ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

A. Introduction

On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) saying these words, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”¹ One of the most important civil rights law to be enacted since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

What does the ADA mean for state and local governments in the delivery of their programs, services, and activities, as well as their employment practices? In the broadest sense, it requires that state and local governments be accessible to people with disabilities.

Accessibility is not just physical access, such as adding a ramp where steps exist. Accessibility is much more, and it requires looking at how programs, services, and activities are delivered. Are there policies or procedures that prevent someone with a disability from participating (such as a rule that says “no animals allowed,” which excludes blind people who use guide dogs)? Are there any eligibility requirements that tend to screen out people with disabilities (such as requiring people to show or have a driver’s license when driving is not required)?

Before you begin your accessibility audit, you need to understand the answers to several basic questions.

• What is the ADA, and are there any other laws or regulations I need to know about to do an accessibility evaluation?

• What is a “disability” under the ADA, and is having one enough to be covered by the ADA?

• What types of barriers are there to accessibility?

• What are states’ and local governments’ obligations under the ADA?