>From the web page http://www.bbb.org/library/ada-excp.html

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU

     Excerpts from the series of nine ADA Compliance Guides:

                    Access Equals Opportunity
        Your Guide to the Americans With Disabilities Act

Overview Of The Americans With Disabilities Act

  * Introduction
  * Actions that are discriminatory
  * Effective Communication With the Public
  * Removal of architectural barriers: What is "Readily
    Achievable"?
  * Landlord and tenant - Allocation of responsibility for
    complying with Title III of the ADA
  * Tax incentives

SHOPS & SERVICES

  * Are small shops and services considered to be places of
    public accommodation?
  * Are shops that offer parking required to provide accessible
    parking spaces for people with "handicap" tags or placards?
    If such parking is required, how many spaces must be
    provided? Are shops required to stock special goods for
    persons with disabilities?

RETAIL STORES

  * Are retail stores required to have TTYs (text telephones for
    people who are deaf or hard of hearing)?
  * Must retail stores allow service animals, including guide
    dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into stores?
  * Do dressing rooms need to be accessible?
  * Are clothing stores required to provide assistance in
    dressing rooms to people with disabilities?
  * How can a retail establishment communicate with a customer
    who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech
    impairment?

TRAVEL & TOUR AGENTS

  * Must agencies and other offices allow service animals,
    including guide dogs, to accompany clients into their
    facilities?
  * Must agencies install visual alarms?
  * Can a cruise ship or tour company insist that a person with
    a disabilitytravel with a companion?
  * How does the ADA address the physical accessibility and
    construction of cruise ships?

MEDICAL OFFICES

  * Can health care facilities refer a patient or client with a
    disability to another practitioner solely because the other
    practitioner is familiar with the patient's type of
    disability?
  * How can a health care facility determine whether its
    premises are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or
    other mobility devices? What steps must they take to provide
    access?
  * What assistance must health care facilities provide for
    patients and clients who use wheelchairs or other mobility
    devices to ensure equal and effective treatment and
    services?

GROCERY STORES

  * How can grocery stores make their merchandise accessible to
    customers with various disabilities?
  * If a grocery store is staffed with only a single cashier, is
    the cashier required to leave the cash register to assist a
    customer with a disability?
  * Is a grocery store required to purchase special items for
    customers with disabilities?

CAR SALES & SERVICE

  * Are automotive sales establishments required to provide
    vehicle hand controls so a customer can test drive a car?
  * What other alternative methods can automotive sales
    establishments use to deliver services if it is not readily
    achievable to remove barriers to "getting through the door"?
  * Are automotive rental establishments required to provide
    vehicle hand controls so a customer who needs them can rent
    a car?
  * Is an auto rental establishment required to provide a
    special operator's dashboard identification card so
    customers with disabilities may use accessible&QUOT;handicap
    &QUOT;parking spaces?

PROFESSIONAL OFFICES

  * If a professional office is in an historic building, is it
    exempt from the requirements of the ADA?
  * How can a professional service provider communicate with a
    client who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech
    impairment?
  * How can a professional perform a service that requires
    confidential communication or written materials with a
    client who is deaf or hard of hearing?
  * Must a professional office that is located within a private
    residence be accessible?

RESTAURANTS & BARS

  * What special services might restaurants and bars provide to
    customers with vision impairments?
  * Must restaurants and bars allow service animals, including
    guide dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into
    restaurants?
  * What other services are restaurants required to provide to
    customers with disabilities?

FUN & FITNESS CENTERS

  * How can a recreation or fitness facility determine whether
    its premises are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or
    other mobility devices? What steps must be taken to provide
    access?
  * Are recreation and fitness facilities required to provide
    any assistance to individuals with disabilities so they can
    participate in the facilities' programs and activities?
  * Must fitness centers provide accessible rest rooms and
    showers? How can these facilities be made accessible?

----------
Overview

  * Introduction
  * Actions that are discriminatory
  * Effective Communication With the Public
  * Removal of architectural barriers: What is "Readily
    Achievable"?
  * Landlord and tenant - Allocation of responsibility for
    complying with Title III of the ADA
  * Tax incentives

Introduction

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the only
comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. The
ADA calls on businesses to make their goods and services easily
accessible to people with disabilities.

The ADA was enacted to eliminate discrimination against people
with disabilities by ensuring equal opportunities in:
employment, state and local government services and programs,
places of public accommodation, public and private
transportation, and telecommunications. This series of guides
provides an overview of the Public Accommodations section of the
ADA (Title III) and, specific to each industry, answers more
detailed questions for existing facilities and current policies
and practices.

