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TOWARD EQUAL ACCESS: PROVIDING INFORMATION
ACCESS SERVICES TO BLIND
AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS
UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)
THE INFORMATION ACCESS PROJECT FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS
NATIONAL INFORMATION ACCESS CENTER
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 JOHNSON STREET
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21230
(410) 659-9314
A Project of the National Federation of the Blind
with financial support from the U.S. Department of Justice
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) provides new legal
protection to millions of persons not previously covered by a civil
rights law. The Act, which was signed by President Bush on July 26,
1990, has established "a clear and comprehensive national mandate
for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with
disabilities." Specific provisions of the ADA apply to employment,
activities conducted by units of state and local government,
transportation services, public accommodations, and to
telecommunications services. With financial support from the United
States Department of Justice, the National Federation of the Blind
has established The National Information Access Center to assist
these entities and blind persons in meeting the ADA's information
access requirements. The Center is part of a nationwide information
access project primarily designed to assist units of state and
local government and places of public accommodation in meeting
their respective obligations under titles II and III of the ADA.
Forms of prohibited discrimination include using disability as
the grounds for failing to hire or promote persons in employment;
excluding persons with disabilities from covered programs or
services that are commonly available to others; failing to give
persons with disabilities the benefits, privileges, and advantages
provided to others by any covered program, service, or activity;
and failing to provide persons with disabilities with auxiliary
aids and services or other reasonable modifications needed by such
persons to have equal access to covered opportunities, aids,
benefits, services, and programs.
As with other civil rights laws, the ADA seeks equal access
for the persons covered. Equal access in the case of persons with
disabilities will often mean providing opportunities for
participation by anyone who is otherwise eligible without regard to
disability. There are circumstances, however, when active planning
and steps to remove barriers to access will have to be done.
Barriers to access exist when full enjoyment of an opportunity,
aid, benefit, or service is limited by any particular disabling
condition.
Most entities covered by the ADA produce information of
various kinds to describe their services and programs. The
information may include general descriptions, detailed
instructions, reports, directories, regulatory documents, and so
forth. These materials are produced in the normal course of
business and are readily available in ink print form. For the most
part they are not readily available in alternative non-visual
media. Failure to consider the information access needs of blind
and visually impaired persons in covered activities would violate
the ADA.
Reasonable means do exist to provide written information in
ink print and in alternative non-visual forms as well, but most
entities covered by the ADA are not well informed about both their
obligations to provide accessible materials and the methods
available for doing so. This brochure will explain the ADA's
information access requirements and suggest existing alternatives
for meeting them.
WHO MUST PROVIDE INFORMATION IN ALTERNATIVE NON-VISUAL MEDIA?
Requirements for providing accessible information in
alternative non-visual media are an integral part of the ADA's
nondiscrimination policy. The policy applies generally to all
covered activities, including both the employment practices and
non-employment-related services of ADA-covered entities. Covered
activities include the services, programs, and activities of units
of state and local governments, providers of public transportation
services, and places of public accommodation, and the employment
practices of most employers. The ADA's requirements with respect to
employment practices generally become effective on July 26, 1992
for employers with twenty-five or more employees and two years
later for employers with fifteen or more employees. Services
provided by places of public accommodation, and by public entities
(units of state and local government) must comply with the
nondiscrimination requirements on January 26, 1992.
Places of public accommodation include entities in twelve
specific categories, which include the following: lodging places,
inns and hotels; restaurants, bars, or other establishments serving
food and drink; motion picture houses, theaters, concert halls,
stadiums, or other places of entertainment; auditoriums, convention
centers, lecture halls, or other place of public gathering;
bakeries, grocery stores, clothing stores, hardware stores,
shopping centers, or other sales or rental establishments,
laundromats, dry-cleaners, banks, barber shops, beauty shops,
travel services, shoe repair services, funeral parlors, gas
stations, offices used for professional services; transportation
terminals or depots; museums and galleries; places of recreation
and education; and social service agencies.
