard established by the secretary of the United States department of education to be used in the preparation of electronic files suitable and used solely for efficient conversion into specialized formats.

H. "Nontextual mathematics or science instruction materials" means mathematical or scientific pictures, illustrations, graphs, charts, symbols and notations.

I. "Structural integrity" means all of the printed instructional materials, including the text of the material, sidebars, table of contents, chapter headings and subheadings, footnotes, indexes, glossaries and bibliographies. Structural integrity need not include nontextual elements such as pictures, illustrations, graphs or charts. The publisher should include a brief textual description of any such nontextual element when it is practical to do so and mention of the nontextual element when a description is not practical.

J. "Student" means a blind or other person with print disabilities accepted, enrolled in or attending an educational institution who has been determined by the educational institution to need instructional materials in an alternate accessible format and shall include:

(1) 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;

(2) persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless of optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as limiting the reading of standard printed material;

(3) persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations;

(4) 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.

K. "Competent authority" as used in this subsection is defined as follows:

(1) 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, vocational rehabilitation counselors, teachers of students with blindness/visual impairment B-12 and superintendents).

(2) 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.

L. "Timely manner" means ten business days from the receipt by the authorized user of the NIMAS conformant file from NIMAC or in the case of an educational institution that chooses not to coordinate with the NIMAC, ten business days from the identification by the educational institution that the student needs printed instructional materials in an alternate accessible or specialized format. Partial receipt of instructional materials in alternate accessible or specialized formats shall be considered receipt in a timely manner if the material received covers both the chapters in the instructional materials that have been covered and the chapters that are currently being covered by the student's class.

Notes

N.M. Code R. § 6.75.4.7

6.75.4.7 NMAC - N, 12-14-06