Questions and Answers: The ADA and Persons with HIV/AIDS

What constitutes discrimination?

Discrimination is the failure to give a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use or enjoy the public accommodation’s goods, services, or facilities. Examples of ADA violations would include:

• A dentist who categorically refused to treat all persons with HIV or AIDS.

• A moving company that refused to move the belongings of a person who had AIDS, or that refused to move the belongings of a person whose neighbor had AIDS.

• A health club that charged extra fees to persons who had HIV, or that prohibited members with HIV from using the steam room or sauna, or that limited the hours during which members with HIV could use the club’s facilities.

• A day care center that categorically refused admission to children with HIV or the children of mothers with HIV.

• A funeral home that refused to provide funeral services for a person who died from AIDS-related complications.

• A building owner who refused to lease space to a not-for-profit organization that provided services to persons with HIV or AIDS.

• A cosmetology school that refused to enroll a student once they learned that she had HIV.

• An overnight summer camp where children sleep in group cabins that requires a camper with HIV to sleep in the camp infirmary.

The ADA also requires public accommodations to take steps to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to their goods and services. For example, the ADA requires public accommodations to make reasonable changes in their policies, practices, and procedures; to provide communication aids and services; and to remove physical barriers to access when it is readily achievable to do so.