Americans With Disabilities Act Technical Assistance Program

 

To ensure that public accommodations and commercial facilities and State and local governments learn of the requirements of Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and acquire the knowledge needed to comply voluntarily with these requirements.

Deleted 10/11/2010 (Archived.) 16.108 Agency: Department of Justice
Office: Civil Rights Division Dissemination of Technical Information;
Training; Investigation of Complaints; Project Grants. In FY 2007, The Department entered into comprehensive settlement agreements with Mandalay Corporation and with Circus Circus Mississippi, Inc., resolving investigations into the accessibility of the Mandalay Bay Casino Resort in Las Vegas and the Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. Both resorts, subsidiaries of MGM Mirage, were constructed after the ADA Standards for Accessible Design went into effect. Under the agreements, each casino resort has agreed to ensure that its facility complies with the new construction standards of the ADA, ensuring that guests and visitors with disabilities have access to a total of four hotels, more than 6,500 guest rooms and suites, 36 restaurants and bars, 3 theaters, more than 30 specialty shops, 3 convention centers, an events center seating up to 12,000 people, and other amenities. The Department entered into a settlement agreement with Doctor Associates Inc. (DAI), the privately held corporation that franchises more than 20,000 Subway sandwich shops throughout the United States. Because the individual Subway shops are franchisees, the agreement recognizes that DAI will facilitate the efforts to ensure compliance while the individual Subway shops will be responsible for removing barriers to access at more than 20,000 Subway shops nationwide. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania approved an agreement resolving a lawsuit against Philadelphia for violating the ADA in providing emergency medical care. The Department intervened in a lawsuit filed by an individual alleging that paramedics employed by the city refused to provide him with appropriate medical care upon learning of his HIV status. Under the agreement, Philadelphia will provide paramedics employed by the city with ongoing training on nondiscriminatory treatment of patients with infectious diseases, specifically HIV/AIDS. The city also agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the plaintiff. Much of the Department's enforcement effort focuses on resolution without litigation or formal agreements. For example, under a contract the Department refers complaints to professional mediators who have been trained in the legal requirements of the ADA. This has resulted in many mediated agreements. The Department's successful enforcement and educational efforts are detailed in quarterly reports published by the Section and available online. The Technical Assistance Program, mandated under Section 506 of the ADA, provides answers to questions and free publications to businesses, state and local governments, people with disabilities, and the general public. In FY 2007, more than 47,000 calls to the ADA Information Line were answered by ADA Specialists who assisted callers in applying the ADA to their own unique situations. The Section develops and disseminates free ADA publications, provides training and information at meetings nationwide, and carries out a variety of outreach and educational initiatives to reach audiences affected by the ADA. The Section's technical assistance publications range from detailed technical assistance manuals to basic Question-and-Answer booklets and illustrated guides addressing specific topics. Publications can be obtained 24 hours a day through a free fax-on-demand service or through the Section's ADA Website. This web site, one of the top five in the Department, received almost 57 million visits to its pages and graphics in FY 2007. The Section also chairs an ADA Technical Assistance Coordinating Committee and works with other agencies to coordinate technical assistance activities nationwide. In FY 2007, continued development of Expanding Your Market, a new series of concise, reproducible documents offering resources for businesses working to improve access and everyday examples of how accessibility can serve diverse market segments. The first four publications in the series are titled Customers with Disabilities Mean Business,TaxIncentives for Businesses, Accessibility Benefits Older Adult Customers and Building a Diverse Customer Base. The Section participated in 71 speaking and outreach events reaching more than 250,000 people in FY 2007, including sending staff to distribute information and answer questions at 11 national conferences and one state fair to promote public awareness of the ADA. The Section also publishes annually an article about the ADA-related tax credits and deductions in an IRS newsletter that reached more than seven million businesses nationwide. In FY 2007, the ADA Business Connection conducted four Leadership meetings in New York City, Washington, DC, Charlotte, NC, and Chicago, IL. This initiative, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, seeks to improve access to goods and services and increase employment of people with disabilities by fostering increased understanding of ADA requirements within the business community and increased dialogue and cooperation between the business and disability communities. Americans with Disabilities Act, Public Law 101-336, Section 506. Nonprofit organizations, including trade and professional associations or their subsidiaries, organizations representing State and local governments or their employees, other organizations representing entities covered by the ADA, State and local governments agencies, national and State-based organizations representing persons with disabilities, and individuals. The target audiences of funded grants will include State and local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations that operate public accommodations and commercial facilities, and individuals who want information about their rights or responsibilities under the ADA. Not applicable. None. