By ANNA M. TINSLEY
atinsley@star-telegram.com
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Charlotte Stewart took her car in for an inspection recently, but she couldn’t sit with others in the waiting area.
She was using a rolling walker to get around that day but couldn’t get on the sidewalk because there was no ramp. So she waited outside, in the heat.
“Changes are definitely needed,” said Stewart, executive director of REACH, which helps people with disabilities in Fort Worth and Dallas. “It has been 18 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. There’s so many places where people with disabilities still have problems.”
Plans are under way to update the landmark 1990 ADA legislation and create stronger standards to give disabled Americans better access to everything from courtrooms to swimming pools.
The changes that could go into effect next year, officials say, are geared to ensure that a disability doesn’t exclude anyone from anything — testifying in court, going to a movie, riding an amusement park ride, even playing miniature golf.
But that access would come at a cost. The proposed changes could affect more than 7 million businesses, as well as numerous government agencies, at a cost of more than $20 billion over the next 40 years, according to the Justice Department, which is spearheading the proposal.
“There’s some good stuff in there but some very negative things also,” said Bob Kafka, an organizer for ADAPT of Texas, a disability rights group. “At the same time they giveth, they taketh away.”
There are more than 41 million disabled people in the United States, including 3 million in Texas, more than 650,000 of them in Dallas-Fort Worth, Census Bureau records show.
On the table
The Justice Department has proposed about 1,000 pages of changes to the ADA, including requiring light switches in hotel rooms to be no higher than 48 inches from the floor and requiring courtrooms to provide lifts or ramps to help people into witness stands.
Not to mention requiring that half the holes at miniature golf courses be accessible to those in wheelchairs and ensuring that sports stadiums seating 25,000 or more provide written safety and emergency information — perhaps by flashing it on large screens — to alert the hard of hearing or deaf.
The Justice Department wants feedback on the proposal by Aug. 18. If approved, changes would affect new businesses or buildings scheduled to be altered.
Businesses would be required to make relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated changes.
Disability advocates say they fear that some changes don’t go far enough, especially regarding information technology. Check-in kiosks at airports or hotels, for instance, present opportunities for fraud.
“I am very keen that there will be rules to ensure access for individuals with vision loss to all of the technology systems, present and future, that people use in their everyday lives,” said Wayne Pound, a vice president with Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth. “Things like cellphones, ATM machines, computer systems — anything where there is an on-screen display — should be designed in a manner that would permit its use by an individual with limited eyesight.”
Service animals
A key item of growing concern to some is a plan to limit service animals for the disabled to dogs or other domestic animals such as cats. That would exclude reptiles, birds, exotic animals, farm animals, monkeys and miniature horses.
“We believe any animal that can be trained to perform tasks directly relating to an individual’s disability, they are service animals,” said Ed Eames, president of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, whose group represents members in Texas.
The proposal would also distinguish between an animal that gives comfort to a person with an emotional disability and service animals that are trained to help.
Eames said his group doesn’t believe that animals that help with emotional disabilities should be classified as service animals because they don’t have extensive formal training.
City buildings
As proposed changes to the ADA are being considered, local businesses and government officials continue working to meet the existing standards.
Two years ago, ramps were added to the dais in the Fort Worth City Council chambers after Danny Scarth, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, was elected. And last year, about $100,000 of work was done at the municipal court building to make cashier stations and courtrooms more accessible, said David Ondich, the city’s ADA coordinator.
Scarth said businesses and city leaders need to keep in mind that accessibility is not just a technical standard.
“People need to feel included from a social standpoint,” he said. “There are still many places I go, such as the movie theater downtown, where there are difficulties. . . . The goal is to be inclusive.”
At what cost?
Justice Department officials say that the cost to bring buildings into compliance might be great but that revenue should dramatically increase as facilities become more accessible.
Some businesses, such as Putt-Putt Golf and Games in Hurst, are already in compliance with some proposed changes.
At the miniature golf course, there are two courses: the Adventure Course, which has stairs and hills, and the Harbor Course, a flat course designed to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers and strollers.
Each has 18 holes, for which golfers use the same putters and balls.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Tameka Gaines, an assistant manager. “It’s all about being equal.”
Staff writer Jeff Claassen contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.
Proposed changes
Proposed changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act were published in June and could go into effect next year. They include:
Stipulating that people with disabilities may use traditional and power wheelchairs and electric scooters in pedestrian areas. But public places could restrict golf carts, Segway vehicles and other motorized devices.
Declaring only dogs and other domestic animals to be service animals. The proposal also seeks feedback on whether there should be a weight limit for guide dogs.
Ensuring that courts provide a lift or ramp to help people into the witness stand.
Requiring auditoriums to provide a ramp or lift so wheelchair users could easily participate in activities such as graduations.
Making sure hotel room light switches are no higher than 48 inches from the floor; the current maximum is 54 inches.
Stipulating that new swimming pools of more than 300 feet in size provide at least two entries, such as ramps or chair lifts.
Requiring sports stadiums that seat 25,000 or more to provide safety and emergency information through printed messages to alert those hard of hearing or deaf.
Online: More information on the proposed changes, www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/ADAnprm08.htm
Feedback
Comments on the proposals are due by Aug. 18; all comments will be available for public viewing at www.regulations.gov.
Post comments at www.regulations.gov. Search for “CRT 105” for Title II; “CRT 106” for Title III. Click on “Send a Comment or Submission.”
Send co
mments to ADA NPRM, P.O. Box 2846, Fairfax, VA 22031-0846.
Send comments via overnight delivery to the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1425 New York Ave. NW, Suite 4039, Washington, D.C. 20005.
ANNA M. TINSLEY, 817-390-7610
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