Accessibility to Businesses & the Community

This is an important area for people with disabilities. The article is longer and I can e-mail a copy, if you contact me @ cnoe59@cableone.net.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive Federal civil rights law that requires equal opportunity and access for individuals with disabilities to the goods and services offered by the more than 6 million businesses in the United States. Knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the ADA are essential to compliance.

While the ADA was signed into law over 17 years ago, businesses continue to struggle with understanding their obligations. Many businesses covered by Title III of the ADA do not realize that they are required to do what is readily achievable in order to remove existing architectural and communication barriers. Readily achievable barrier removal is defined as barriers which can be removed without much difficulty or expense. There is a misperception that if no alterations have been undertaken then there is no requirement to address accessibility. The ADA does not contain a grandfather clause. A lack of knowledge and understanding of the ADA's requirements does not exempt a business from compliance.

Readily achievable barrier removal may involve designing an accessible route from the parking lot to the business, mounting dispensers in accessible locations and altering a portion of a service counter to make it accessible. The obligation to provide access to a facility and remove barriers is on-going and can be intimidating to small businesses and organizations. Providing access and removing barriers is not only the law, it also makes good business sense.