a. “Auditory impairment” means an inability to hear within normal limits due to a physical impairment or dysfunction of auditory mechanisms characterized by: (i) deafness, (ii) hearing impairment, (iii) hardness of hearing, or (iv) deaf-blindness. “Deaf” means an auditory impairment is so severe that the individual does not process linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, and the student’s educational performance is adversely affected. “Hearing impairment” means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, which adversely affects the individual’s educational performance. “Deaf-blind” means concomitant hearing and visual disabilities, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that the child cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

b. “Competent authority” means any doctor of medicine or any doctor of osteopathy licensed to practice medicine and surgery in this State.

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1994, c.48).

d. “Eligible student” means any student admitted to a public or independent institution of higher education who has a visual impairment, auditory impairment or specific learning disability within guidelines established by the Commission on Higher Education pursuant to regulations promulgated under P.L.1985, c.493 (C. 18A:72H-1 et seq.).

e. “Independent institution of higher education” means a college or university incorporated and located in New Jersey, which by virtue of law or character or license is a nonprofit educational institution authorized to grant academic degrees and which provides a level of education which is equivalent to the education provided by the State’s public institutions of higher education, as attested by the receipt of and continuation of regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and which is eligible to receive State aid under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, but does not include any educational institution dedicated primarily to the education or training of ministers, priests, rabbis or other professional persons in the field of religion.

f. “Learning disability” means a significant barrier to learning caused by a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself as a disability that affects the ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The disorder includes conditions such as perceptual disability, brain injury, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. This term shall not include learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

g. “Program” means the Higher Education Services Program for Students with Visual Impairments, Auditory Impairments, and Learning Disabilities established pursuant to this act.

h. “Public institution of higher education” means Rutgers, The State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rowan University, Montclair State University, Kean University, the State colleges and the county colleges.

i. “Support services” or “supportive services” means services that assist eligible students in obtaining a college education and include, but are not limited to, interpreters, note takers, and tutors.

j. “Visual impairment” means when an individual’s better eye with correction does not exceed 20/200 or where there is a field defect in the better eye in which the diameter of the field is no greater than 20 degrees.

L.1985, c.493, s.3; amended 1994, c.48, s.282; 2012, c.45, s.107; 2017, c.131, s.58; 2017, c.178, s.64; 2021, c.282, s.66.