Access For The Disabled
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Individuals with disabilities have a right to equal housing opportunities under both the Fair Housing Act FHA, which made them a protected class, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, of 1990.
Under the FHA, a landlord may not discriminate based on a tenant applicants mental or physical handicap. The ADA goes much further. A landlord must now also make economically feasible "reasonable accommodations" and "reasonable modifications" for disabled tenants.
Title III of the ADA relates to access to "public accommodations" offered by private, non governmental organizations such as retail and service businesses. Public accommodations include:
Restaurants and bars; theaters and concert halls; stores; and service providers, including medical offices, dry cleaners, and the like.
Under the ADA, property owners, business owners and operators are prohibited from denying the disabled full and equal enjoyment of these accommodations.
Accommodating the Disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act
If a business offers public accommodations, it may not discriminate on the basis of disability. The disabled must be able to take full advantage of the goods, services, and facilities offered in places of public accommodations. To comply with the ADA, property owners and operators must make economically feasible "reasonable accommodations" and "reasonable modifications" for the disabled.
Some predominant ADA requirements are as follows:
Public areas. As noted above, ADA regulates public accommodations. For property owners, this means that the common areas of the property, including hallways, entrances, sidewalks and parking spaces and lots, public restrooms, public recreation areas and the like, must be accessible to the disabled.
Major alterations
Any time major structural changes are to be made to public areas, the alterations must not interfere with a disabled person's ability to use the area. New construction. Under the ADA, buildings constructed during or after March 1993 must be accessible to the disabled.
Applying rules and policies; providing services.
The property owner and manager must make sure that rules and policies are flexible enough to accommodate the disabled. In addition, tenant services must be provided in a manner that allows full and equal enjoyment by the disabled.
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Also see: Barriers to the Disabled | New Building Designs for the Handicapped | ADA Violations | Disabled Tenant Applicants | Barrier Free Resources | Disabled Tenants and the Law
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