Actions that are discriminatory

The ADA identifies and prohibits actions that discriminate
against people with disabilities. Denial of the right to
participate and unequal or separate treatment are prohibited by
the ADA. For example, a business cannot ask a person with a
disability to leave the premises because an employee or another
customer is uncomfortable with that person's disability or
because its insurance company conditions coverage or rates on
the absence of people with disabilities. Nor could people with
disabilities be limited to being served only at certain times of
the day when no other clients are present, like after regular
business hours

Effective communication with the public

Public accommodations are required to ensure that their
communications with customers or clients who are deaf or hard of
hearing or who have speech or vision impairments are effective.
Effective communication can often be achieved by using
"auxiliary aids and services" such as qualified sign language
interpreters; written materials; assistive listening devices;
TTYs (text telephones for people who are deaf or hard of
hearing); taped, Braille, or large print materials; readers; and
other communication tools.

The auxiliary aid requirement is flexible. The goal is to find
an effective means of communication- appropriate to the
particular circumstance. For example, jotting down prices on a
note pad for shoe repair should suffice for some customers who
are deaf or hard of hearing.

A qualified interpreter may be necessary in situations regarding
health, legal, or financial matters. Whether or not an
interpreter is needed depends upon:

  * a deaf person's communications skills
  * context of the communication
  * number of people involved
  * importance of the communication
  * whether the information is complex or lengthy.

A business is not required to provide an auxiliary aid or
service that would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods
or services being provided or cause an "undue burden" for the
business.

"Undue burden" is defined as significant difficulty or expense
when considered in light of a variety of factors including the
nature and cost of the auxiliary aid or service and the overall
financial and other resources of the business. The undue burden
standard is intended to be applied on a case-by-case basis.

Removal of architectural barriers: What is "Readily Achievable"?

"Readily achievable" means "easily accomplishable and able to be
carried out without much difficulty or expense." In other words,
removal of a barrier should be relatively inexpensive.

Architectural barriers are elements of a facility that prevent
or impede access by people with disabilities. The ADA requires
that public accommodations remove architectural barriers where
readily achievable, to ensure equal access for customers,
clients, or patrons. Examples of barriers are curbs and steps;
narrow doorways and aisles; rest room stalls that are too narrow
for use by a person who uses a wheelchair; and inaccessible
drinking fountains and telephones.

Examples of barrier removal include providing a ramp for one or
even several steps, widening doorways, reconfiguring display
shelves to increase aisle width, moving toilet stall partitions,
installing grab bars, and repositioning drinking fountains and
telephones.

Barrier removal that involves extensive restructuring or
burdensome expense is not required beacause that is not "readily
achievable". The readily achievable standard is flexible and
applied on a case by-case basis.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recommends the following order
of priorities for barrier removal:
  * access from parking areas, sidewalks, and entrances to the
    public accommodation so a person with a disability can "get
    through the door"
  * access to those areas where goods and services are provided,
    i.e. &QUOT;path of travel&QUOT;
  * access to rest room facilities when they are open to the
    public
  * other measures to provide access to the goods, services, or
    facilities.

The issues in this Guide are organized according to these DOJ
priorities.

Landlord and tenant - Allocation of responsibility for complying
with Title III of the ADA

Both the landlord who owns the building where a public
accommodation is located and the tenant who owns or operates the
public accommodation are responsible for compliance with Title
III. It is a shared responsibility. They may allocate between
themselves the responsibility for meeting their mutual
obligations however they wish.

Allocation of responsibilities between landlord and tenant for
removing barriers when readily achievable, providing auxiliary
aids and services, and modifying policies, both in common areas
as well as within places of public accommodation, may be
determined by the lease or other contract between the parties.
Alterations clauses in a lease often spell out what a tenant is
allowed to do within leased space, while compliance clauses
allocate responsibility to one party or another for compliance
with federal, state, and local laws.

Tenants are advised to review ADA obligations with their
landlords. Tenants who are entering into new leases should
negotiate and allocate responsibility for ADA compliance with
their landlord. Failure to determine, allocate, and execute ADA
responsibility may result in either the tenant's or landlord's
liability for noncompliance.

Tax incentives

Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code to include tax
incentives for businesses that incur expenses in removing
barriers or increasing accessibility for people with
disabilities.

