ADA Update

In June 1990, a wheelchair-user facing steps to enter a meeting room or a hearing-impaired attendee in need of an interpreter had little legal recourse to have their needs met. One month later, all of that changed when the Americans With Disabilities Act became law.

Over the ensuing 20 years, there has been plenty of back-and-forth between many parties, testing the meaning of each letter of the law. The result: a massive revision of the ADA, which was enacted on Sept. 15 of this year.

The new regulations narrow some of the requirements, after businesses tried to avoid compliance and individuals tried to push the ADA envelope. For example, some facilities made the accessible seats the worst in the house, and some people showed up at hotels and events with exotic animals posing as their "service animal," says Salome Heyward, a disability management consultant in Plymouth, Mass., who provides legal guidance and training to colleges and employers on the ADA and other civil-rights statutes.

The challenges have been effective in fine-tuning the law, she says. "You don't want to make one side happy -- you want to make everybody angry to the same degree. That's how you know you've found the middle ground."

Compliance with the revised ADA regulations is required within six months (by March 15, 2011) for the easier changes, and with 18 months (March 15, 2012) for the more structural changes. Title III of the ADA applies to public accommodations, which includes hotels and convention centers, and the events that take place at such venues. The changes address fitness facilities, pools, spas and golf courses, plus much more strict rules concerning clearance space in bathrooms. The rules also address how hotel reservations are made and require reservations systems to identify the property's accessible features in guest rooms and public spaces.

"It's going to be a challenge for the industry to come into compliance," says Kevin Maher, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the American Hotel & Lodging Association in Washington, D.C. "I don't know if hoteliers want to think about what it's going to cost at a time when they're not making money."

The new rules also address service animals (the scope narrowed to individually trained dogs only, or, in some instances, trained miniature horses) and the kind of assistive transport that must be allowed (wheelchairs, of course, but now also Segway Personal Transporters). A summary of the changes is available from the website of the Department of Justice at bit.ly/dx3l6i.

Also adopted in September were the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, an analysis of which can be found at bit.ly/c4Z5xE. The standards cover issues such as the accessibility of a facility's main entrance, line-of-sight requirements for accessible seats and measurements for hotel guest rooms.

The DOJ now is looking into regulating guest-room furniture and beds, which troubles Maher. "That affects brand identity," he says.

Room for improvement While great strides have been made in the past two decades, many in the disability community wish facilities and meeting hosts would go even further.

"We have seen a pretty consistent improvement in Braille labeling of elevators and the use of tactile numbers," says Ike Presley, Atlanta-based national project manager for the American Foundation for the Blind. Presley, who is visually impaired, feels that facilities have done nothing to make navigating corridors easier for people with low vision. His wish list includes having access to detailed venue maps electronically and signage with large letters that not only sharply contrast with the background (white letters on black, for instance), but also takes into consideration the wall color behind the sign (e.g., dark wall, light-colored sign, dark letters).

On the plus side, Presley finds that employees in venues and hotels have become more sensitive. "It's been a while since I saw a hotel employee grab someone's cane and try to lead them," he says.

Facilities and events also have become more welcoming for members of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Amputee Coalition of America, whose population includes 43,000 veterans who have lost a limb (interestingly, mostly from vascular disease and diabetes, not combat).

"In 2011, we're going to the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City [Mo.] because they have grab bars in the showers, the clearance in the bathrooms is adequate and they have a great entrance," says ACA president and CEO Kendra Calhoun. She adds that the group, whose largest event hosts 1,000 attendees, seeks hotels with an adequate number of accessible rooms and bathrooms, as well as easy access to meeting rooms. "I've seen hotels with stairs going to the meeting rooms and a single elevator," Calhoun says. "When you're trying to move 1,000 people to a general session, that just is not going to work."


The host's responsibility For meeting planners, the number and scope of disabilities to be accommodated can be daunting. How much accommodation is enough?

Contractually, according to M&C's legal expert, Jonathan T. Howe of Chicago's Howe & Hutton, the agreement with the meeting venue or hotel should outline the responsibilities of each party. "The property covers all those areas it has control over: the lobbies, the rooms, the hallways," explains Howe. "The planner, who is taking over the meeting room, is responsible for seating arrangements, which should be in compliance with the aisle-width and wheelchair-access standards. But what often gets missed are the program aspects. Under Title III of the ADA, the materials must be available in a way that the person with the impairment can fully participate in the program."

Knowing how to accomplish that often requires asking attendees to describe their needs. "If you ask meeting planners if they have anybody in their group who needs accommodation at a meeting, they will probably say, ‘We don't have anybody in a wheelchair,' " says industry consultant Joan Eisenstodt, of Eisenstodt and Associates in Washington, D.C. "Meeting planners need to ask attendees, ‘What do you need to participate fully?' "

When making accommodations, planners must cover all events listed on the program, including receptions. Notes ADA consultant Salome Heyward, "In a conference environment, most of the work gets done during those social gatherings. Not providing accommodation is just another way to deny people access to what is offered. If it's not important, why did you talk about it in the brochure?"