Monday, October 12th, 2009...12:34 pm
Title II Recommendations
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Program and Facility Access
Require ADA Coordinators in every state government agency. Assign individuals to work directly with the ADA Coordinator in every department of public entities.
Provide more information in accessible formats and use multiple methods of dissemination.
Educate mayors, city council members and commissioners through forums such as the National Leagues of Cities conference (or hold a Symposium for Mayors) on the importance of the ADA and the benefits to their cities.
Develop more specific resources for schools (K-12) regarding interplay between ADA and IDEA.
K-12 needs to focus on the multitude of areas covered by the ADA: employment, areas of accommodation, physical access, facilities, programs, web access, playgrounds,
classroom acoustics, awareness programs for students, and universal design for learning.
Increase interagency communication and collaboration to achieve greater awareness for working together and exchange of ideas.
Require Title II entities to build ADA compliance standards into contractual agreements for products/services as part of the bidding process.
Implementation and Maintenance
Establish a mechanism such as certification to increase accountability regarding state/local ADA Coordinators.
Require that each state has a qualified state ADA Coordinators. This position would be a clearly defined and coordinated position within a stand alone division/agency that would bring all ADA contacts together.
Propose that all municipalities establish a special needs registry that will assist emergency management in the event of a disaster.
Repeated from above -Increase interagency communication and collaboration to achieve greater awareness for working together and exchange of ideas.
Mechanism for Resolution of Problems
Need “substantially equivalent” ability to receive/investigate resolve access complaints/issues on state/local level–similar to the ability (given to) HUD to investigate Fair Housing complaints. This would (hopefully) mean quicker enforcement and (increased) accessibility.
Passage and immediate implementation of the ADA/ABA regulations by U.S. Dept. of Justice.
Provide additional funds to the Dept. of Justice for enforcement of the ADA.
Expand the Dept. of Justice’s Civic Access Project including increased follow up technical assistance to municipalities.
Increase the consistency in interpretation and enforcement of the ADA among federal agencies and regional Civil Rights offices. This could be accomplished by providing more training to the agencies that are involved in implementing the ADA.
Lobby state governments to adopt ADA guidelines into their own regulations and assume enforcement responsibilities.
13 Comments
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April 13th, 2010 at 9:22 am
The ADA mandate for an ADA Coordinator is often ignored. It will continue to be ignored until the Title II entity is dragged into a settlement agreement with the US-DOJ. If you don’t believe me, just read the Title II settlement agreements posted on the DOJ’s web site. Failure of Title II entities to do what the law requires them to do is what generated Project Civic Access. DOJ’s first focus was on Title III; now they are going after Title II folks, and it’s about time.
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December 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Our national ADA consulting service has introduced us to a number of public agencies with differing organizational arrangements for their ADA Coordinator. When it comes to the structure of city government, I suggest the ADA Coordinator work within the authority of the Chief Executive, Mayor’s office, City Manager or some other executive authority, depending on the city’s governing philosophy. This provides the necessary authority and oversight to work through bureaucratic and jurisdictional issues.
The ADA Coordinator should be someone who is very knowledgeable in understanding ADA requirements of Titles I – V and has experience in implementing programs and procedures. Because of the many responsibilities the ADA Coordinator handles, the size of your city can dictate how the matrix of responsibility should be structured. Some smaller communities can utilize just an ADA Coordinator to ensure they are meeting their obligations. Larger communities may require several staff members to implement ADA requirements. A good example of this organizational structure in a larger City would be the City of Austin, Texas, where they utilize an ADA Coordinator with an Assistant ADA Coordinator and have various personnel from the operating departments report to them regarding the ADA.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I held the position of State ADA Coordinator and quickly found that the best way to address the issues was to have buy-in from inside each agency. My position was a gubernatorial designation and housed in the State Personnel Department. (even though the responsibilities included physical access as well.) I asked each agency director to designate an agency coordinator, then I trained each in their responsibilities. Usually they were located within their Personnel division, but because they were within the agency, they knew who to contact when the issue revolved around structural access.
Having someone within the agency was of vital importance because they not only knew who could get things done, they knew the impact changes would have on the agency operations, they already had rapport with staff and would not bring the baggage of an “outsider” coming in and telling ‘em what to do.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
The position MUST be in place and filled by a person who is supported in the job, meaning they have the opportunity to pursue needed education, they have legitimate access to other prominent members of local government, and they have the time and resources needed to properly perform the job. Too often it’s handled in an “other duties as assigned” kind of way, which isn’t fair to the person in the position or the community in general.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
From the moderator: Good point. Where in the structure of city government do you think the ADA Coordinator should be placed?
October 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
The key to Title II implementation at the state and local level starts with the ADA Coordinator. Unfortunately, this important position/role is often poorly defined or simply not in place. The initial transition plan often just ends up in a drawer, no on going training takes place, and community members get bounced from office to office when making inquiries. I’m not sure how any Tite II entity can successfully implement the ADA without this position in place and clearly defined.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
From the Moderator: We would like to hear from more people on this. Is the ADA Coordinator key to ADA implementation? Where should the ADA Coordinator role be placed within city/county government? What type of training/background/support should the ADA Coordinator have?