#HandsOffMyADA – A Member of the ADA Generation’s Take on ADA Notification Bills

November 30, 2018 | Ellie Stitzer, 2018 AAPD Summer Intern

My mentor at my university has a sticker in her office that says “The Americans with Disabilities Act – to boldly go where everyone else has gone before.” This really is what the ADA did: when it passed in 1990, it gave Americans with disabilities protection in their employment, public spaces, and public entities, which are the same protections that everyone else already had. I was born with a disability in 1996, six years after the passage of this historic civil rights legislation, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use a wheelchair accessible entrance, accessible parking space, a curb cut, or a number of other accommodations provided to me because of the ADA. I can remember learning about the disability rights movement (on my own time, of course, since in my experience schools don’t talk about it) and realizing that I had really lucked out having been born after all that had happened. At the very least, I am thankful that I can say that my expectations and standards for accessibility are a lot higher than they were for people who lived in a pre-ADA America.

But even though the ADA was passed 28 years ago, not everyone has chosen to comply. Just a few days ago, my group of friends wanted to go out to a restaurant they’d heard about online, but when we showed up on the scene the building had a step to get in just BARELY high enough that my wheelchair couldn’t get over it. I run into these kind of access barriers constantly, and whenever it happens my friends and I are forced to be flexible and take our business to the nearest accessible alternative. But hey, at least there’s (usually) an alternative, right?

That’s why when I learned that there were multiple “ADA notification bills” floating around Congress this session, I felt like I had suddenly been time-warped back to before 1990, when people were still trying to prove that disability rights were civil rights. These bills, such as H.R. 620, which actually passed in the House of Representatives, would eliminate incentives for businesses, including large chain corporations, to proactively comply with the ADA and be accessible to those with disabilities. While H.R. 620 seems to have been stopped in the Senate for now, the fact that this bill was even introduced shows that, unfortunately, we are still at a place where we are having to fight to protect these very basic rights that businesses have now had, let me say it again, 28 years to comply with. The ADA laid the groundwork to make sure that my generation was able to grow up with the expectations we did. We need to focus on working towards complete access and strengthening the law, not weakening it like the congressmen and women who supported H.R. 620 seem to prefer.

 

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Ellie Stitzer is a 2018 AAPD Summer Intern. She interned at the Administration for Community Living in the U.S. Department of Health of Human Services.

H.R. 620: Reforming Disabled Americans’ Civil Rights Backwards

October 17, 2018 | Cecilia S. Grugan, 2018 AAPD Summer Intern

For 28 years now, disabled Americans have been flourishing in a garden of opportunity unlike any era preceding the 21st Century. The newly founded civil rights today were granted by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Such an act outlaws discrimination in many facets of life including employment, transportation, education, and all else that is open to the public. It was not until recent years that such legislation became controversial. Select legislative powerhouses have since been considering a new amendment.

Since 2013, the provisions of the law have led to the triple amount of lawsuits generated primarily by anti-business lawyers. Due to these results, H.R. 620, the ADA Education and Reform Act is an effort to amend a requirement that mandates a “notice and cure” period by any person claiming a discriminatory experience. It is imperative to note that no such other civil rights legislation has such a provision.

Supporters say the bill will put the brakes on the lawsuits that benefit lawyers more than disabled Americans. In opposition to the bill, disabled Americans will be robbed of remedies provided by ADA violations. Representative Jim Langevin, the first disabled American with quadripalegia elected to Congress, stated that “This bill reverses decades of progress by undercutting our ability to assert our rights under the law through the use of a ‘notice and cure’ provision.” Nevertheless, the United States House of Representatives’ final vote included 225 in favor, 192 against, and 13 abstentions. This voting outcome allowed for the bill to pass the House. However, the bill still needs to slide through the Senate and be signed by the President before it has a chance to become adopted.

If such a bill does pass, the law will require disabled Americans to provide a written notice about an ADA violation to the offending entity and wait up to 60 days before the entity responds. Not only that, but after the entity responds, the entity has an additional 120 days to make meaningful progress toward fixing the discriminatory claim. With these timeframes, entities essentially can respond over a period of six months. These strenuous results for the disabled American community symbolize the coined phrase by William E. Gladstone, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Seek out justice and call your Senators!

 

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Cecilia Grugan is a 2018 AAPD Summer Intern. She interned with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Congress just voted – now it’s OUR TURN to vote!

February 15, 2018

Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed the ADA Education and Reform Act (HR 620) by a 225-192 vote. We are extremely disappointed and downright angry to see this blatant attack on the civil rights of people with disabilities to access places of public accommodation and now look to our allies in the Senate to prevent a companion bill from passing.

