Bill 96 CEGEP Learning Disability Exemption: What Quebec Special Ed Students Need to Know

Bill 96 — now Law 14 — has fundamentally changed what it means to graduate from a Quebec English-language CEGEP, and for students with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, or language processing disorders, the new requirements are raising urgent questions that families are not getting straight answers on.

Here's what the law actually requires, who is affected, and what documentation you need to be building now — especially if your secondary school student has a plan d'intervention.

What Bill 96 Requires at the CEGEP Level

Under Bill 96 (Law 14), students enrolled at English-language CEGEPs must now fulfill one of the following to graduate:

1. Complete three core program courses taught in French, or
2. Complete three additional French-as-a-second-language (FSL) courses beyond what was previously required, and
3. Pass a French language exit exam (l'épreuve uniforme de français or equivalent) to receive their diploma

These requirements apply across all English-language CEGEPs in Quebec — Dawson, Vanier, John Abbott, Heritage, and others. They took effect for students entering CEGEP from 2023 onward.

For students without learning disabilities or language challenges, this is a significant hurdle. For EHDAA students with dyslexia, autism, language processing disorders, or ADHD, advocacy groups including EPCA (English Parents' Committee Association) have characterized these requirements as potentially "insurmountable barriers" to post-secondary graduation.

The Exemption Question

The most common question families are asking: can a student with a documented disability be exempted from the French exit exam or the three-course requirement?

The honest answer is that exemptions exist but the process is not straightforward, the criteria are not uniformly applied across CEGEPs, and the documentation requirements are significant.

What exemptions are available:

• Students with severe language impairments documented by authorized professionals may be eligible for exemptions from specific exam components or for adapted assessment conditions
• Students with disabilities may be entitled to accommodations for the French courses themselves — extended time, assistive technology, separate testing rooms — under the same duty-to-accommodate principles that apply at the secondary level

What "exemption" typically does not mean:

• A blanket exemption from all French language requirements for students with learning disabilities
• Automatic accommodation without formal application and professional documentation

Each CEGEP has its own services adaptés (adapted services) department that handles disability accommodations. The specific accommodations available, and the process for obtaining them, vary by institution. This is a critical departure from the secondary school context, where LIP Articles 96.14 and 234 create province-wide obligations.

Who Is Most at Risk

Students with the following profiles face the highest barriers under Bill 96's CEGEP requirements:

Code 34 (Language disorders/dysphasia): The requirement to demonstrate French language proficiency through coursework and exit examination is a direct barrier for students whose disability specifically affects language processing and production.

Code 50 (Autism Spectrum Disorder): Students with autism who have language processing differences or who rely heavily on routine and familiar environments may find French-language course requirements particularly destabilizing.

Dyslexia and dysorthographia: Even with English-language accommodations, students with significant reading and writing disabilities face compounded difficulty in a second language.

ADHD with significant academic impact: The additional course burden created by three French language courses (beyond prior requirements) may cause academic overload for students whose executive function challenges already make full-time CEGEP programming difficult.

What Documentation to Build Now (While Still in Secondary School)

If your child is in secondary school and has a plan d'intervention, the groundwork for CEGEP accommodations needs to be laid well before graduation.

1. Current professional assessments

CEGEP services adaptés departments require professional documentation from authorized Quebec clinicians (psychologists, neuropsychologists, orthophonists). The assessment must document:

• The specific diagnosis
• How the disability affects learning
• Specific recommended accommodations

Assessments older than three to five years are often not accepted. If your child's last formal assessment is aging, plan for an updated evaluation well before the CEGEP transition.

2. Secondary school documentation

The PI history matters. Documentation showing the accommodations your child received in secondary school — extended time, text-to-speech, separate testing, modified assessment — provides the baseline for CEGEP accommodation requests. Bring this documentation to the CEGEP intake process.

3. The CEGEP transition protocol

Quebec has a formal transition pathway for EHDAA students moving from secondary school to CEGEP. Under this pathway, the secondary school is supposed to initiate contact with the CEGEP services adaptés and share relevant documentation with parental consent. In practice, this doesn't always happen smoothly — advocate for it explicitly during the final year of secondary school.

Practical Steps for Families

Talk to your secondary school's resource teacher now. If your child is in Secondary IV or V and has a PI, ask explicitly: what documentation will be transferred to CEGEP? Who initiates the contact with the CEGEP services adaptés?

Contact the CEGEP services adaptés directly. Don't wait for the school to make the connection. Contact the CEGEP your child is likely to attend and ask about:

• Their process for documenting disabilities at intake
• What documentation they accept and how recent it must be
• Their specific accommodations for French-language courses and the exit exam
• Whether they have specific experience with students who have language processing disorders under Bill 96

Request that French-language course accommodation needs be documented in the PI. The current secondary school PI should explicitly note that the student will require French-language course accommodations upon CEGEP transition. This creates a documented record before the transition occurs.

Connect with advocacy organizations. EPCA (English Parents' Committee Association) has been specifically advocating for Bill 96 exemption clarity for EHDAA students. Their publications track developments in this area and are worth following.

The Bigger Picture: Legislative Advocacy

Bill 96's CEGEP requirements for EHDAA students remain one of the most contested aspects of Quebec language policy. Advocacy organizations continue to push for clearer, more accessible exemption pathways. The current situation, where exemptions exist in principle but are inconsistently applied and require significant documentation to access, disadvantages exactly the families who already face the most barriers.

If your child is years away from CEGEP but has EHDAA designations, stay connected to advocacy developments in this area. The rules as of 2026 may not be the rules when your child arrives at CEGEP.

The Quebec Special Ed Advocacy Playbook at /ca/quebec/advocacy/ includes a section on the CEGEP transition process and the documentation checklist that maximizes the chances of obtaining appropriate accommodations under Bill 96.

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