CM/Spotlight: Safety Americans With Disabilities Act Failure to comply with this government standard could be costly; here is how you can stay within parameters. A By: Amanda Martini-Hughes As an able-bodied person, there are certain things that can be taken for granted. When a building is designed, constructed or altered in some fashion, it can be all too easy for the individuals in charge of that design or altera-tion, who is most likely without disability, to forget a small yet important group of people who may utilize or function within the building: The handicapable. Because handicapable people make up such a small percentage of the population, many facilities neglect to cater to their needs. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 makes neglecting various aspects of a facility’s accessibility and function illegal. The Beginning Amanda Martini-Hughes is the assistant editor of Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine. A graduate from Siena College, she can be reached at [email protected]. Since joining the publication, Martini-Hughes has worked on numerous industry articles and is responsible for populating the industry’s only daily electronic news-letter, CM e-News Daily. Chat online: Facebook.com/ CMMOnline and Twitter. com/CMeNewsDaily. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Compliance . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Accessibility . The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was enacted by the 101st U.S. Congress and signed in to law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush. The ADA is, in essence, a civil rights law that, under certain circumstances, prohibits discrimina-tion based on disability. The law offers similar protections for disabled persons as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin illegal. Conceived by Lex Frieden and Mitchell J. Rappaport, the ADA was an attempt to “create a civil rights law for people with disabilities that would be permanent, would not be able to be reversed or weakened and would prohibit all dis-crimination.” The law was designed to be a flexible set of laws that could be strengthened but never weakened by future case law. If you are in any way responsible for a facility, your facility could actually be making you look bad and you might not even know it. In such cases, Title III of the ADA is extremely important and pertinent. Title III is very specific in its language, for both new construction and when it comes to existing buildings. Just because a building has been around doesn’t mean the proprietors and caretakers are exempt from providing each and every person who uses their facility with a comfortable and acces-sible building. According to the stipulations of Title III, “No individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facili-ties or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to) or operates a place of public accom-modation.” As it pertains to existing facilities, “One of the definitions of ‘discrimination’ under Title III of the ADA is a ‘failure to remove’ architectural barriers in existing facilities.” It is important that facilities, both old and new, are well within compliance of this rule. According to Frank Bowe, who was the Dr. Mervin Livingston Schloss Distinguished Professor for the Study of Disabilities at Hofstra University, “The fact that Title III calls for accessibility in, and alterations to, thousands of stores, restaurants, hotels, etc., in thousands of communities across the U.S. means that Title III probably has had more effect on the lives of more Americans with disabili-ties than any other ADA title.” Full And Equal Enjoyment You may think, of course, that as a human being you consider yourself above discrimination; it’s not something you would ever do. At least not consciously. Barrier Removal What the ADA means for facilities can be summed up in one word: Accessibility. If you are going to find your facility in complete compliance with ADA standards, the ability for 26 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • November 2011
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