Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) [1]

Established in 1990, and amended in 2009, the ADA prohibits discrimination and ensures that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else to access state and local government services, public accommodations, telecommunications, commercial facilities and transportation. Examples include equal access to hotels, restaurants, retail stores, schools, public transportation, community centers, health clubs, sports stadiums and movie theaters. The ADA also mandates the establishment of TTD/telephone relay services.

The ADA is divided into five sections called “Titles” that relate to different areas of public life [2].

• ADA Title II: State and Local Government Activities requires that people with disabilities be given equal opportunity to benefit from all programs, services and activities (e.g., transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting and town meetings). State and local governments are also required to follow specific accessibility standards and to communicate effectively with people who have hearing, vision or speech disabilities.
• ADA Title II: Public Transportation mandates public transportation services to comply with accessibility standards and prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the provision of these services. Public transportation services include city buses and public rail transit (e.g., subways, commuter rails and Amtrak). Where fixed-route public bus or rail systems exist, public transit entities must also provide paratransit, a service where individuals who are unable to use the regular transit system independently are picked up and dropped off at their destinations.
• ADA Title III: Public Accommodations mandates that businesses and nonprofit service providers, privately operated entities and transportation and commercial facilities comply with basic nondiscrimination requirements that prohibit exclusion, segregation and unequal treatment. Examples of public accommodations include restaurants, retail stores, hotels, movie theaters, private schools, convention centers, doctors’ offices, homeless shelters and recreation facilities such as sports stadiums and fitness clubs.
• ADA Title IV: Telecommunications Relay Services [3] ensures telephone and television access for people with hearing and speech disabilities. It requires service carriers to establish 24/7 telecommunications relay services. These enable access for callers with hearing and speech disabilities who use TTYs, and callers who use voice telephones to communicate through a third party. Title IV also requires closed captioning for federally funded public service announcements.

ADA Communications Requirements [4]: Titles II and III require that “covered entities” (meaning state and local governments, and public accommodations and commercial facilities) communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. The goal is to ensure that communication with people who have these disabilities is equally effective as communication with people without these disabilities.

The ADA’s communications rules say:

• A person who has a vision, hearing or speech disability should be able to communicate with, receive information from and convey information to covered entities.
• Covered entities must provide auxiliary aids and services when needed to communicate effectively with people who have communications disabilities.
• Effective communication takes into account the nature, length, complexity and context of the communication and the individual’s normal method(s) of communication.
• These rules apply to communicating with a person who is receiving goods or services, as well as with that individual’s parent, spouse or companion in appropriate circumstances.