Managing ADA Changes: Six Tips for the Next Six Months

  1. Plan to plan: plant the seeds for a new transition plan or barrier removal plan, and a self-evaluation.
  2. Read the proposed rules.
  3. DO NOT start complying with “new” ADA accessibility standards, because there aren’t any.
  4. You run the risk of violating the EXISTING access standards if you have a blanket policy of building to the “new” proposed standards now.
  5. Don’t look to the DOJ rule to answer all your questions about service animals or program access.
  6. Go ahead with your emergency preparedness planning, if you’re a state or local government, college or university, or non-profit with emergency preparedness or response duties.

State and Local Governments

ADA One can help you comply with Title II and section 504 while coping with

  • new requirements
  • changing environments
  • fewer resources
  • higher expectations

Higher Education

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act apply to almost all colleges, universities, and trade schools. The laws mandate an equal opportunity for students with disabilities – they’re entitled to benefit from all the services of those institutions and to use campus facilities.

Emergency Preparedness

Change seems to come more and more quickly now. One change has affected all of us: the world we live in is more dangerous than it was even ten years ago. And more frequent, more devastating emergencies and disasters have even harsher effects on people with disabilities than on many other groups.

In the last decade, “emergency planning” probably brought to mind leaving a building as quickly as possible in a fire or taking shelter from a tornado.

Now we face events of broader and more devastating impact: the attacks of 9/11, the California wildfires, Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, flooding, hazardous materials spills, sudden shootings on campuses.

This topic is emotional and raises diverse, unpleasant, and complex issues. ADA One presents an approach to organizing our thinking and working with all parties who have a role or stake in the outcome of emergencies – in other words, all of us.