ADA Police -Association of Disability Advocates.
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Section 508 of The Rehabilitation Act
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
The Help Americans To Vote Act
There is a "family" of federal laws that provide civil rights to people with disabilities. The best known of these laws is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which became federal law in 1990. There are 4 primary parts to this law:
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination in employment against people with disabilities. There are many regulations that protect people with disabilities from employment discrimination though the federal courts have dramatically narrowed these protections over the last 15 years. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that this section of the ADA does not apply to people with disabilities who work for agencies of state governments.
Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by local and state governments. All government programs and services, "when taken in their entirety" must be equally accessible to all people with disabilities. Physical barriers to equal access must be removed when these barriers cause less than equal access to programs and services. Policies, procedures, and rules (sometimes including local ordinances) must be modified when necessary to provide equal access to programs and services for people with disabilities.
Title III of the ADA requires that all business facilities that are open to the public must be accessible to people with disabilities. This section of the ADA contains the ADA Accessibility Guidelines that dictates how any business facility open to the public, built after the ADA became law, must be constructed so as to provide full and equal access. Title III of the ADA requires that buildings housing businesses that are open to the public must remove barriers to equal access when the removal of such barriers is "readily achievable". When a barrier cannot be removed this section of the ADA requires that businesses accommodate people with disabilities so that they have equal access to the goods and services of the business.
Title IV of the ADA prohibits discrimination in communication against people with disabilities. This is the section of the ADA that requires each state to have a telephone relay system so that people who are deaf can make and receive telephone calls from people who are not deaf and who do not have TDD equipment (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). This is the section of the ADA that requires the telephone relay system for people who are speech impaired and who need assistance in being understood when talking on the telephone,.
Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
This is the oldest of the federal disability civil rights laws. This law provides the same protections as the ADA but applies only to facilities constructed with federal dollars involved or programs that are federally assisted. Since most hospitals receive federal funds they must comply with this law in addition to complying with the ADA. Since most colleges receive federal funds they too much comply with this law in addition to the ADA. A big difference between Title III of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act is that while there is no provision for damages under Title III there is a provision for damages in the Rehabilitation Act.
The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination in employment as does Title I of the ADA. While state government employees are not protected by Title I of the ADA, the federal courts have ruled that state government employees are protected by the Rehabilitation Act.
When facilities are built with federal money involved they must comply with either the ADA Accessibility Guidelines or with the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards which is part of the Rehabilitation Act. Residential facilities receiving federal funds, such as public housing and Section 8 housing, must comply with the non-discrimination requirements of this law.
Section 508 of The Rehabilitation Act
This part of the Rehabilitation Act is the newest part of this law. This section requires that all federal internet sites, and all state or local government internet sites where the state or local government receives federal funds, must be fully accessible to people with disabilities including those who are blind. Standards have been established that allow people who are blind or visually impaired to use screen reading software that converts the visual text into speech.
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
This Act expanded the provisions of the Fair Housing Act to cover people with disabilities. There are regulations for federally funded federal housing and there are regulations for privately owned multifamily residential facilities. The requirements for accessible housing are much stronger when the housing is federally funded. It is a violation of the law to refuse to rent or sell a residential dwelling to a person with a disability because the person is disabled.
When housing is built after the effective date of this law there are requirements for a percentage of the housing units to be accessible to people with disabilities. This law also requires that the common area elements be accessible. There is no such requirement when a multifamily housing facility was built before the effective date of this Act. However the owner of such a facility must allow alterations to be performed when needed by a resident with a disability. Doors can be made wider, grab bars can be installed, counters can be lowered, etc. But the cost of such alteration work is the responsibility of the resident with a disability. The tenant with a disability must agree to restore the dwelling to the pre-altered condition when moving out.
This law, passed by Congress and signed into law in 1986 is supposed to provide equal access to commercial air travel for people with disabilities. This is a law that is often violated by the airlines. This is the only federal disability civil rights law that does not provide a right to sue when the law is violated and a person with a disability faces discrimination. All that can be done is to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). A 1999 study of the DOT enforcement of this law by the National Council on Disability (a Presidentially appointed Council) concluded that the DOT treats this civil rights law more like a customer service policy that a law that guarantees equal access to commercial air travel for people with disabilities. At this time in spite of this law air travel continues to be difficult for people with disabilities, especially those who use wheelchairs and those with service animals.
The Help Americans To Vote Act
This is the newest law addressing the rights of people with disabilities. Under this law by 2006 all voting locations are required to be accessible to people with disabilities including those who use wheelchairs and the voting process is required to be independently accessible to all people with disabilities including those who are blind. The Voting Rights Act provided minimal guarantees of voting accessibility. Many governments ignored the requirements of Title II of the ADA and simply did nothing to make polling places accessible. The Voting Rights Act allowed election officials to simply provide absentee ballots instead of providing equal access to polling places. Insufficient federal funding of the Help Americans To Vote Act will likely result in many polling places not being accessible as required by this law.