Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act becomes New York State Law

Imagine these scenarios: A local hospital does not provide a qualified sign language interpreter for a deaf parent when her child is hospitalized for an emergency. A local department store places items on racks in aisles too narrow for a wheelchair user to get to. A local restaurant has no accessible entrance. A movie theatre entrance is accessible, but the bathrooms are not. What protections do members of the public have?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that was passed in 1990 and one of the primary areas of the ADA is referred to as Title III, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability including the inaccessibility of public places. Public places are private businesses in New York that offer their services to the general public and under the ADA they are required to be fully accessible. However, because this is federal law, New York State does not have to recognize or enforce this legislation. The disability community realized that we needed a state version of Title III in order to gain local enforcement of this public accommodations law.

After two short years of aggressive advocacy by disability rights activists and concerned citizens, on August 1, 2007 Governor Spitzer signed into law “An act to amend the executive law, in relation to protections against discrimination on the basis of disability in the area of public accommodations”.

As of January 1, 2008, private businesses that offer services to the public will now have to remove barriers of inaccessibility to their facilities, programs and services, and take action to assure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in certain programs, services and activities.

Specifically, this law adds three new paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) to subdivision 2 of section 296 of the Executive law. Paragraph (c) adds to the definition of "discriminatory practices" to include refusal to make reasonable modifications to policies, practices or procedures, refusal to take steps that would ensure that an individual with a disability is not excluded or denied services due to the lack of auxiliary aids and services and refusal to remove architectural and communication barriers that are structural in nature. Paragraph (d) adds that changes must be “readily achievable” in costs and resources, “auxiliary aids and services” includes qualified interpreters and qualified readers, and “undue burden” means “significant difficulty” to comply. Paragraph (e) exempts air carriers.

The new law will also allow persons with disabilities the ability to file certain complaints related to discriminatory practices through the State Division of Human Rights rather than pursuing costly litigation in court. Individuals can bring their complaints at one of the numerous DHR centers around the State. If the Division finds probable cause of a violation, a lawyer will present the complainant’s case. In addition, the Division itself can bring affirmative investigations and initiate complaints

Susan Stockburger, Systems Advocate
Independent Living, Inc.
Women’s Bar Association of Orange & Sullivan Counties