WHAT COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS APPLY
The general nondiscrimination policy of the ADA is restated in
each of its major titles. The policy is designed to afford persons
with disabilities an equal opportunity to obtain the same
opportunities, aids, benefits, services, and programs (including
employment opportunities) that any covered entity provides to
persons without disabilities. Equal outcomes resulting from
opportunities are not required, but equal access to opportunities
must be assured.
The existence of a disabling condition may not cause or result
in the denial of aids, benefits, services, and programs. To further
that goal the ADA requires employers to make reasonable
accommodations necessary for persons with disabilities to perform
the essential functions of a job. Covered entities are also
expected to make reasonable modifications in the provision of their
aids, benefits, or services so that persons with disabilities will
be afforded equal access. Auxiliary aids and services are
specifically required, as a part of this obligation.
The provision of information in alternative non-visual media
is both a form of reasonable accommodation and an auxiliary aid or
service. Covered entities must analyze their methods of
communicating with employees or patrons and take steps to provide
information in alternative non-visual media. Information which is
provided solely in ink print is not accessible to most blind
people. The media chosen to be accessible must be appropriate to
the needs of blind or visually impaired persons and must respond to
individual needs for accessible communications. The law encourages
flexible approaches to achieve the goal of equal access for each
individual.
The ADA's standard of "reasonableness" must be emphasized. The
provision of information in media accessible to the blind should
not pose unreasonable burdens in most instances. However, demands
for accessible information that exceed the reasonable capabilities
of a covered entity would not be required. Instead, a covered
entity would be required to provide accessible information to the
extent that reasonable alternatives for doing so are available.
Reasonable accommodations or alternatives are those which would not
pose an undue hardship or an undue burden for the covered entity.
Budget, size, and programmatic factors are considered in balancing
off the competing standards of reasonable accommodation and undue
burden.
FORMS OF ALTERNATIVE NON-VISUAL MEDIA
Alternative forms of accessible media may include sound
recordings, Braille, raised line drawings, enlarged print, and
digital text in computer readable formats. Acquisition or
modification of equipment may be necessary in some instances to
provide blind and visually impaired persons with equal access to
printed information. For example, a place of public accommodation,
such as a hotel, that provides printed information to its sighted
guests may provide the same information in sound recorded form for
blind guests. In that event, the hotel should also have a device
capable of playing the sound recording, which may be used by a
blind guest upon request.
Advancements in computer technology make reproduction of
documents by computer in full-word speech and in Braille both
affordable and feasible. Moreover, computers capable of running
programs for synthetic speech as well as print-to-Braille
translation programs are now widely available and used by most
covered entities. Synthetic speech output devices can be purchased
for as low as $600.00. High quality Braille translation programs
are also available for as low as $250.00. Special devices to
provide hard-copy Braille output can be purchased at prices
approximately the same as a high quality laser printer.
Selection of alternative non-visual media must be made to meet
individual needs and in response to individual requests and
circumstances. The provision of auxiliary aids and services on a
case-by-case basis may mean that a sighted person will read aloud
the printed text or material to a blind person. For instance, the
ADA does not require that all restaurants have Brailled editions of
their menus available. It does require that the server or another
employee read the menu if that form of assistance is requested.
Although Braille is highly useful in many circumstances, not all
blind persons have been trained adequately to use it efficiently.
Therefore, the provision of information in media accessible to the
blind must necessarily be handled with flexibility. There are some
circumstances in which the use of a sighted reader may be the most
reasonable and efficient alternative available. In other
situations, such as in the case of documents containing lengthy
instructions or guidelines to be used as a reference, Brailled,
recorded, large print, and computer readable versions may all be
necessary.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
THE INFORMATION ACCESS PROJECT FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS
NATIONAL INFORMATION ACCESS CENTER
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 JOHNSON STREET
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21230
(410) 659-9314