Physical Barrier Removal

The "Tax Deduction to Remove Architectural and Transportation
Barriers to People with Disabilities and Elderly Individuals"
(Title 26, Internal Revenue Code, Section 190) allows a
deduction for "qualified architectural and transportation
barrier removal expenses" not to exceed $15,000 for any taxable
year.

Increasing Accessibility

The "Disabled Access Tax Credit" (Title 26, Internal Revenue
Code, Section 44) is available to eligible small businesses with
30 or fewer employees in the preceding tax year or $1 million or
less in gross receipts for the preceding tax year. This
provision allows a tax credit of 50 percent of eligible access
expenditures that exceed $250 but do not exceed $10,250 made for
the purpose of complying with the ADA during the tax year.

A business may take the credit each year that it makes an
eligible access expenditure.

Eligible access expenditures are amounts paid or incurred by an
eligible small business for the purpose of enabling the business
to comply with the ADA. These include amounts paid or incurred
to:

  * remove architectural. communication physical, or
    transportation barriers;
  * provide qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective
    methods of making materials accessible to people with visual
    impairments;
  * provide qualified interpreters or other effective methods of
    making orally delivered materials accessible to individuals
    with hearing impairments;
  * acquire or modify equipment or devices for individuals with
    disabilities; or
  * provide other similar services, modifications, materials or
    equipment.

Expenses in connection with new construction are not eligible.
To be eligible for the tax credit, barrier removals or the
provision of services, modifications, materials, or equipment
must meet technical standards of the ADAD Accessibility
Guidlines where applicable.

For more information on these tax provisions, contact:

Internal Revenue Service,
Office of the Chief Counsel
P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station
Washington, DC 20044,
1 (800) 829-1040 Voice
1 (800) 829-4059 TTY

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SHOPS & SERVICES

  * Are small shops and services considered to be places of
    public accommodation?
  * Are shops that offer parking required to provide accessible
    parking spaces for people with "handicap" tags or placards?
    If such parking is required, how many spaces must be
    provided?
  * Are shops required to stock special goods for persons with
    disabilities?

Q. Are small shops and services considered to be places of
public accommodation?

A. Yes. Dry Cleaners, shoe repair shops, video stores,
hairdressers and barber shops, copy centers and other similar
shops and services are covered by Title III.

Q. Are shops that offer parking required to provide accessible
parking spaces for people with "handicap" tags or placards? If
such parking is required, how many spaces must be provided?

A. Yes. If a shop owns and operates the parking lot, it must
provide accessible parking, if it is readily achievable to do
so. If a shop is a tenant, responsibility for accessible parking
rests with both the landlord and the tenant and may be allocated
in the lease or other contract (see page 7).

The spaces must comply with the Standards for Accessible Design
(see page 8), if it is readily achievable. The Standards provide
a formula to determine the number of accessible spaces
necessary, and set out the requirements for their dimensions and
locations. If it is not readily achievable to comply with the
Standards, provide as many accessible spaces as possible.

If it is not readily achievable to provide any accessible
spaces, a store must provide other options. For example, valet
parking is another way to provide access.

Q. Are shops required to stock special goods for persons with
disabilities?

A. No. Stores are not required to stock special goods. For
example, a copy center is not required to provide copies in
Braille. If the shop routinely makes special orders for its
customers, it is required to do so for a customer with a
disability, if the goods are available from a supplier with whom
the shop customarily does business.

----------
RETAIL STORES

  * Are retail stores required to have TTYs (text telephones for
    people who are deaf or hard of hearing)?
  * Must retail stores allow service animals, including guide
    dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into stores?
  * Do dressing rooms need to be accessible?
  * Are clothing stores required to provide assistance in
    dressing rooms to people with disabilities?
  * How can a retail establishment communicate with a customer
    who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech
    impairment?

Q. Are retail stores required to have TTYs (text telephones for
people who are deaf or hard of hearing)?

A. No. Only those businesses that allow customers to make
outgoing calls on more than an incidental convenience basis must
provide TTYs. For making calls to or receiving calls from
customers with hearing or speech impairments who use TTYs,
stores are able to rely on the relay systems that telephone
companies have established. Operators employed by relay systems
will relay communications between TTY-users and people using
conventional telephones.

Retail stores can ensure effective communication by training
staff who answer the telephone to anticipate incoming calls
through the relay services. Handling these calls may take longer
because an operator at the relay system will be receiving typed
communications from the caller and will also be using the relay
system equipment to type communications from the store staff
person to the caller. Training should be undertaken as soon as
possible because at least 40 states already offer some type of
relay service.