We are grateful to all of you who called, tweeted, emailed, and met with your Members of Congress over the past few weeks to advocate against this bill and hope we can count on you again when this fight moves to the Senate. AAPD will continue our advocacy alongside you and our allies to protect the Americans with Disabilities Act and the rights of people with disabilities.

The surest way to protect our rights is to vote! With the 2018 midterm election coming up on November 6, now is the time to make sure that every candidate is concerned about the rights of people with disabilities. Join AAPD’s REV UP Campaign to get more people with disabilities registered to vote, educated, and engaged in the political process.

Visit www.aapd.com/REVUP for voter registration, education, and engagement resources. We’re organizing a network of REV UP State Disability Voting Coalitions – contact programs@www.aapd.com to launch a coalition in your state or get connected with advocates already organizing in your state.

Let’s make the disability vote count in 2018!

 

Photo of Justin Dart with text: "VOTE as if your life depends on it - Because it DOES!

“VOTE as if your life depends on it – Because it DOES!”

A Plea to Take Action against the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017

October 31, 2017 | Christine Griffin, AAPD Board Member

I have been a wheelchair user for 37 years. I didn’t become a disability rights activist until a year after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 despite having had a disability for 10 years.  This new law propelled me in my wheelchair into a career I never saw coming. I entered law school in 1990 with a different type of law practice in mind. I was an engineer and I had patent law in my sights, but it was a legal internship that gave me the opportunity to learn about the ADA. Tom O’Neill, Speaker Tip O’Neill’s son, asked me to learn everything I could about this new law and tell him how it would impact his clients. I was lucky enough, with his help, to get into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) sponsored ADA Network training and that summer opened up a new world to me. I met the best advocates with disabilities from across the country and I fell in love with a law. I returned to law school knowing I would be part of a national effort that would help shape this new comprehensive civil rights law called the ADA.

While I have seen access to many places increase over the past 37 years, I become alarmed when I see any attempt to push disability rights backwards. Title III of the ADA currently requires businesses to remove architectural barriers, provide accessible parking if they provide parking for their patrons, etc. The ADA turned 27 years old on July 26 but the filing of HR 620 proves that the fight for our rights never ends no matter how old the law may be. Despite the “helpful” sounding title of this bill, the Education and Reform Act of 2017, the only people it helps are business owners, not the people whose rights continue to be violated. These business owners have made a decision to refuse to comply with Title III of the ADA and when sued about their non-compliance, they convince their legislator to file a bill allowing them “more time” because 27 years isn’t enough.

I will never forget the first time we saw a bill like this filed by Florida Congressman Foley, the ADA Notification Act of 2000. Foley received support for his efforts from someone who wasn’t even his constituent but applauded the ADA Notification bill Foley filed, Clint Eastwood. Yup, that’s right, movie actor and director, Clint Eastwood. Eastwood at the time owned a hotel/resort that had access problems.  The suit filed against him was brought by a couple with disabilities under California Law and it was reported that Eastwood ended up spending more money opposing the complaint than it would have taken him to fix the access issues. A jury found him liable for non-compliance. This lawsuit pushed him into the national spotlight as a big supporter of the ADA Notification bill. Eastwood even showed up in DC for the Committee hearing on the bill and testified extra time was necessary for all small business owners who wanted to do the right thing but just weren’t aware of their legal obligations. So like him, he argued, they shouldn’t be punished by having complaints filed against them and the ADA should be changed. He even went on the Chris Matthews show that night and said that the reason the unemployment of people with disabilities was so high was because Hollywood celebrities like him aren’t asked to do PSAs saying “Hire the Handicapped” anymore. I have a hard time watching anything he is in or makes to this day.

And while that first bill went no-where in 2000, others were filed and frankly, we, as a community began to become complacent because the subsequent ADA Notification bills as they became known went no-where too. It wasn’t that long ago that I predicted the same for HR 620 and then it began gaining steam in Congress. I am now advocating for a change in our approach and it doesn’t include blaming the attorneys who file large numbers of complaints in various states and cities. While we may disagree with their style and ultimate settlement deals, the facts are that they have clients with disabilities who have every right to file a complaint and the complaints themselves are dead on black and white ADA Title III complaints. The business owner either has compliant parking spaces or doesn’t. The business owner either has an entrance that complies or doesn’t. It is as simple as that. And you can drive around every city or town in this country without ever leaving your vehicle and document plenty of examples of businesses that are non-compliant with simple Title III requirements that most likely are readily achievable. In addition, there are plenty of free resources available to these businesses explaining the law and how they can comply with it. Besides the ADA Network Centers, every Better Business Bureau or other business association is well informed and able to help. In fact, when I was attending the ADA Network Training mentioned above, other disability rights activists, including Itzhak Perlman, were making Government funded training materials and videos for businesses to educate them about their obligations under the law. Free education for businesses has been available since the law became effective in 1992.

