ADA Coordinator Workshop: Implementing Title II in a Government Environment

  1. Your county has a number of laws, ordinances, and codes related to land and building use, property maintenance, waste disposal, etc.You receive a complaint from Mr. Smith, who states that he was recently visited by a county inspector, following a neighbor’s complaint about the condition of his yard and his regular overnight use of the trailer stored there. The inspector informed him that local code only permits overnight use of a recreational vehicle on private residential property for a maximum of three days per month. Additionally, the trailer is not registered and does not have license plates, which are required. There is also debris, old tires, and trash all over the yard, which is also a violation. Mr. Smith believes he should be automatically exempted from compliance with the codes based on his disability, without going through any official appeal or waiver process. How would you respond to the various reasonable modification requests from this individual? Would you request any additional information to use in your decisions?
  2. Mr. Smith states he has multiple chemical sensitivity and purchased the custom designed trailer with a porcelain interior specifically because of his disability. He requests unlimited use of his trailer for sleeping because he cannot tolerate being inside the houseovernight.
  3. Mr. Smith requests that he be exempted from the housing and solid waste codes because he has additional limitations due to other disabling conditions and does not have the mobility to clean up his property to comply or make repairs.
  4. Mr. Smith asks that he be exempted from the state and county requirements for registering and obtaining license plates for his trailer because he will not be moving it. Registration requires proof of insurance,which is costly. Mr. Smith believes hisrequest isreasonable because of his disability.
  5. Because of concern about confidentiality of disability and medical information, Mr. Smith requests that he and other people with disabilities not have to go through a zoning variance or appeal process.
  1. Arecreation department works hard to provide reasonable modifications and auxiliary aids and services so that people with disabilities can participate in programs, camps, and activities of their choice. Staff try to be creative and flexible in coming up with inclusion ideas, but sometimes find the requests go beyond what they feel thedepartment can provide. How would you respond to the following requests?
  2. A parent calls to discuss her request for an inclusion aide for her school age child at a summer camp. The aides are often high school or college students whoreceive 40 hours of training from the department. This parent requests that staff working with her child takean additional 40-hour training to learn specific intensive communication methods and behavioral techniques that are used by her child’s school staff.
  3. A parent registers her child for a week-long summer camp that includes a variety of activities, such as swimming and canoeing in a lake, archery, hiking, and arts and crafts. The parent explains that her child has a disability which prevents him from spending more than a few minutes outdoors in the sunshine, and asks that all outdoor activities be significantly reduced, and indoor activities be increased for all participants, so that her child can attend and participate along with other children and not be isolated.
  4. A parent requests assistance with toileting and other personal care services for a teen with disabilities who wants to attend a week-long nature camp. The camp is staffed primarily by college students who are not trained to provide this service.
  5. The department sponsors a wide variety of day and overnight trips for senior citizens. The trips arevery popular and in high demand. Participants pay a fee that includes transportation, entrance to the venue, and meals. A participant has a personal care assistant provided through a Medicaid waiver program who will accompany him on the trip. When the family calls to discuss his participation, they are upset to find that they will be expected to pay the trip fee for the personal care assistant. They feel that under the ADA, the personal care assistant should not be charged a fee since she is providing personal care services which the participant cannot do for himself.
  1. Your county holds monthly public meetings. County residents are invited to attend and observe the meetings in person, and with advance notice of at least five business days, residents are permitted to make brief comments on matters under consideration; public comments are limited to five minutes. The meeting facility is equipped with an Assistive Listening System (ALS). Meetings are broadcast in real time on television, and real-time captioning is always provided for the televised broadcasts. How would you respond to the following requests?
  2. Mr. Brown, a county resident who is deaf, contacts your office and requests that sign language interpreters also be provided at every meeting so he can see them on the televised broadcast.
  3. Ms. Long requests that sign language interpreters be provided at a meeting scheduled for the following day, because she wants to attend in person and observe the meeting.
  4. Mr. Mason calls your office and says he wants to attend a meeting coming up in two weeks and make comments on a matter on the agenda. He requests that he not be subject to the five-minute time limit; he has quadriplegia and he says it takes him longer to manage his notes, so he wants his comment time to be unlimited.
  5. Mrs. Chang is hard of hearing. She requests that Computer Assisted Real-Time Captioning (CART) be provided at the meeting. You inform her that the room is equipped with an Assistive Listening System (ALS) which should help her. She says that she will need both the CART and ALS to benefit from this meeting.
  1. Your city has a variety of advisory boards, citizen committees, and programs that utilize volunteers. How would you respond to the following requests?
  2. Mrs. Roth has been a long-time volunteer at the front desk at the senior center. Staff at the center and participants have noticed that she often seems confused. The other front desk volunteers want her removed from the program since she is having so much difficulty doing the job. The senior center has no written volunteer job description or requirements.
  3. The city animal shelter collaborates with the city college to offer volunteer opportunities for students enrolled in veterinary assistant training courses. Students in good standing are referred by the college if they are interested in volunteering to gain practical experience (no course credit is earned through the volunteer program). The animal shelter provides a quarterly orientation and training session for student volunteers, and shelter staff supervise volunteers’ work.After beginning to work at the shelter, one student has failed to follow required procedures, and when a supervisor approaches him about it for the second time, he tells the supervisor he has a learning disability and may need additional training and closer supervision.
  4. The library system has a volunteer citizen committee that advises the city on library services and programs. The committee holds regular meetings, which rotate among the three libraries in the city so that committee members can meet library staff and become familiar with the different library facilities and programs. One committee member, who is blind and does not drive, wants the city to provide transportation for her to one of the libraries when meetings are held there, because the facility is located on the outskirts of the city, nearly four miles from the nearest bus stop.
  5. A young woman who is deaf volunteers to work with the Department of Environmental Protection for two days per week. She will work in the office doing web research one day per week and will staff the welcome desk and give public tours at the recycling center on the other day. She requests a sign language interpreter for her orientation and full-time for the days she is working both at the office and at the recycling center.

2017 Mid-Atlantic ADA Update