For your information, however, a TTY is relatively inexpensive,
usually costing about $275 and would be a welcome service for
customers with hearing or speech impairments. If you have a TTY,
be sure to list your telephone number followed by "Voice/TTY" in
any publications or advertisements to signify that customers can
communicate with you by voice or TTY.

Q. Must retail stores allow service animals, including guide
dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into stores?

A. Yes.

Q. Do dressing rooms need to be accessible?

A. If it is readily achievable, stores must alter one or more
dressing rooms to allow use by customers who use wheelchairs or
other mobility devices. If it is not readily achievable to
provide an accessible dressing room, alternative methods must be
used, such as establishing a liberal return policy so customers
who cannot use the dressing rooms can take merchandise home to
try on.

Q. Are clothing stores required to provide assistance in
dressing rooms to people with disabilities?

A. DOJ states that dressing assistance is required in stores
where individualized assistance in selecting and trying on
garments is provided. In a store where such assistance is not
offered generally, it is not required because it is not provided
to other customers.

Q. How can a retail establishment communicate with a customer
who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech impairment?

A. Most customers who are deaf or hard of hearing will identify
themselves by writing a note or using hand gestures. When a
salesperson has realized that a customer is deaf or hard of
hearing, he or she can communicate by writing notes. Maintaining
face-to-face contact is important for communications with a
customer who reads lips.

The services of a sign language interpreter should not be
necessary to accomplish most retail transactions that are short
and straightforward but may be necessary to communicate
effectively in an unusually complex transaction.

Stores that use public address systems to announce special
offers or sale days should consider providing electronic
bulletin boards or print announcements near doors and check-out
counters to announce these events as a way to communicate
effectively with customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

It is also important for retail businesses to communicate
effectively with customers who have speech impairments. Allowing
sufficient time for a person with such a disability to express
himself or herself or read a message spelled out on a word board
are examples of methods to achieve effective communication.

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TRAVEL & TOUR AGENTS

  * Must agencies and other venues allow service animals,
    including guide dogs, to accompany clients into their
    facilities?
  * Must agencies install visual alarms?
  * Can a cruise ship or tour company insist that a person with
    a disability travel with a companion?
  * How does the ADA address the physical accessibility and
    construction of cruise ships?

Q. Must agencies and other venues allow service animals,
including guide dogs, to accompany clients into their facilities?

A. Yes. However, service animals tend to spook wild animals in
parks and zoos. Therefore, some zoos, like those in San Diego
provide a place for service animals to stay while their owners
are accompanied during their visit by trained zoo staff.

Q. Must agencies install visual alarms?

A. Where audible fire alarms are provided, visual ones must be
added, if readily achievable. The Standards specify types of
alarms that meet this requirement.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing depend on visual alarms
to alert them to emergencies. Signs can be placed next to the
alarms indicating their purpose and maps or directories should
point out the locations of visual alarms.

Q. Can a cruise ship or tour company insist that a person with a
disability travel with a companion?

A. No. Requiring that a person with a disability have a
traveling companion, if that is not a requirement for people who
do not have disabilities, violates the ADA. The cruise line or
tour company, however, does not have to provide services of a
personal nature.

Q. How does the ADA address the physical accessibility and
construction of cruise ships?

A. Places of public accommodation aboard ships must comply with
all of the Title III requirements, including removal of barriers
to access where readily achievable. Currently, however, a ship
is not required to comply with specific accessibility standards
for new construction or alterations, because specific
accessibility standards for new construction or alteration of
cruise ships have not yet been developed.

It should be noted, however, that cruise ships are still subject
to the requirements of Title III. Physical barriers must be
removed if it is readily achievable to do so, programmatic
barriers must be eliminated, and travelers with disabilities
cannot be treated differently from passengers who do not have
disabilities.

----------
Medical Offices

  * Can health care facilities refer a patient or client with a
    disability to another practitioner solely because the other
    practitioner is familiar with the patient's type of
    disability?
  * How can a health care facility determine whether its
    premises are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or
    other mobility devices? What steps must they take to provide
    access?
  * What assistance must health care facilities provide for
    patients and clients who use wheelchairs or other mobility
    devices to ensure equal and effective treatment and
    services?

Q. Can health care facilities refer a patient or client with a
disability to another practitioner solely because the other
practitioner is familiar with the patient's type of disability?