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372. When funds are available, a notice of solicitation of grant applications is published in Federal Register. Applications are typically submitted in 45 to 60 days prior to award. Solicitation requires that the following forms be submitted with the application: SF 424 and 424A Application for Federal Assistance; Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Form 4000-3 (attached to SF 424); OJP Form 4061/6 (3-91); certifications regarding lobbying, debarment, suspension, and other responsibility matters; and Drug-Free Workplace Requirement; OJP Form 7120/1 (1/85), Accounting System and Financial Capability Questionnaire. Final award decisions are made by the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division. Civil Rights Division Program personnel receive and review proposals and make recommendations to the Assistant Attorney General. All grants are made directly to applicants. No State Plan required. Variable. Announced in the solicitation published in the Federal Register. The range is 60-120 days. None. None. Criteria for selection of projects published in the solicitation of application. Grants limited to the provision of technical assistance and educational activities that have a wide impact, including the development and dissemination of materials, the conduct of seminars, conferences, and training, and the provision of technical assistance on a state, regional or national basis depending on the funding priorities announced each year. Because the grant program is educational in nature, the Department does not fund projects to research or resolve issues that are outside the scope of the Department's current ADA regulations and court interpretations. The program is not intended to fund or support site- specific compliance implementation (e.g., funding to make specific facilities more accessible), or to fund or support inspections, reviews, or tests to determine whether an entity is meeting its compliance obligations. The program does not provide funding to help people with disabilities become more productive or acquire services they need because of their disability. Quarterly financial (SF 269A (Rev. 4/88)) and program (OJP 4587/1 (Rev. 2/90)) reports. Grants may be audited by the Office of Justice Programs using standard audit procedure mandated by GAO. Organization financial audits for each calendar year in which grant was effective. Not applicable. Normally 12 months. Release by Letter of Credit and as required. None. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, Washington, DC 20530. Telephone: (800) 514- 0301 (Voice) (800) 514-0383 (TDD). Contact: Office of Public Affairs, Telephone: (202) 514-2007; (TDD) (202) 514-1888. www.ada.gov. 15-0128-0-1-752. (Grants) FY 07 est not available; FY 08 est not available; and FY 09 est not available. (Salaries and Expenses) FY 07 $17,400,000; FY 08 est $17,550,000; and FY 09 est $18,467,000. Not available. Notice of solicitation of grant applications, Federal Register 25980-25983, June 5, 1991. Notice of solicitation of grant applications, Federal Register 13797-13208, March 15, 1993, and Federal Register 15523, March 23, 1993. Notice of solicitation of grant applications, Federal Register 29160-29168, June 3, 1994. Notice of solicitation of grant applications, Federal Register 28484-28489, May 31, 1995. Notice of solicitation of grant applications, Federal Register 25744-25749, May 22, 1996. The Police Executive Research Forum was awarded funding to create a set of materials on protecting the rights of persons with seizure disorders, speech and hearing impairments, mental retardation, and mental illness, to be integrated into police academy training and others for use in on-the-job roll-call training. The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies was awarded funding to place a collection of ADA material in 15,000 local libraries nationwide. The National Association of Towns and Township was awarded funding to produce ADA training materials to assist regional and State ADA technical assistance providers in educating officials from small towns across the country on how to comply with the ADA. The American Association of Retired Persons was awarded funding to create materials and conduct training sessions throughout the country to educate older persons with disabilities about their rights under the ADA. In 1995 and 1996, the Program funded state based grant projects to increase knowledge about the requirements of the ADA and awareness of resources available locally and at the State, regional, and national levels.