The fact that a business waits for a complaint to drop before deciding what to do is just plain stupid and my rights should not be diminished because they want to wait for the lawsuit before complying. Would they wait for a health inspection before complying with health related rules? Would a business owner get lots more time to comply with non-compliance of food related laws while staying open and serving customers? I don’t think so. So why should these business owners get more time to comply with the ADA if HR 620 passes?

Supporters of HR 620 will tell you the bill only makes minor changes to the ADA. Not true. HR 620 removes any incentive that currently exists for a business to comply proactively. This bill will reward those who have waited for a complaint to be filed by requiring someone like me to give the business owner what could be unlimited time to provide access. If this law is passed, business owners won’t face any penalty as long as a person with a disability goes through an elaborate notification process beginning with filing a very specific complaint with the business owner, wait 60 days for a response and another 120 days for removal of the barrier to access before going to court. After that, if the business owner claims he/she is making “substantial progress” toward access, whatever that means, the wait for access to that business may be a lot longer. Is this really what we have waited 27 years for? No, it is not.

A vote on the house floor on this bill is imminent. So, I am asking all of my fellow disability rights activists and your family and friends to start emailing, tweeting and calling your Congressmen and Congresswomen right now to tell them to vote no on HR 620 and to insist that they ensure that our rights to equal access to all businesses open to the public are maintained and protected. Do it now!

Call the Capitol at (202) 224-3121. Your Message is: Vote NO on HR 620, the “ADA Education and Reform Act,” or tweet your member of congress: #DisabilityRights = #CivilRights! Protect the #ADA, Vote NO on #HR620

 

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Christine Griffin is the Immediate Past Chair of AAPD’s Board of Directors and current Executive Director of the Disability Law Center, the Protection and Advocacy agency for Massachusetts.

 

Review AAPD’s past Action Alerts on H.R. 620, The ADA Education and Reform Act

Action Alert! Congress is on August Recess… We have work to do!

August 18, 2017

On August 3, 2017, both the Senate and House of Representatives began their month-long recess and will be back in their home states and districts until after Labor Day. This comes after months of fierce and successful advocacy by our community to protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid. Once again, thank you for all of your hard work and continued advocacy!

However, we are not done fighting just yet. We must take advantage of this opportunity to meet and engage with our senators and representatives at home to protect Medicaid, other essential healthcare services, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). While we’re fighting to protect the rights we have, we must also work on passing the Disability Integration Act (DIA) – an act to ensure millions of Americans with disabilities have access to the services they need to live in the community.

 

Take Action

Healthcare and Medicaid

Even though recent attempts by the US Senate to repeal the ACA and cut Medicaid failed, there are still threats to the lives and liberty of people with disabilities. The Trump Administration’s budget proposal released in May calls for a 17% cut, or $877 billion reduction to Medicaid over 10 years. Today, Medicaid supports approximately 10 million non-elderly people with disabilities who will be adversely affected if Medicaid is cut or capped.

  • Thank your Members of Congress if they opposed the recent healthcare repeal efforts and ask them to continue to fight to protect Medicaid.
  • If your Members of Congress supported the recent healthcare repeal efforts remind them of the real and devastating impact their efforts would have on people with disabilities that lose healthcare.
  • Use the August Recess Toolkit from Families USA to engage your Members of Congress through events and meetings, Twitter, and letters to the editor.

 

The Disability Integration Act of 2017

The Disability Integration Act (DIA) would complement the ADA, accelerate the rate of people with disabilities leaving institutions, and expand access to home- and community-based services. For more information, visit www.DisabilityIntegrationAct.org.

 

The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR 620)

The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620) would seriously weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by delaying requirements that businesses be accessible to people with disabilities. The proposed legislation requires a person with a disability to give businesses with accessibility barriers a written notice of the barrier, after which the business has 60 days to even acknowledge there is a problem, and then another 120 days to begin to fix it. No other civil rights group is forced to wait 180 days to enforce their civil rights! There are currently 21 Democratic and Republican representatives co-sponsoring this legislation.

  • If your Representative is a current co-sponsor of the bill ask them to reconsider their support if they believe in equal rights and equal access for people with disabilities.
  • If your Representative is not a current co-sponsor of the bill thank them for not signing-on and underscore why this bill weakens the ADA and threatens the rights of people with disabilities.
  • Use talking points from AAPD’s Action Alert: Tell Congress Not to Weaken the ADA!

 

Engage your Members of Congress

 

Participate in town halls or other events

You can find public events for senators and representatives all across the country thanks to the Town Hall Project. Make sure that Medicaid, independence, and civil rights for people with disabilities are raised during these events. Sharing personal stories can be particularly impactful.

 

Call your Senators and Representatives

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senators or Representative. Contacting Congress also provides phone numbers for the DC and state offices of each Member.