A. Medical or health care facilities that routinely make
referrals may refer an individual with a disability to another
facility for service only if the patient seeks or requires
treatment or services outside the referring facility's area of
specialization. For example, a clinic specializing exclusively
in drug rehabilitation could refuse to treat a person who is not
a drug addict but could not refuse to treat a person who is a
drug addict simply because the patient tests positive for HIV.
Conversely, a clinic that specializes in the treatment of
individuals with HIV could refuse to treat an individual who
does not have HIV, but it cannot refuse to treat a person for
HIV infection simply because that person is also a drug addict.

Facilities that are not accepting any new patients may refer new
patients to another facility.

Q. How can a health care facility determine whether its premises
are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or other mobility
devices? What steps must they take to provide access?

A. These are some common sense approaches medical and health
care facilities can use to determine whether their premises are
accessible.

After determining whether "getting through the door" is
possible, facilities should determine whether aisles between
office furniture and equipment are wide enough for a person
using a wheelchair or other mobility device to pass.
Examination, treatment, and dressing room doorways must also be
wide enough for individuals using wheelchairs or other mobility
devices. (See earlier question for information about doorway
widths.)

Widening doors and rearranging furniture and storage items are
examples of methods to provide access that will be readily
achievable for most health care facilities.

Registration and patient interview areas with built-in counters
should be evaluated to determine whether individuals using
wheelchairs can use them. If readily achievable, accessible
counters (28 to 34 inches high with knee spaces at least 27
inches high, 30 inches wide, and 19 inches deep) must be made
available. If it is not readily achievable to provide accessible
counters, then alternative measures must be taken to provide
access, such as providing a table or a clipboard that patients
and clients can use while filling out forms.

Facilities should also evaluate whether there are level changes
between treatment and service areas. For most health care
facilities, providing a ramp for one or even several steps is a
readily achievable measure to provide access. If it is not
readily achievable to install a permanent ramp, then a facility
must use a portable ramp if it is safe and readily achievable.

Q. What assistance must health care facilities provide for
patients and clients who use wheelchairs or other mobility
devices to ensure equal and effective treatment and services?

A. Individuals with mobility impairments often find it difficult
or impossible to use certain standard equipment found in medical
and health care facilities. For example, people who are not
ambulatory cannot use standard-height examining tables.

Therefore, health care providers cannot conduct certain
examinations that require patients to lie prone or supine unless
the individual is lifted onto the table. Such measures can be
unsafe, embarrassing, and undignified for many patients.
Although people who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices
are most often affected by this particular barrier to treatment,
older patients and others who are semi-ambulatory also can
experience difficulty.

An adjustable-height examining table is an ideal solution if it
is readily achievable to obtain one. Such tables can be lowered
to the height of a wheelchair seat, thus enabling some patients
who use wheelchairs to move independently or with minimum
assistance from their wheelchairs to the table and back again.
The adjustable feature also allows medical or health care
personnel to elevate the table to a comfortable height to
conduct an examination. A group of physicians could purchase
such a table and make arrangements to share its use.

If it is not readily achievable to obtain such a table,
facilities must obtain an inexpensive, padded table the height
of a wheelchair seat for use by patients who cannot use the
conventional tables. This type of low table can also be used for
some examinations of patients who do not have disabilities.

If neither of these options is readily achievable, then medical
and health care facilities must provide assistance to help
patients onto the high tables, including lifting them if
necessary. Such measures must be undertaken in a safe manner to
avoid injury to both the health care personnel and the patient
and to preserve the dignity of the patient as much as possible.

Similarly, health care facilities must provide such assistance
to patients with mobility impairments who are having radiology
exams or other tests conducted on surfaces that cannot be
adjusted for height or that are inaccessible in some other way.

In all of these situations, medical and health care personnel
should follow the instructions and preferences of the patient
with regard to lifting or providing other assistance.

Modifications to the manner in which certain examinations are
conducted are also required. For example, some X-ray equipment
used to take mammograms is built so the patient must stand to
have the X-ray taken. Other mammogram equipment requires the
patient to sit on a wheeled stool with a swivel seat. In both
situations, a woman with a disability that prevents her from
standing or sitting safely on such a stool would not be able to
undergo the X-ray examination.

Replacing the stool with a stable chair or allowing the patient
to undergo the examination from her wheelchair are appropriate
methods of providing access. Medical and health care facilities
must provide assistance to undress and dress as needed or
requested by patients with disabilities unless doing so
fundamentally alters the services provided.

