Proceedings of: Workshop on Improving Building Design for Persons with Low Vision

ABA Enforcement

So what we do, in terms of ABA, and of course with barriers act enforcement, is essentially done by complaint (slide 4). If we receive a complaint in our office, we notify the federal agency that is the funding agency, and we work with that agency to resolve the complaint. There really isn’t a lot of interaction between the complainant and the federal agency because we protect the identity of the complainant, and that is because, under the ABA, this is a fact-based investigation: Does the building comply with the enforceable standards or does it not?

The fact that someone brought that complaint is irrelevant, because we don’t – that person doesn’t need to really have standing under the law to bring that complaint. So it’s, again, a very fact-based investigation. Often we find that we do not have jurisdiction because the building predates even the architectural barriers act, and the element that the person has complained about has not been, in any way, altered since prior to 1968 or prior to the effective standards.