 

Tweet your Senators and Representatives

Twitter has become a powerful political tool and is another way you can interact with your Members of Congress.

 

Additional Resources

Action Alert! Tell Congress Not to Weaken the ADA!

Update – September 8, 2017

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance H.R. 620, The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017. The bill was passed 15-9 on a party-line vote with no Democrats voting to support the bill. H.R. 620 has not been scheduled for a full House vote at this time, but we must continue contacting our Representatives to tell them to VOTE NO on this bill.

H.R. 620 would create significant obstacles for people with disabilities to enforce their right to access public accommodations and impede their ability to participate fully in society.

 

April 25, 2017

The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620) would seriously weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by delaying requirements that businesses be accessible to people with disabilities.

The proposed legislation requires a person with a disability to give businesses with accessibility barriers a written notice of the barrier, after which the business has 60 days to even acknowledge there is a problem, and then another 120 days to begin to fix it. No other civil rights group is forced to wait 180 days to enforce their civil rights!

HR 620 currently has 14 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and waits for markup from the Judiciary Committee. Now is the time to contact those Representatives and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill!

 

Message: Vote NO on HR 620, the ADA Education and Reform Act.

Contacting Congress allows you to easily search for you Member of Congress and access multiple methods to contact them (phone, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). You can also call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Despite multiple methods of communications, congressional offices respond best to in-person meetings and phone calls.

All Members of the House of Representatives need to hear from the disability community, but it is especially important if your Representative serves on the Judiciary Committee (see the list below).

  • The ADA Education and Reform Act would seriously weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act and would turn people with disabilities into second-class citizens.
  • The ADA is already very carefully crafted to take the needs of business owners into account. Compliance is simply not burdensome. But this bill would remove any reason for businesses to comply. Instead, they can take a “wait and see” attitude, and do nothing until they happen to be sued or sent a notice letter.
  • H.R. 620 would require a person with a disability who encounters an access barrier to send an exactly written notice, and gives the business owner 60 days to even acknowledge that there is a problem—and then another 120 days to begin to fix it. No other civil rights group is forced to wait 180 days to enforce their civil rights.
  • Title III of the ADA was implemented in 1992 to provide regulations on the accessibility of private businesses (also known as public accommodations). Businesses have had over 25 years to comply with these regulations.
  • H.R. 620 calls for education by the Department of Justice. But there are already extensive federal efforts to educate business owners about their ADA obligations, including the in-depth DOJ ADA website (http://ada.gov), the DOJ ADA hotline, extensive DOJ technical assistance materials, etc., and by the 10 federally-funded regional ADA Centers (www.adata.org) that provide in-depth resources and training in every state.
  • Proponents of this bill have raised concerns about monetary damage awards. But that has nothing to do with the ADA, because the ADA does not allow money damages. Such damages are only available under a handful of state laws. This bill will do nothing to prevent damage awards under state laws.
  • It is troubling that this bill blames people with disabilities for public accommodations’ failure to comply with the ADA. Why should disabled people pay the price of an inaccessible environment, where we cannot live our lives like everyone else?

 

Members of the House Judiciary Committee

Republicans

  • Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)
  • Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr. (WI-05)
  • Rep. Lamar Smith (TX-21)
  • Rep. Steve Chabot (OH-01)
  • Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-49)
  • Rep. Steve King (IA-04)
  • Rep. Trent Franks (AZ-08)
  • Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
  • Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04)
  • Rep. Ted Poe (TX-02)
  • Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT-03)
  • Rep. Tom Marino (PA-10)
  • Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-04)
  • Rep. Raúl Labrador (ID-01)
  • Rep. Blake Farenthold (TX-27)
  • Rep. Doug Collins (GA-09)
  • Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL-06)
  • Rep. Ken Buck (CO-04)
  • Rep. John Ratcliffe (TX-04)
  • Rep. Martha Roby (AL-02)
  • Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01)
  • Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-04)
  • Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05)

 

Democrats

  • Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13)
  • Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
  • Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
  • Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
  • Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09)
  • Rep. Hank Johnson, Jr. (GA-04)
  • Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-22)
  • Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
  • Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37)
  • Rep. Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
  • Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
  • Rep. David Cicilline (RI-01)
  • Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
  • Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33)
  • Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-08)
  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)
  • Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10)

 

Additional Resources:

 

Webinar: Risk of major ADA amendments soon by the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017
May 1, 2017 | 2pm ET

H.R. 620 and similar ADA notification bills are gaining more steam in Congress than ever before. If any passes, it will have a devastating impact on the ADA by denying people with disabilities the power to enforce some of its requirements. Join this webinar to learn more about what is happening with this quickly-moving bill, and how you and others can get involved.

 

We cannot allow Congress to chip away at the ADA and deny the civil rights of people with disabilities – tell your Representative and those on the Judiciary Committee to vote NO on HR 620. Nothing about us, without us!

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