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Open , Honest County Government |
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PUBLIC SPIRITED CITIZENS of SEVIER COUNTY |
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American’s Disability Act. |
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The ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act is a multi-area legislative act that protects Americans with disabilities by leveling the job field, as well as making it easier to travel, communicate, and find housing; and is divided into four different categories. The categories are as follows: Title I deals with private industry and ..."requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others." Title II deals with state, city, and local governments and ..."covers all activities of State and local governments regardless of the government entity’s size or receipt of Federal people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities (e.g. public education, employment, transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting, and town meetings)." Title III deals with businesses and nonprofit service providers..." that are public accommodations, privately operated entities offering certain types of courses and examinations, privately operated transportation, and commercial facilities. Public accommodations are private entities who own, lease, lease to, or operate facilities such as restaurants, retail stores, hotels, movie theaters, private schools, convention centers, doctors’ offices, homeless shelters, transportation depots, zoos, funeral homes, day care centers, and recreation facilities including sports stadiums and fitness clubs. Transportation services provided by private entities are also covered by title III." Title IV deals with "... telephone and television access for people with hearing and speech disabilities. It requires common carriers (telephone companies) to establish interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay services (TRS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TRS enables callers with hearing and speech disabilities who use telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs), which are also known as teletypewriters (TTYs), and callers who use voice telephones to communicate with each other through a third party communications assistant. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set minimum standards for TRS services. Title IV also requires closed captioning of federally funded public service announcements." Also, the ADA as part of its' multi-legislative concern encompasses other areas of the law to include the following: The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination..." on the basis of disability in programs conducted by Federal agencies, in programs receiving Federal financial assistance, in Federal employment, and in the employment practices of Federal contractors. The standards for determining employment discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act are the same as those used in title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act." The Rehabilitation Act is further sub-divided into four categories. These categories follow: Section 501: "...requires affirmative action and nondiscrimination in employment by Federal agencies of the executive branch. To obtain more information or to file a complaint, employees should contact their agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office." Section 503: "...requires affirmative action and prohibits employment discrimination by Federal government contractors and subcontractors with contracts of more than $10,000." Section 504: "...states that “no qualified individual with a disability in the United States shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under” any program or activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by any Executive agency or the United States Postal Service." Also it is important to note that Section 504 states that..."requirements common to these regulations include reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities; program accessibility; effective communication with people who have hearing or vision disabilities; and accessible new construction and alterations." Section 508: "...establishes requirements for electronic and information technology developed, maintained, procured, or used by the Federal government. Section 508 requires Federal electronic and information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and members of the public." Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is also a part of the ADA and importantly protects children by..."requires public schools to make available to all eligible children with disabilities a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their individual needs." Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act is additionally apart of the ADA and "...authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to investigate conditions of confinement at State and local government institutions such as prisons, jails, pretrial detention centers, juvenile correctional facilities, publicly operated nursing homes, and institutions for people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities. Its purpose is to allow the Attorney General to uncover and correct widespread deficiencies that seriously jeopardize the health and safety of residents of institutions." National Voter Registration Act is a sub-part of the ADA and most likely is the best known portion of the ADA given its widespread use and news media coverage. This Act..."also known as the "Motor Voter Act," makes it easier for all Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. One of the basic purposes of the Act is to increase the historically low registration rates of minorities and persons with disabilities that have resulted from discrimination. The Motor Voter Act requires all offices of State-funded programs that are primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities to provide all program applicants with voter registration forms, to assist them in completing the forms, and to transmit completed forms to the appropriate State official." Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act was one of the earliest ADA pieces of legislation for the disabled. This Act “... generally requires polling places across the United States to be physically accessible to people with disabilities for federal elections. Where no accessible location is available to serve as a polling place, a political subdivision must provide an alternate means of casting a ballot on the day of the election. This law also requires states to make available registration and voting aids for disabled and elderly voters, including information by telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) which are also known as teletypewriters (TTYs)." Air Carrier Access Act is designed to "...prohibit discrimination in air transportation by domestic and foreign air carriers against qualified individuals with physical or mental impairments. It applies only to air carriers that provide regularly scheduled services for hire to the public. Requirements address a wide range of issues including boarding assistance and certain accessibility features in newly built aircraft and new or altered airport facilities. People may enforce rights under the Air Carrier Access Act by filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation, or by bringing a lawsuit in Federal court." The Fair Housing Act is important to the disabled in that it "...prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. Its coverage includes private housing, housing that receives Federal financial assistance, and State and local government housing. It is unlawful to discriminate in any aspect of selling or renting housing or to deny a dwelling to a buyer or renter because of the disability of that individual, an individual associated with the buyer or renter, or an individual who intends to live in the residence. Other covered activities include, for example, financing, zoning practices, new construction design, and advertising." Also this Act “...requires owners of housing facilities to make reasonable exceptions in their policies and operations to afford people with disabilities equal housing opportunities. For example, a landlord with a “no pets” policy may be required to grant an exception to this rule and allow an individual who is blind to keep a guide dog in the residence. The Fair Housing Act also requires landlords to allow tenants with disabilities to make reasonable access-related modifications to their private living space, as well as to common use spaces. (The landlord is not required to pay for the changes.) The Act further requires that new multifamily housing with four or more units be designed and built to allow access for persons with disabilities. This includes accessible common use areas, doors that are wide enough for wheelchairs, kitchens and bathrooms that allow a person using a wheelchair to maneuver, and other adaptable features within the units." The Telecommunications Act amends Sections 251(a)(2) and Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1934 in the Act of 1996 "...requires manufacturers of telecommunications equipment and providers of telecommunications services to ensure that such equipment and services are accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, if readily achievable. These amendments ensure that people with disabilities will have access to a broad range of products and services such as telephones, cell phones, pagers, call-waiting, and operator services, that were often inaccessible to many users with disabilities."
TIME LIMITATIONS AND YOUR RIGHTS If you believe or suspect that any of the previously mentioned organizations, governments, or employers have violated your rights under these disability acts, then take immediate action by either contacting an attorney or filing a written complaint or oral complaint of the facts with what you believe (is/are) the violation(s) to the following: U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Disability Rights Section - NYAV Washington, D.C. 20530 www.ada.gov (800) 514-0301 (voice) (800) 514-0383 (TTY)
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What is the ADA? |
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For Tiffany Simpson, 'going blind' on Thursday was just a few hours of inconvenience. But it opened her eyes to a fraction of what some of her fellow students experience daily at Pellissippi State Community College. That's been the point of the school's 'Walk a Mile in My Shoes,' a three-day event that began Wednesday. On the first two days, participants were randomly assigned 'disabilities,' ranging from 'hidden' disabilities (heart conditions, stroke, arthritis) to more obvious conditions that required using adaptive equipment (such as wheelchairs, goggles to simulate vision loss or earplugs to simulate hearing loss). The goal is to open a dialogue in which participants can ask questions, rather than making assumptions, about people with disabilities, and give those involved in the event 'a-ha' moments, said organizer Anna Masson of the school's Services for Students with Disabilities. 'Having a disability isn't this horrible thing, where you should have pity for these poor people,' Masson said. 'People just do things differently.' Simpson, a sophomore nursing major, also participated Wednesday, when both of her legs were tightly wrapped to simulate arthritis. Using a walker, she had difficulty navigating the narrow aisles in her classrooms, carrying her backpack and picking up items. 'Some people opened doors for me. … Some people laughed,' she said. 'Though you don't really have that disability, it still hurts your feelings.' Pellissippi has done disability awareness events before, often in October, which is National Disability Awareness Month. But this event was on a larger scale than in previous years, said Masson, who hopes next year to expand it to Pellissippi's satellite campuses. Masson used a program developed by Central Piedmont Community College in North Carolina, adapting it to fit Pellissippi's needs. The event ends today, when Masson will share students' reflections, and there will be interpretive music in the courtyard 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The public is invited. Vocal music major Darrell Bowles, who has been blind since birth, applauds the efforts of his schoolmates to understand even a little of what his daily life is like. Though Bowles said accessibility at Pellissippi is 'not bad,' before he got guide dog Oslo two years ago he broke two canes at school — one got caught in a sidewalk crack, the other crushed between two doors. Still, his wife, Yira, who also is blind, participated in the exercise, taking on a simulated hearing loss. This gives people a better idea' of what it's like to live with a disability, Bowles said, but 'you don't really understand until you live it.' |
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“It seems every motel and condo is attempting “bigger” in everything. This might not be a problem for the able-bodied, but more and more of the visitors to the area are handicapped. As I have aged, my legs have failed and I now use a motorized wheelchair.” - MP
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