Your Rights - rights of the disabled - Brief Article

Accent on Living, Spring, 2000

Have you been confronted with discrimination or harassment in the workplace or in other situations? We invite you, ACCENT readers, to submit questions concerning your rights or discrimination or harassment you have encountered.

Nancy Fields and Joyce Phillips, both attorneys, will consider the questions and provide answers to some of the questions which will be printed in ACCENT. Nancy and Joyce practice law on the East Coast and have more than twenty years of combined practical legal experience.

NOTE: The advice given in this column is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes legal advice.

Send your questions to ACCENT Discrimination, P.O. Box 700, Bloomington, IL 61702.

Question:

Must a school or a testing facility alter its admissions process for people with disabilities?

Answer:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires entities which offer tests related to licensing, certification or credentialing for college or post-graduate education to offer these exams in a place and manner accessible to persons with disabilities or offer alternative accessible arrangements.

There are several ways that a school or testing authority is obligated to make the exam more accessible. One is a duty to make reasonable modifications to the way in which the exam is administered. This can include change in the length of time permitted for completion of the exam. Another is the adaptation of the manner in which the exam is given.

You would need to disclose your disability and request specific accommodations and give the supporting medical documentation. You should bear in mind that it is best to discuss with the school or professor ahead of time what type of accommodation you are requesting and how that accommodation will be given. It is the student's choice to accept or refuse the accommodation offered. The accommodation process should be kept open and ongoing to ensure that it meets your individual needs.

Schools routinely "flag" test scores of students who are disabled and have been granted accommodation. The latest controversy on this subject centers around a medical student with multiple sclerosis who is suing in federal court because he feels that the flagging of his test scores unnecessarily identifies him as a person with a disability and is, therefore, in violation of the ADA.

In closing, you should be aware that nothing in the ADA requires a school to lower its admissions or performance standards, unless there is evidence that the tester has failed to administer the test in a manner that complies with the ADA. The ADA, for example, does not require law schools to discontinue the use of standardized tests in their admissions process.

Question 2:

What are the accessibility requirements for buildings under the ADA?

Case scenario: You are in a store and you have to use the restroom facilities. You are disabled. The restroom is not handicapped-accessible and you fall and injure yourself.

Title III of the ADA prohibits disability discrimination in "the full and equal enjoyment of the facilities or accommodations of any place of public accommodation." A claim of negligence under your state could be brought by a disabled person who is injured because a "place of public accommodation" is not handicapped-accessible. Lack of accessibility can be a ramp that is too steep for a wheelchair, or one that lacks guardrails. It can also include public toilets that do not have grab bars.

Under ADA regulations, a public accommodation has to remove any architectural barriers in existing facilities where the removal is readily achievable and is not too expensive. Readily achievable modifications include installing grab bars in toilet stalls and rearranging toilet partitions to increase maneuvering space.

The Fair Housing Act covers most housing related problems. Under the law, any housing ready for occupancy after March 1, 1991 and that has an elevator and four units must be accessible to persons with disabilities. Doors and hallways must be wide enough for wheelchairs. The landlord may not refuse to let you make reasonable modifications to your dwelling or common use areas; however these modifications must be made at your expense. The landlord also can't refuse to make reasonable accommodations in the rules and policies for a disabled person to use the housing, e.g. a visually impaired person can keep a guide dog despite a "no pets" policy.