If they have a blanket policy prohibiting individuals other than
patients in examination or treatment facilities, medical and
health care facilities must modify the policy to allow a family
member, friend, or personal care assistant to accompany a
patient or client when necessary during the examination or
treatment.

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GROCERY STORES

  * How can grocery stores make their merchandise accessible to
    customers with various disabilities?
  * If a grocery store is staffed with only a single cashier, is
    the cashier required to leave the cash register to assist a
    customer with a disability?
  * Is a grocery store required to purchase special items for
    customers with disabilities?

Q. How can grocery stores make their merchandise accessible to
customers with various disabilities?

A. Customers who use wheelchairs, crutches, or other mobility
devices, customers with limited manual dexterity, and customers
who are blind or who have limited vision tend to experience
access problems in grocery stores. For example, people who use
wheelchairs often cannot move down aisles when stock or displays
are placed in the way so there is no clear path to travel.

Moving boxes and displays that could trip a customer with a
vision impairment is a simple, common sense solution to certain
access problems that also makes access easier for other
customers.

Although widening aisles where merchandise is displayed is an
ideal solution for customers who use wheelchairs, in some
grocery stores it may result in a significant loss of selling
space and might, therefore, not be readily achievable. Large
grocery stores, such as supermarkets, should be able to
rearrange display racks and shelves in a way that does not
result in a significant loss of selling space.

For grocery stores housed in cramped facilities, there may be no
storage alternative for boxes placed in the aisles. If readily
achievable, the store could provide service at the door to
customers who are unable to move down the aisles.

Placing lightweight items on higher shelves and heavier items on
lower shelves and offering the use of a device for reaching high
items will improve the usability of a store not only for
customers with mobility impairments but also for customers with
manual impairments or customers who are short of stature.
Produce bag dispensers and number dispensers used at deli,
bakery, and other food service counters must be mounted within
easy reach of customers who use wheelchairs if readily
achievable.Otherwise, sales clerks should offer assistance in
reaching items.

Some people with disabilities cannot use shopping carts and
must, instead, use hand-held baskets. This may require them to
make several trips to the check-out counter to complete their
purchases. Grocery stores should provide a temporary storage
area for items selected by people who cannot use shopping carts.

Q. If a grocery store is staffed with only a single cashier, is
the cashier required to leave the cash register to assist a
customer with a disability?

A. No. The ADA does not require a cashier to leave the register
if doing so poses a security risk.

Q. Is a grocery store required to purchase special items for
customers with disabilities?

A. No. Grocery stores are not required to carry special products
for people with disabilities. However, if the store routinely
makes special orders of un-stocked goods for its customers and
the special goods can be obtained from a supplier with whom the
store customarily does business, the store must make special
orders for customers with disabilities, too.

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CAR SALES & SERVICE

  * Are automotive sales establishments required to provide
    vehicle hand controls so a customer can test drive a car?
  * What other alternative methods can automotive sales
    establishments use to deliver services if it is not readily
    achievable to remove barriers to "getting through the door"?
  * Are automotive rental establishments required to provide
    vehicle hand controls so a customer who needs them can rent
    a car?
  * Is an auto rental establishment required to provide a
    special operator's dashboard identification card so
    customers with disabilities may use parking spaces reserved
    for them?

Q. Are automotive sales establishments required to provide
vehicle hand controls so a customer can test drive a car?

A. Yes. For most dealers, installation of portable hand controls
is readily achievable. Dealers may request reasonable advance
notice from customers who need hand controls to ensure that a
properly equipped vehicle will be available.

Q. What other alternative methods can automotive sales
establishments use to deliver services if it is not readily
achievable to remove barriers to "getting through the door"?

A. Automotive sales personnel must provide brochures and other
information about available vehicles to customers at curbside,
at other convenient locations, or by mail. Alternative
accessible locations must be selected to conduct and finalize
sales negotiations, or they can be conducted by telephone or at
the customer's home.

Q. Are automotive rental establishments required to provide
vehicle hand controls so a customer who needs them can rent a
car?

A. For most rental establishments, installation of hand controls
is readily achievable. Reasonable advance notice may also be
required from customers who need hand controls to ensure that a
properly equipped vehicle will be available.

Q. Is an auto rental establishment required to provide a
&QUOT;handicap parking&QUOT; dashboard identification card so
customers with disabilities may use accessible
&QUOT;handicap&QUOT; parking spaces?

