Author: Kirby Shaw

The Department of Justice has published a new technical assistance document, ADA Update: A Primer for State and Local Governments, to help State and local government officials understand how title II of the ADA applies to their programs, activities, and services. This 16-page illustrated guide addresses general nondiscrimination requirements, such as provisions relating to program accessibility, service animals, communicating with people with disabilities, other power-driven mobility devices, and policies and procedures. The document also addresses how the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design apply to the built environment, including existing buildings and facilities, new construction, and alterations.

As part of our celebration of the ADA’s 25th Anniversary, this month’s Justice Blog spotlights recent successes in access to employment and access to the courts. In the employment arena, the Department reached settlements with nine public employers to require them to remove illegal questions asking applicants about their disabilities from their job applications. In addition, several agreements required employers to ensure that their online job application websites are accessible in compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA.

SSB BART Group Policy Analyst Sheri Byrne-Haber has developed a new series of webinars and blog posts explaining the need for accessibility policies and outlining and a 4-phased approach to developing a comprehensive set of policies for an organization.

On May 13, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a letter finding that Augusta County, VA is in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying voters with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in the County’s voting programs, services, and activities because over 80% of the County’s polling places are not physically accessible to persons with mobility disabilities and persons with vision disabilities.

Public comments are due May 28 on the U.S. Access Board’s proposed rule updating accessibility requirements for information and communication technologies (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and by Section 255 of the Communications Act. Comments received after this date will be considered to the extent feasible. Comments can be submitted or viewed through the www.regulations.gov website. The proposed rule includes instructions on submitting comments.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached settlement agreements under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the City of Parowan, Utah; the City of Española, New Mexico; and the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Under the settlement agreements, each public entity agrees not to conduct any medical examinations or make disability-related inquiries of job applicants before a conditional offer of employment is made. Two of the entities must make their online employment opportunities website and job applications conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which are industry guidelines for making web content accessible.

An agreement with Madison County, New York (County) was announced today by the Department of Justice. Like the agreements with Nueces County, Texas and Rapid City, South Dakota, announced earlier, the County will take important steps to improve access for people with disabilities, such as: physically modifying facilities surveyed by the Department so that parking, routes into buildings, entrances, service areas and counters, restrooms, public telephones, and drinking fountains are accessible to people with disabilities; posting, publishing and distributing notices to inform members of the public of the provisions of the ADA and their applicability to the County’s programs, services and activities; officially recognizing New York telephone relay service as a key means of communicating with individuals who are deaf, are hard-of-hearing, or have speech impairments and training staff in using the relay service for telephone communications; developing a method of providing information for interested persons with disabilities concerning the existence and location of the County’s accessible services, activities and programs; and ensuring that all of the County’s webpages comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 and website accessibility.

On April 13, 2015, the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a Letter of Findings regarding civil rights violations by the Gates-Chili Central School District (District). The DOJ found the District has violated title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by its refusal to permit a student to bring her service dog to school unless the student’s mother also provides a full-time handler. The Letter of Findings is available on DOJ’s ADA website.

The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with edX Inc., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Agreement resolves the Department’s allegations that edX’s website, www.edx.org, and its Platform were not fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, including individuals who are blind or have low vision, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who have physical disabilities affecting manual dexterity.