What you need to know about ADA Access & Accessibility in Your Community

Have you gone somewhere and the place is really accessible for your needs?  Have you been somewhere and it has not been so accessible?  Whether you are an elderly person or a person in a chair hit can be challenging to get around once you are off the metro bus.  We all want to go places on our own, go to work, clubs, doctor appointments and so on right?  We all can and we do but we are faced with some challenges because places might not have the right set up for us like ramps, wide enough doors, and accessible bathrooms and so on.

Facts About the Americans with Disabilities Act

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations. The ADA’s nondiscrimination standards also apply to federal sector employees under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and its implementing rules.

An individual with a disability is a person who:

• Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
• Has a record of such an impairment; or
• Is regarded as having such an impairment.

A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question. Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to:

• Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.
• Job restructuring, modifying work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position;
• Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies, and providing qualified readers or interpreters.

An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of the employer’s business. Reasonable accommodations are adjustments or modifications provided by an employer to enable people with disabilities to enjoy equal employment opportunities. Accommodations vary depending upon the needs of the individual applicant or employee. Not all people with disabilities (or even all people with the same disability) will require the same accommodation. For example:

• A deaf applicant may need a sign language interpreter during the job interview.
• An employee with diabetes may need regularly scheduled breaks during the workday to eat properly and monitor blood sugar and insulin levels.
• A blind employee may need someone to read information posted on a bulletin board.
• An employee with cancer may need leave to have radiation or chemotherapy treatments.

An employer does not have to provide a reasonable accommodation if it imposes an “undue hardship.” Undue hardship is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as an employer’s size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation.

An employer is not required to lower quality or production standards to make an accommodation; nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids.

An employer generally does not have to provide a reasonable accommodation unless an individual with a disability has asked for one. if an employer believes that a medical condition is causing a performance or conduct problem, it may ask the employee how to solve the problem and if the employee needs a reasonable accommodation. Once a reasonable accommodation is requested, the employer and the individual should discuss the individual’s needs and identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation. Where more than one accommodation would work, the employer may choose the one that is less costly or that is easier to provide.

Title I of the ADA also covers:

• Medical Examinations and Inquiries
  Employers may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability. Applicants may be asked about their ability to perform specific job functions. A job offer may be conditioned on the results of a medical examination, but only if the examination is required for all entering employees in similar jobs. Medical examinations of employees must be job related and consistent with the employer’s business needs. Medical records are confidential. The basic rule is that with limited exceptions, employers must keep confidential any medical information they learn about an applicant or employee. Information can be confidential even if it contains no medical diagnosis or treatment course and even if it is not generated by a health care professional. For example, an employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation would be considered medical information subject to the ADA’s confidentiality requirements.
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse
  Employees and applicants currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs are not covered by the ADA when an employer acts on the basis of such use. Tests for illegal drugs are not subject to the ADA’s restrictions on medical examinations. Employers may hold illegal drug users and alcoholics to the same performance standards as other employees.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on disability or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under the ADA.

Federal Tax Incentives to Encourage the Employment of People with Disabilities and to Promote the Accessibility of Public Accommodations

The Internal Revenue Code includes several provisions aimed at making businesses more accessible to people with disabilities. The following provides general – non-legal – information about three of the most significant tax incentives. (Employers should check with their accountants or tax advisors to determine eligibility for these incentives or visit the Internal Revenue Service’s website, www.irs.gov, for more information. Similar state and local tax incentives may be available.)

• Small Business Tax Credit (Internal Revenue Code Section 44: Disabled Access Credit)
  Small businesses with either $1,000,000 or less in revenue or 30 or fewer full-time employees may take a tax credit of up to $5,000 annually for the cost of providing reasonable accommodations such as sign language interpreters, readers, materials in alternative format (such as Braille or large print), the purchase of adaptive equipment, the modification of existing equipment, or the removal of architectural barriers.
• Work Opportunity Tax Credit (Internal Revenue Code Section 51)
  Employers who hire certain targeted low-income groups, including individuals referred from vocational rehabilitation agencies and individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) may be eligible for an annual tax credit of up to $2,400 for each qualifying employee who works at least 400 hours during the tax year. Additionally, a maximum credit of $1,200 may be available for each qualifying summer youth employee.
• Architectural/Transportation Tax Deduction (Internal Revenue Code Section 190 Barrier Removal):
  This annual deduction of up to $15,000 is available to businesses of any size for the costs of removing barriers for people with disabilities, including the following: providing accessible parking spaces, ramps, and curb cuts; providing wheelchair-accessible telephones, water fountains, and restrooms; making walkways at least 48 inches wide; and making entrances accessible.

When I go out in about with friends and family sometimes it is hard to do things because places are not always accessible.  Then there are times places where I have gone it has been very accessible.  For example the metro stations sometimes the elevators at the Vienna station to get down to the train level work the right way, but let’s just say I and some friends are riding the train and get off at the West Falls Church metro stop and the elevators there don’t work.  That is so frustrating because people in chairs or walkers depend on the elevators because they can’t walk up the steps.

When it comes to facilities and access to them for the most part it is wonderful.  Sometimes though the ramps are crummy and the doors are not big enough to get a chair though.  Some places say they are accessible and say they have accessible bathrooms by just putting a disability sticker up and then calling themselves accessable.  I been to a place where that is the case and it’s very frustrating because either they do not have enough room to move around at the location or the bathroom situation is very hard to imposable because they are to small.  They have handicap railings for you to hold on to but even in the stalls they are small to where you can’t  even get your chair in and shut the door.  There are places now where everything is right.  Well-made ramps for wheelchairs can go over smoothly, wide or double doors so we can get through and most importantly big bathrooms so we can take care of personal care.

Accessibility in your parks

Virginia State Parks strive to make each park as barrier-free as possible for the convenience of those with limited mobility. Facilities continue to be upgraded for everyone’s enjoyment. Each park page on this site has information on the availability of facilities for people with disabilities. Please check back often as we are updating these pages, working to provide more comprehensive information on specific facility and service availability.

Personal Mobility on Trails

The Commonwealth of Virginia’s natural area preserves, state forests, state parks and wildlife management areas offer hundreds of miles of trails designed for people to enjoy (or access) the outdoors. These trails offer the public opportunities to experience and enjoy the state’s flora, fauna, cultural resources and scenic beauty. Hiking, angling, boating, hunting, wildlife watching, bicycling and horseback riding are proven contributors to good physical health and mental well-being – part of a healthy lifestyle that reduces illness, obesity and anxiety for all.

Effective March 15, 2011, these trails will be open to wheelchairs, including manual and power wheelchairs, personal mobility assistive scooters and certain other similar devices designed primarily to assist people with disabilities. Users are encouraged to use caution when selecting trails, as many were designed for foot traffic only. Terrain might make them unsuitable for personal mobility devices.

As part of their commitment to making Virginia’s public lands places for all to enjoy, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Forestry, and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are also in the process of evaluating safety concerns and the environmental impacts of opening these trails to the use of other power-driven mobility devices by individuals with mobility disabilities.

To learn more about Accessibility in Your Community ask Dustin more about it.

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