Public Accommodations and Disability Discrimination Laws
People may think of disability discrimination most often in the context of employment and perhaps housing, but laws against discrimination also apply to places of public accommodation. The main federal law in this area is Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act, although Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability by a business that receives federal funds. Many state laws prohibit disability discrimination as well, and these protections may extend further than those under federal laws.
Under the ADA, a place of public accommodation includes any business or non-profit organization that owns, operates, or leases facilities open to the public. These range from places that provide essential services to relatively non-essential places for recreation and entertainment. Some examples include health care facilities, transportation hubs, daycares, stores, gyms, private schools, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, zoos, amusement parks, museums, stadiums, homeless shelters, and funeral homes.
Forms of Disability Discrimination in Public Accommodations
Sometimes discrimination against a person with a disability involves the use of screening criteria that exclude or tend to exclude people with disabilities. Public accommodations cannot use these criteria unless they are necessary to provide their products, services, or facilities. In addition, disability discrimination may arise from a failure to provide a reasonable modification to business policies, practices, and procedures when necessary to provide a person with a disability with access to the business or the products or services that it provides. A business must provide a reasonable modification unless it would fundamentally alter the nature of its products, services, or facilities.
Communicating with a person with a disability sometimes may pose challenges, such as when they suffer from a vision, hearing, or speech impairment. In this situation, a business generally must provide auxiliary aids and services to allow them access to its products, services, and facilities. Exceptions apply when this would create an undue burden for the business or fundamentally alter the nature of its products, services, or facilities. Auxiliary aids and services might include providing sign-language interpreters, large-print documents, and audio versions of printed information.
Enforcing Protections Under the ADA
A person with a disability who needs a reasonable modification (or an auxiliary aid or service) should request it in writing from the business. They should explain that they have a disability that affects their ability to access the products, services, or facilities of the business in specific ways. However, they do not need to specifically identify their disability. They also should indicate certain modifications (or auxiliary aids or services) that would meet their needs. In most cases, unless the basis for the request is obvious, a person with a disability should ask a health care provider to write a letter supporting their request. This should articulate the medical reasons behind it.
If a business fails to respond appropriately to a request for a modification, or if a person with a disability otherwise believes that they have been subject to discrimination, they can file an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. They also could file a complaint with their state anti-discrimination agency if a violation of state law occurred.
A person with a disability also can file a lawsuit in court against a business that violated Title III of the ADA. Although they cannot receive monetary compensation under the ADA, they can potentially get an order requiring a business to make adjustments to accommodate them. They also may be able to recover reasonable attorney fees if they hired a lawyer, which is generally a good idea when going to court. Some state laws may allow a plaintiff to get monetary compensation in addition to an order against the business.
