ADA Title II Action Guide for State and Local Governments

Title II - Public Entities

Subtitle A: State and Local Government Activities

Title II requires that state and local governments give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from their programs, services, and activities, for example public education, employment, transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting, and town meetings.

State and local governments are required to follow specific architectural standards in the new construction and alteration of their buildings. They also must relocate programs or otherwise provide access in inaccessible older buildings, and communicate effectively with people who have hearing, vision, or speech disabilities. Public entities are not required to take actions that would result in undue financial and administrative burdens. They are required to make reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid discrimination, unless they can demonstrate that doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity being provided.

Subtitle B: Public Transportation

The transportation provisions of title II cover public transportation services, such as city buses and public rail transit (e.g. subways, commuter rails, Amtrak). Public transportation authorities must comply with requirements for accessibility in newly purchased vehicles, make good faith efforts to purchase or lease accessible used buses, remanufacture buses in an accessible manner, and, provide paratransit where they operate fixed-route bus or rail systems. Paratransit is a service where individuals with disabilities who are unable to use the regular transit system independently are picked up and dropped off at their destinations.