TOWARD EQUAL ACCESS: PROVIDING INFORMATION ACCESS SERVICES TO BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) THE INFORMATION ACCESS PROJECT FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS NATIONAL INFORMATION ACCESS CENTER NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 1800 JOHNSON STREET BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21230 (410) 659-9314 A Project of the National Federation of the Blind with financial support from the U.S. Department of Justice The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) provides new legal protection to millions of persons not previously covered by a civil rights law. The Act, which was signed by President Bush on July 26, 1990, has established "a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities." Specific provisions of the ADA apply to employment, activities conducted by units of state and local government, transportation services, public accommodations, and to telecommunications services. With financial support from the United States Department of Justice, the National Federation of the Blind has established The National Information Access Center to assist these entities and blind persons in meeting the ADA's information access requirements. The Center is part of a nationwide information access project primarily designed to assist units of state and local government and places of public accommodation in meeting their respective obligations under titles II and III of the ADA. Forms of prohibited discrimination include using disability as the grounds for failing to hire or promote persons in employment; excluding persons with disabilities from covered programs or services that are commonly available to others; failing to give persons with disabilities the benefits, privileges, and advantages provided to others by any covered program, service, or activity; and failing to provide persons with disabilities with auxiliary aids and services or other reasonable modifications needed by such persons to have equal access to covered opportunities, aids, benefits, services, and programs. As with other civil rights laws, the ADA seeks equal access for the persons covered. Equal access in the case of persons with disabilities will often mean providing opportunities for participation by anyone who is otherwise eligible without regard to disability. There are circumstances, however, when active planning and steps to remove barriers to access will have to be done. Barriers to access exist when full enjoyment of an opportunity, aid, benefit, or service is limited by any particular disabling condition. Most entities covered by the ADA produce information of various kinds to describe their services and programs. The information may include general descriptions, detailed instructions, reports, directories, regulatory documents, and so forth. These materials are produced in the normal course of business and are readily available in ink print form. For the most part they are not readily available in alternative non-visual media. Failure to consider the information access needs of blind and visually impaired persons in covered activities would violate the ADA. Reasonable means do exist to provide written information in ink print and in alternative non-visual forms as well, but most entities covered by the ADA are not well informed about both their obligations to provide accessible materials and the methods available for doing so. This brochure will explain the ADA's information access requirements and suggest existing alternatives for meeting them. WHO MUST PROVIDE INFORMATION IN ALTERNATIVE NON-VISUAL MEDIA? Requirements for providing accessible information in alternative non-visual media are an integral part of the ADA's nondiscrimination policy. The policy applies generally to all covered activities, including both the employment practices and non-employment-related services of ADA-covered entities. Covered activities include the services, programs, and activities of units of state and local governments, providers of public transportation services, and places of public accommodation, and the employment practices of most employers. The ADA's requirements with respect to employment practices generally become effective on July 26, 1992 for employers with twenty-five or more employees and two years later for employers with fifteen or more employees. Services provided by places of public accommodation, and by public entities (units of state and local government) must comply with the nondiscrimination requirements on January 26, 1992. Places of public accommodation include entities in twelve specific categories, which include the following: lodging places, inns and hotels; restaurants, bars, or other establishments serving food and drink; motion picture houses, theaters, concert halls, stadiums, or other places of entertainment; auditoriums, convention centers, lecture halls, or other place of public gathering; bakeries, grocery stores, clothing stores, hardware stores, shopping centers, or other sales or rental establishments, laundromats, dry-cleaners, banks, barber shops, beauty shops, travel services, shoe repair services, funeral parlors, gas stations, offices used for professional services; transportation terminals or depots; museums and galleries; places of recreation and education; and social service agencies. WHAT COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS APPLY The general nondiscrimination policy of the ADA is restated in each of its major titles. The policy is designed to afford persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to obtain the same opportunities, aids, benefits, services, and programs (including employment opportunities) that any covered entity provides to persons without disabilities. Equal outcomes resulting from opportunities are not required, but equal access to opportunities must be assured. The existence of a disabling condition may not cause or result in the denial of aids, benefits, services, and programs. To further that goal the ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodations necessary for persons with disabilities to perform the essential functions of a job. Covered entities are also expected to make reasonable modifications in the provision of their aids, benefits, or services so that persons with disabilities will be afforded equal access. Auxiliary aids and services are specifically required, as a part of this obligation. The provision of information in alternative non-visual media is both a form of reasonable accommodation and an auxiliary aid or service. Covered entities must analyze their methods of communicating with employees or patrons and take steps to provide information in alternative non-visual media. Information which is provided solely in ink print is not accessible to most blind people. The media chosen to be accessible must be appropriate to the needs of blind or visually impaired persons and must respond to individual needs for accessible communications. The law encourages flexible approaches to achieve the goal of equal access for each individual. The ADA's standard of "reasonableness" must be emphasized. The provision of information in media accessible to the blind should not pose unreasonable burdens in most instances. However, demands for accessible information that exceed the reasonable capabilities of a covered entity would not be required. Instead, a covered entity would be required to provide accessible information to the extent that reasonable alternatives for doing so are available. Reasonable accommodations or alternatives are those which would not pose an undue hardship or an undue burden for the covered entity. Budget, size, and programmatic factors are considered in balancing off the competing standards of reasonable accommodation and undue burden. FORMS OF ALTERNATIVE NON-VISUAL MEDIA Alternative forms of accessible media may include sound recordings, Braille, raised line drawings, enlarged print, and digital text in computer readable formats. Acquisition or modification of equipment may be necessary in some instances to provide blind and visually impaired persons with equal access to printed information. For example, a place of public accommodation, such as a hotel, that provides printed information to its sighted guests may provide the same information in sound recorded form for blind guests. In that event, the hotel should also have a device capable of playing the sound recording, which may be used by a blind guest upon request. Advancements in computer technology make reproduction of documents by computer in full-word speech and in Braille both affordable and feasible. Moreover, computers capable of running programs for synthetic speech as well as print-to-Braille translation programs are now widely available and used by most covered entities. Synthetic speech output devices can be purchased for as low as $600.00. High quality Braille translation programs are also available for as low as $250.00. Special devices to provide hard-copy Braille output can be purchased at prices approximately the same as a high quality laser printer. Selection of alternative non-visual media must be made to meet individual needs and in response to individual requests and circumstances. The provision of auxiliary aids and services on a case-by-case basis may mean that a sighted person will read aloud the printed text or material to a blind person. For instance, the ADA does not require that all restaurants have Brailled editions of their menus available. It does require that the server or another employee read the menu if that form of assistance is requested. Although Braille is highly useful in many circumstances, not all blind persons have been trained adequately to use it efficiently. Therefore, the provision of information in media accessible to the blind must necessarily be handled with flexibility. There are some circumstances in which the use of a sighted reader may be the most reasonable and efficient alternative available. In other situations, such as in the case of documents containing lengthy instructions or guidelines to be used as a reference, Brailled, recorded, large print, and computer readable versions may all be necessary. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: THE INFORMATION ACCESS PROJECT FOR BLIND INDIVIDUALS NATIONAL INFORMATION ACCESS CENTER NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 1800 JOHNSON STREET BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21230 (410) 659-9314