The American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires state and local governments, businesses and non-profit organizations to provide goods, services and programs to people with disabilitie4s on an equal basis with the rest of the public.
Some people think that only new construction and alterations need to be accessible and that older facilities are "grandfathered," but that's not true. Because the ADA is a civil rights law and not a building code, older facilities are often required to be accessible to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate.
The ADA has different requirements for state and local governments and for places of public accommodation (businesses and non-profit organizations that serve the public).
Requirements for State and Local Governments
State and local governments must ensure that services, programs and activities, when viewed in their entirety, are accessible to people with disabilities. This is part of public entities' program accessibility obligations. Alterations to older buildings may be needed to ensure program accessibility. Generally, this is a greater obligation than "readily achievable barrier removal" the standard that applies to public accommodations. State and local governments are not required to take any action that would result in undue financial and administrative burdens.
State and local governments' ADA obligations for program accessibility are in the Department of Justice's ADA Title II regulations 28 CFR Part 35.150.
Requirements for Places of Public Accommodation
Businesses and non-profit organizations that serve the public must remove architectural barriers when it is "readily achievable" to do so; in other words, when barrier removal is "easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense."
The decision of what is readily achievable is made considering the size, type, and overall finances of the public accommodation and the nature and cost of the access improvements needed. Barrier removal that is difficult now may be readily achievable in the future as finances change.
Public accommodations' ADA obligations for barrier removal are in the Department of Justice's ADA Title III regulations 28 CFR Part 36.304.
Priorities for Accessibility
The checklist follows the four priorities that are listed in the Department of Justice ADA Title III regulations. These priorities are equally applicable to state and local government facilities.
Priority 1 - Accessible approach and entrance
Priority 2 - Access to goods and services
Priority 3 - Access to public toilet rooms
Priority 4 - Access to other items such as water fountains and public telephones
2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design
The checklist is based on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards). The checklist does not include all sections of the 2010 Standards. For example, there are no questions about patient rooms in hospitals or guest rooms in hotels. Consult the 2010 Standards for situations not covered in the checklist. Full compliance with the 2010 Standards is required only for new construction and alterations.
Safe Harbor – Construction Prior to March 15, 2012
Elements in facilities built or altered before March 15, 2012 that comply with the 1991 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (1991 Standards) are not required to be modified to specifications in the 2010 Standards. For example, the 1991 Standards allow 54 inches maximum for a side reach range to a control such as the operating part of a paper towel dispenser. The 2010 Standards lower that side reach range to 48 inches maximum. If a paper towel dispenser was installed prior to March 15, 2012 with the highest operating part at 54 inches, the paper towel dispenser does not need to be lowered to 48 inches.
Elements in the 2010 Standards that aren’t in the 1991 Standards
The 2010 Standards contain elements that are not in the 1991 Standards. These elements include recreation facilities such as swimming pools, team and player seating, accessible routes to court sports facilities, saunas and steam rooms, fishing piers, play areas, exercise machines, golf facilities, miniature golf facilities, amusement rides, shooting facilities with firing positions, and recreational boating facilities. Because these elements are not in the 1991 Standards, they are not subject to the safe harbor exemption. State and local governments must make these items accessible if necessary to ensure program accessibility, unless an undue burden would result. Public accommodations must remove architectural barriers to these items.
What this Checklist is Not
The ADA Title II and III regulations require more than program accessibility and barrier removal. The regulations include requirements for nondiscriminatory policies and practices and for the provision of auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters for people who are deaf and material in Braille for people who are blind. This checklist does not cover those requirements.
Since this checklist does not include all of the 2010 Standards it is not intended to determine compliance for new construction or facilities being altered.
What are Public Accommodations?
Under the ADA public accommodations are private entities that own, lease, lease to or operate a place of public accommodation. This means that both a landlord who leases space in a building to a tenant and the tenant who operates a place of public accommodation have responsibilities to remove barriers.
A place of public accommodation is a facility whose operations affect commerce and fall within at least one of the following 12 categories:
1) Places of lodging (e.g., inns, hotels, motels, except for owner-occupied establishments renting fewer than six rooms)
2) Establishments serving food or drink (e.g. , restaurants and bars)
3) Places of exhibition or entertainment (e.g. , motion picture houses, theaters, concert halls, stadiums)
4) Places of public gathering (e.g. , auditoriums, convention centers, lecture halls)
5) Sales or rental establishments (e.g. , bakeries, grocery stores, hardware stores, shopping centers)
6) Service establishments (e.g. , laundromats, dry-cleaners, banks, barber shops, beauty shops, travel services, shoe repair services, funeral parlors, gas stations, offices of accountants or lawyers, pharmacies, insurance offices, professional offices of health care providers, hospitals)
7) Public transportation terminals, depots, or stations (not including facilities relating to air transportation)
8) Places of public display or collection (e.g. , museums, libraries, galleries)
9) Places of recreation (e.g. , parks, zoos, amusement parks)
10) Places of education (e.g. , nursery schools, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private schools)
11) Social service center establishments (e.g. , day care centers, senior citizen centers, homeless shelters, food banks, adoption agencies)
12) Places of exercise or recreation (e.g. , gymnasiums, health spas, bowling alleys, golf courses).
Resources
U.S. Department of Justice ADA Information
800-514-0301 voice
800-514-0383 TTY
ADA National Network
800-949-4232 voice/TTY connects to your regional ADA Center
U.S. Access Board
800- 872-2253 voice
800-993-2822 TTY
Tax Deductions and Credits for Barrier Removal
Comments