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Four Key Titles of the ADA
Overview
The responsibilities of providers under the ADA to meet the rights of people with disabilities are covered through multiple pieces of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA promotes the rights of accessibility and accommodation for people with disabilities. It works from an assumption about the definition of disability based upon disability residing in the individual. However, it also recognizes that environmental and social barriers are created by a society that systemically makes its own discriminatory assumptions about people’s capacities based on physical, sensory, cognitive and mental differences. It is the world’s first substantive, codified affirmation of design as a civil right. The ADA specifies the civil rights of people with disabilities. The implementation of the law is covered in other sections.
The ADA is composed of Titles I-IV. Any private facilities open to the public are covered by the law. This includes non-profit and not-for-profit facilities. These titles explain the rights of people with disabilities. If facilities receive funding from state and local governments, then Title II becomes applicable, as well.
In considering physical environments, it is important to understand the responsibilities of a provider to comply with federal and state laws or building codes requiring accessibility for people with disabilities. The requirements are minimum guidelines and even full compliance will not create environments that work for everyone but they are a legal obligation and should be understood as the floor upon which you would build other features. In recognition that many small businesses, including non-profit organizations, can not afford to make significant physical changes to their physical environments to provide accessibility to wheelchair users and other people with disabilities, the ADA has requirements for existing facilities built before 1993 that are less strict than for ones built after early 1993 or modified after early 1992.
On This Page
Title I: Employment
Title I requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Employers are expected to hire, fire, and promote the most qualified (based on the ADA definitions of disability) individual, regardless of his/her disability. The ADA does not intend an entitlement or affirmative action for qualified individuals but only equal opportunity. Title I covers all aspects of the hiring process, including posting of available positions, interviewing, job offers, and hiring. It requires all employers to make necessary reasonable accommodations for known disabilities of a qualified applicant or employee, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Reasonable accommodations are expected to result for a negotiated process of an individual identifying themselves as a person with a disability, requesting an accommodation and negotiating a reasonable accommodation with a supervisor. Examples of reasonable accommodations include modification of work schedules, altering a workspace, restructuring job duties, and reassignment. Tax credits may be available for employers that comply with the law.
Title I prohibits employers from giving pre-employment medical exams or inquiries to determine if an individual is disabled. It also prohibits the use of employment tests and other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out individuals with disabilities unless the tests are shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Employers must also keep results of any medical exams confidential. The law permits employers to inquire about the ability of a job applicant or employee to perform essential job-related functions at any time. The concept of "essential functions of the job" is central to the equal protections afforded in Title I.
Title II: State & Local Governments
Title II applies to local and state government and extends the obligations for accessibility originally required under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Title II regulations prohibit state and local government agencies, departments, special purpose districts, and other instrumentalities from discriminating against people with disabilities in their programs, services, and activities. Public entities must make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures to allow equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to participate, unless to do so would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. They must also provide auxiliary aids and services, integrated program access through nonstructural and architectural modifications, and meet Title I employment provisions with all employees and contractors.
Public entities have a different level of expectation than Title III entities and do not need to remove all physical barriers in existing buildings as long as programs provided in those buildings are readily accessible to users with disabilities in another facility. All new construction must be accessible.
The U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) has enforcement responsibility for all State and local government entities not specifically assigned to other designated agencies.
Title II also seeks to ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal access to existing public transportation services. All newly purchased buses and other vehicles must be accessible. In cases of inaccessible fixed route systems, public entities must provide paratransit services comparable to the level of service provided by the fixed route system. The U.S. Department of Transportation
Title III: Places of Public Accommodation & Commercial Facilities
Privately owned businesses have obligations under Title III of the ADA. This provision departed dramatically from the limited scope of Section 504 which restricted obligations except in cases in which an entity had federal funding. With the ADA, all places of public accommodation, including both for-profit and nonprofit establishments, that affect commerce must follow Title III guidelines. Exceptions are limited to religious entities and private clubs, in both cases assuming that none of the entity’s property is used as a "place of public accommodation." These businesses include sales and service establishments, restaurants, theaters, hotels, libraries, and doctors' offices. The requirements of Title III for new construction and alterations applies to all commercial facilities including office buildings, factories, and warehouses.
Public accommodations must provide goods and services to individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting possible. The law also requires businesses to eliminate eligibility requirements that exclude or segregate individuals with disabilities unless the requirements are necessary for the operation of the accommodation. These entities must make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures that deny access unless the modification would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods or services provided.
When necessary, public accommodations are required to provide auxiliary aids, such as Braille material, to ensure effective communication unless it would cause an undue burden for the public accommodation. Public accommodations must also remove all architectural and structural communication barriers in existing facilities where readily achievable. Transportation provided by private entities must also be accessible.
When constructing new building facilities or altering existing facilities, public accommodations must follow the ADA Standards for Accessible Design 
. These standards include general design requirements for building and site elements such as parking, accessible routes, ramps, and elevators.
Title IV: Telecommunications
Title IV requires that telephone companies provide telecommunication relay services that allow individuals with hearing or speech impairments to communicate using a TTY or other non-voice device. Relay services may be accessed by dialing 7-1-1.
Title IV also requires that all television public service announcements produced or funded in whole or in part by the Federal government include closed captioning.
New Design Guidelines Released in 2004 by the U.S. Access Board
NOTE: The U.S. Access Board announced the release of new design guidelines in 2004 that cover access for people with disabilities under the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The guidelines update access requirements for a wide range of facilities in the public and private sectors covered by the law.
The Board’s guidelines detail how accessibility is to be achieved in new construction and alterations and provide specifications for various building elements and spaces, including entrances, ramps, parking, restrooms, and telephones, among others. The new design document is the culmination of a comprehensive, decade-long review and update of the Board’s ADA Accessibility Guidelines, which were first published in 1991.
Revisions have been made so that the guidelines continue to meet the needs of people with disabilities and keep pace with technological innovations. For example, new provisions for ATMs specify audible output so that people with vision impairments are provided equal access, and reach ranges have been lowered to better serve people who use wheelchairs and persons of short stature. The guidelines also feature a new format and organization and have been extensively edited for greater clarity.
To date, the new accessibility guidelines have not been formally adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice and thus do not supplant the original ADAAG. You can check on the status of adoption of the new standards by visiting the U.S. Access Board's website .
