Americans With Disabilities Act Penn State

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Americans With Disabilities ActPenn State
Engineering Design and Graphics 100 October 11,
2001 Bill Ritzman, Coordinator, ADA
Programs Chair, University Access Committee
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Agenda

• Brief History
• Brief ADA overview
• Accessibility in the built environment
• Resources

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History

• Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Section 503/504
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Comprised of five Titles.

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Americans with Disabilities Act

• Purpose
• Anti-discrimination statue that requires that
  individuals with disabilities be given the same
  access to programs, services, and activities that
  individuals without disabilities are given.

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Title 1-Employment

• Business must provide reasonable accommodations
  to protect the rights of individuals with
  disabilities in all aspects of employment. That
  might include job restructuring, altering layout
  of workstations, etc. Includes the application
  process, hiring, wages, benefits and all other
  aspects of employment.

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Title II Public Services

• Includes state local government, the National
  Railroad Passenger Corporation, and other
  commuter authorities cannot deny services to
  people with disabilities to programs or
  activities which are available to people without
  disabilities. Public transportation systems,
  such as buses, must be accessible.

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Title III Public Accommodations

• All new construction and modifications must be
  accessible. For existing facilities, barriers to
  service must be removed if readily achievable.
  Public accommodations include facilities such as
  restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, retail
  stores, etc., as well as privately owned
  transportation systems.

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Title IV - Telecommunications

• Telecommunications companies offering telephone
  services to the general public must have
  telephone relay service to individuals who use
  telecommunication devices for the deaf (TTYs) or
  similar devices.

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Title V - Miscellaneous

• Includes a provision prohibiting either (a)
  coercing or threatening or (b) retaliating
  against the disabled or those attempting to aid
  people with disabilities in asserting their
  rights under the ADA.

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Who Is Covered???

• Three Prong Definition
• physical or mental impairment that substantially
  limits one or more of the major life activities
  of such individual
• a record of such an impairment
• being regarded as having such an impairment

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First Prong

• Physical or mental impairment which substantially
  limits a major life activity

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Second Prong

• Record of a Substantially Limiting Condition
• has a history of, or has been misclassified as
  having a mental or physical impairment that
  substantially limits one or more major life
  activities

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Third Prong

• Regarded as having such an impairment
• An employee has controlled high blood pressure
  that is not substantially limiting

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Exceptions

• Illegal Use of Drugs
• Alcohol Abuse
• Temporary Impairments

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Penn State Collaboration

• Who Does What??
• Office for Disability Services
• Office of Physical Plant
• Affirmative Action Office
• University Access Committee
• Office of Human Resources

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Look at the definition!

• An individual who, with or without reasonable
  modification to rules, policies, or practices,
  the removal of architectural, communication, or
  transportation barriers, or the provision of
  auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential
  eligibility requirements for the receipt of
  services or the participation in programs or
  activities provided by the public entity.

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University Access Committee

• Responsibilities
• Identifies physical barriers to programs and
  services and develops solutions for removing such
  barriers
• Recommends the relocation of programs and
  services housed in inaccessible locations to
  accessible location
• Requires the University to remove structural
  barriers, if necessary, to achieve program and
  service accessibility

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UACProcess

• Common Sense Approach to Barrier Removal
• Get into the building
• Get to the program or service offered in the
  building
• Use the rest rooms and building services
• Get additional accommodations to access a program
  or service

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UAC Leadership

• Office for Disability Services
• Office of Physical Plant
• Affirmative Action Office
• Non-UP locations
• Parking Office
• Staff Support
• Student Services
• Faculty Senate
• Student Government
• Disability Advocacy Groups
• Registrar
• Auxiliaries
• Human Resource Office

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Accessibility in the Built Environment

• Think of Universal Design
• What regulations to we have to follow?
• What guidance do we have?
• ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG)
• State and local building codes
• Fire codes
• ICC and ANSI

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Whats wrong here?
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Three steps to access
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Drainage grate danger!
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Gravel surface problems
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Inaccessible water fountain
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Dangerous overhang
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One solution to overhangs.
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Is this accessible?
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Inaccessible thermostat
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Inaccessible doorway
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Unbelievable!
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No access here
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Sure, our beach is accessible!
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Where to get information on Accessibility on the
web

• The US Access Board they wrote ADAAG!
• http//www.access-board.gov/
•  
• Department of Justice (DOJ) ADA Home Page
• http//www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
•  

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Two sites on Universal Design

• Center for Universal Design NC State Univ
• http//www.design.ncsu.edu8120/cud/
• Industrial Designers Society of America
• Special Interest Section

http//www.idsa.org/whatsnew/sections/udidsa/n
oframes.htm
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If you have time look at this

• This is a quarterly report from the US Department
  of Justice (DOJ) it provides some idea of the
  types of issues DOJ encounters in the field with
  the built environment.

Enforcing the ADA DOJs status report from
April to June 2001 http//www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ap
rjun01.htm