A. As a courtesy to customers, it is suggested that auto rental
establishments provide dashboard &QUOT;handicap&QUOT;
identification cards so customers can park in spaces reserved
for people with disabilities. Rental establishments should
accept parking permits or personal dashboard cards from
customers as proof of eligibility for their card. It should be
noted that some local authorities do not recognize or honor a
rental establishment's dashboard card.

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Professional Offices

  * If a professional office is in an historic building, is it
    exempt from the requirements of the ADA?
  * How can a professional service provider communicate with a
    client who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech
    impairment?
  * How can a professional perform a service that requires
    confidential communication or written materials with a
    client who is deaf or hard of hearing?
  * Must a professional office that is located within a private
    residence be accessible?

Q. If a professional office is in an historic building, is it
exempt from the requirements of the ADA?

A. No. Barrier removal is required in all buildings, including
historic buildings, if it is readily achievable. However,
barrier removal is not considered readily achievable if it would
threaten or destroy the historic significance of a building or
facility that is eligible for listing in the National Register
of Historic Places under the National Historic Preservation Act,
or is designated as historic under State or local law.

Q. How can a professional service provider communicate with a
client who is deaf or hard of hearing or who has a speech
impairment?

A. Most clients who are deaf or hard of hearing will identify
themselves by writing a note or using hand gestures and will
alert the professional to the best method of communication.
Maintaining face-to-face contact is important to communicate
with a client who reads lips.

A sign language interpreter should not be necessary in most
minor transactions, but may be necessary to communicate
effectively in an unusually complex transaction.

Professionals can share a computer with a client to type
questions and answers back and forth to each other, if the
client finds this approach is sufficiently informative.

It is important to communicate effectively with customers who
have speech impairments. Professionals must take the time for
people with such a disability to express themselves or to
communicate using a word board.

Q. How can a professional perform a service that requires
confidential communication or written materials with a client
who is deaf or hard of hearing?

A. For a client who is deaf or hard of hearing, effective
communication may require a qualified sign language interpreter.
Qualified sign language interpreters are required to maintain
the confidentiality of any conversations they interpret.

Q. Must a professional office that is located within a private
residence be accessible?

A. Yes. When a public accommodation is located in a private
residence, the portions of the home used as a place of public
accommodation are covered by the ADA. This is also true if those
parts of the home that are used as a public accommodation are
also used for residential purposes.

The readily achievable standard continues to apply. Barrier
removal will be required when considered in light of the
financial and other resources of the professional office.

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RESTAURANTS & BARS

  * What special services might restaurants and bars provide to
    customers with vision impairments?
  * Must restaurants and bars allow service animals, including
    guide dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into
    restaurants?
  * What other services are restaurants required to provide to
    customers with disabilities?

Q. What special services might restaurants and bars provide to
customers with vision impairments?

A. Customers with vision impairments may need orientation to
their seats. It is customary to offer a person with a vision
impairment assistance to his or her seat. If he or she accepts
the offer of assistance, the service person should offer his or
her arm or elbow to the customer and guide the person to the
table, alerting him or her to obstacles along the way.

Menu information must be accessible to people with vision
impairments. The best way to provide access to the menu depends,
in part, on the type of restaurant and its resources. One method
is for employees to read menus and daily specials to customers.
Large print menus are another inexpensive method for providing
independent access to some customers with limited vision. An
inexpensive magnifier is also useful to some people with vision
limitations. Braille menus are an option, but fewer than 20% of
people who are blind read Braille. Providing audio cassette
tapes of the menu and a cassette player will provide effective
communication for most individuals with vision impairments.

If a restaurant uses low lighting for ambiance, it could offer a
small flashlight for use at the table.

Q. Must restaurants and bars allow service animals, including
guide dogs, to accompany customers with disabilities into
restaurants?

A. Yes.

Q. What other services are restaurants required to provide to
customers with disabilities? A. Restaurants are required to make
reasonable modifications to their policies and procedures to
prevent discrimination against customers with disabilities.
Keeping straws on hand for use by customers with manual
impairments and unwrapping them if requested; cutting up foods
if requested by a customer; providing a glass, cup, or different
sized dish that is easier for a customer to handle if requested;
and providing assistance to customers who request help removing
their coats or jackets are examples of reasonable modifications
for most restaurants and bars.

Restaurants must be prepared to respond accurately to telephone
inquiries from customers who wish to know about the restaurant's
accessibility. A common sense approach is to keep a typed list
near the telephone outlining the restaurant's access features
that any employee can read in response to an inquiry.

These measures are courtesies that are generally accepted as
good business practice. The ADA makes sure such courtesies are
extended to all customers.

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FUN & FITNESS CENTERS

  * How can a recreation or fitness facility determine whether
    its premises are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or
    other mobility devices? What steps must be taken to provide
    access?
  * Are recreation and fitness facilities required to provide
    any assistance to individuals with disabilities so they can
    participate in the facilities' programs and activities?
  * Must fitness centers provide accessible rest rooms and
    showers? How can these facilities be made accessible?

Q. How can a recreation or fitness facility determine whether
its premises are accessible to people who use wheelchairs or
other mobility devices? What steps must be taken to provide
access?

A. Although there are significant differences between various
types of facilities, a few general, common sense rules apply to
a basic evaluation of accessibility for most recreation and
fitness centers.

For indoor facilities, determine whether pathways and doorways
between activity areas, such as video machines, lounges, bars,
classrooms, pools, saunas, hot tubs, and other facilities, are
wide enough for a person using a wheelchair or other mobility
devices. Are there vending machines or supplies stored in
hallways or other areas that might block passage?

Minor changes in the arrangement of exercise equipment,
furniture, and storage items, which can facilitate access, and
widening doors and stalls are examples of methods to improve
access that will be readily achievable for most facilities.

Are there level changes between locker rooms and the exercise
equipment, saunas, lounges, bowling lanes, or other activity
areas? Installing a permanent ramp for one or even several steps
is a method of improving access that will be readily achievable
for most businesses. If installation of a permanent ramp is not
readily achievable, safe, portable ramps are required if readily
achievable.

If portable ramps are used, a sign should indicate how to summon
the ramps.

For outdoor facilities, determine whether there are steps or
other obstacles along paths or walkways that would prevent
someone who uses a wheelchair or other mobility device from
travelling on them or from reaching an activity area such as a
swimming pool or picnic ground. As with indoor facilities, ramps
are required to provide access if readily achievable.

For picnic, boating, or other outdoor recreation or fitness
facilities, evaluate whether people with disabilities can reach
and use the facilities. Can people with disabilities reach the
picnic tables? Does spectator seating provide wheelchair access?
Is there an adequate sight line from the wheelchair accessible
seating area to the events? Removal of such barriers is required
to provide access when it is readily achievable.

When it is not readily achievable for a recreation or fitness
facility to remove some or all barriers to access, the facility
must devise readily achievable alternatives.

Q. Are recreation and fitness facilities required to provide any
assistance to individuals with disabilities so they can
participate in the facilities' programs and activities? A. In
some situations reasonable modifications of policies, practices,
or procedures to include minimal staff assistance may be
required if the modification does not result in a fundamental
alteration of the program. For example, staff members in some
weight rooms stabilize weight lifters' wheelchalrs even if they
do not routinely provide similar assistance to other clients or
members. Some facilities also provide additional instruction
about the use of particular exercise machines to individuals who
have cognitive impairments such as mental retardation. Likewise,
some health clubs assist individuals with disabilities into and
out of pools and hot tubs, and some of them have installed
floor-mounted pool lifts. If staff is limited, a customer or
member could be allowed to provide his or her own attendant at a
waived membership rate. Q. Must fitness centers provide
accessible rest rooms and showers? How can these facilities be
made accessible?

A. Shower and rest room facilities are central components in
many fitness centers' programs. Therefore, when readily
achievable, at least one accessible rest room and shower must be
available.

Certain relatively simple steps can increase access and
usability of rest rooms. Widening entry and stall doors; moving
obstacles such as vending machines; rearranging toilet
partitions to increase maneuverability for people using
wheelchairs; installing a raised toilet seat; installing grab
bars near the toilet; repositioning paper towel dispensers;
installing lever handles on at least one sink; and installing
insulation material around exposed lavatory pipes to prevent
individuals who use wheelchairs from burning their legs while
sitting at the sink are examples of changes that will be readily
achievable for most businesses.

Where showers are available, an accessible shower stall must
also be available if readily achievable. If a fitness center
provides more than one rest room and shower and not all are
accessible, a sign should indicate where the accessible
facilities are located.

Simple symbols indicating which facilities are for men or women
are easier for some people with cognitive impairments (such as
mental retardation) to understand than words or other images.
Raised letters and Braille differentiating men's and women's
rest rooms and showers are important for people who are blind,
and large, high contrast signs help people with limited vision.
Fitness centers should take all of these measures to make shower
and rest room signs accessible, if readily achievable.

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End of Document

