ADA Access Blog

Christopher Boyd

Sentinel Staff Writer

November 14, 2007

Disabled travelers face an obstacle course each time they leave home. Despite efforts to make access to airports, restrooms and restaurants, the world is still filled with barriers.
As the nation's population ages, the number of people facing access problems is rising. One Central Florida developer sees that as an opportunity.

"The concept is simple," said John Fazzini, president of Bountiful Lands, the Lake Wales company planning to build Monticelli at Tower Lake south of U.S. Highway 192 in Polk County. "If 20 percent of the people can't come here because of the disability, that's significant. Even if its 5 percent, it's significant."

Monticelli would join the region's rapidly growing portfolio of vacation-home developments. Its 59 houses would be practically indistinguishable from those in other newly built suburbs. But inside, the dwellings would contain many features designed for the disabled.

"People are telling us that there is no other place like this," Fazzini said. "I believe we are at the beginning of a new industry."

Fazzini hopes to begin building within three months. The detached houses would contain special lifts to help people in and out of pools, counters designed for those in wheelchairs, and large bathrooms that are easier for the disabled to navigate. They are expected to sell for $395,000 to $489,000.
Vacation homes typically are sold to individuals, who in turn convert them into short-term rentals. They are less regulated than hotels and are often rented through real-estate agencies that list properties on Web sites.

Wayne Gray, a principal with FRO Group, a vacation-home rental agency, suggested the disabled vacation-home idea to Fazzini.

"When I first saw his plan, I asked the builder what was different from the 3,000 other properties already on the market," Gray said. "He said nothing, really. Then I suggested building accessible housing."

Gray said special features would be built into houses from the start. Wall studs might be placed more closely together to accommodate handrails, even if they aren't installed immediately. He said buyers could have the houses tailored for specific disabilities -- features such as specially textured walls to help the blind navigate or stair-lift systems for those in wheelchairs.

The builders say all houses in Monticelli would meet access standards established in the Americans with Disabilities Act and that most would exceed those federal standards.
The idea draws a mixed reviews from advocates for the disabled. Stephen Mydanick, director of corporate affairs for Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality in Boca Raton, said all steps that make the world easier for the disabled to navigate are welcome.

"This is something that should happen," Mydanick said. "There are 55 [million] to 60 million disabled Americans, and these people have money and a propensity to travel. They want to come out of the closet."

But Fred Shotz, president of the nonprofit All Disabled Americans Inc., said features for the disabled should be included in housing everywhere. Creating a development specifically designed for the disabled would tend to segregate them, he said.

"If you were building a community that you said was designed for African-Americans, how would people react?" Shotz said. "Houses designed to accommodate the disabled don't cost that much more to build. If I were to build a neighborhood, I would build it for everybody to live in."

Developer to build Orlando-area vacation homes with features designed for the disabled -- OrlandoSentinel.com

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. --

Three disabled people have sued Walt Disney World for not allowing them to use Segways to move around its theme parks.

The three plaintiffs - a man and woman from Illinois and a woman from Iowa - also asked a federal judge here to allow their complaint to continue as a class-action lawsuit.

Mahala Ault and Dan Wallace of Illinois and Stacie Rhea of Iowa are each able to stand but cannot walk far, according to the lawsuit. They use Segways to get around but say they've been denied permission to use the vehicles at Disney World.

Ault, 33, has multiple sclerosis. Rhea has Lou Gehrig's disease. Wallace lost his left foot in an accident.

According to their filing Friday, they're among an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 similarly disabled people who have turned to Segways as mobility tools.

A group called Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, which raises money to donate Segways to disabled U.S. military veterans and pushes for their acceptance, previously asked theme parks to lift bans on the devices. Group co-founder Jerry Karr said Segways offer more mobility and dignity than wheelchairs.

But Disney has said it fears Segways could endanger other guests because they can go faster than 12 mph.

"We've made our position very clear on these Segways in our parks," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak told the Orlando Sentinel. "Our primary concern is the safety of all our guests and our cast members. We have a long history of being a leader in creating accessible experiences for our guests with disabilities."

Disabled guests sue Disney World for Segway ban - 11/10/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The University of Michigan has received notice its students may lose federal aid because its football stadium is not handicapped accessible.
The U.S. Department of Education sent its report to the university last week, The Detroit News reported.
The Michigan Paralyzed Veterans Association, which has sued the university under the Americans With Disabilities Act, welcomed the findings. The suit claims that a planned renovation of the stadium does not do enough to make it accessible.
"This basically validates what we've been saying all along and hopefully the university will start taking this more seriously now," and Mike Harris, the group's executive director.
But the university disputes the report. Kelly Cunningham, a spokeswoman, said that no handicapped ticket holder has been turned away and that the renovations will add handicapped accessible seats in all sections of the stadium and make restrooms, parking lots and concession stands more accessible.

U.S. raps Mich. stadium accessibility - UPI.com

By DAVE GRAM

WARREN, Vt. (AP) — The Central Vermont Community Land Trust usually has no objection to a service animal like a seeing-eye dog moving into its apartments. But Patty Cooper's service animal is a horse of a different color: a black and white miniature horse, to be exact.

Now the nonprofit housing group is trying to figure out whether it can accommodate a disabled woman's new companion, with its need for grazing space and questionable housebrokenness.

"Frankly, it's a bit unique," Preston Jump, executive director of the Land Trust, said in an interview.

Cooper, 50, has a severe case of celiac disease, a disorder in which exposure to a protein called gluten destroys the ability of the small intestine to absorb nutrients. One result can be brittle bones, and Cooper has used a wheelchair since she broke her back for the second time four years ago.

Earl, short for Early to Rise, is a 1-year-old miniature tobiano pinto horse that weighs about 100 pounds and is 32 inches tall at the shoulder — just the right height for a frequent face-to-face nuzzle with Cooper as she sits in her wheelchair.

Earl isn't living with Cooper yet, but she visits him daily at the farm where he is recovering from his recent gelding. It's clear a bond has developed in the few months since she bought him.

"This guy just makes me so happy whenever I'm around him," Cooper said. "I'm not lonely any more."

Her plan is to attach shafts extending from Earl's harness to her wheelchair. "He'll be able to pull me back and forth to the bus stop and pull me to town. After he's trained he'll be able to go on the bus with me under ADA laws."

The ADA is the Americans With Disabilities Act, the federal law requiring entities that provide public accommodations, like the Land Trust, to make reasonable efforts to accommodate people with disabilities.

Cooper got a letter last week from the operations manager of the 24-unit housing complex where she lives expressing worry about "possible health and safety issues. So, can you tell us how you intend to dispose of the pony's waste? Is the pony housebroken? If he is house-trained, who is going to pick up after him outside?

"What does this animal require for food?" it continued. "If it is hay and grain, as I suspect, where and how do you plan to store this food so that it will not attract rats or otherwise become a potential health risk to the other residents living in this complex?"

It went on to say it was investigating whether a 4-by-6-foot stall Cooper had built in her living room for Earl constituted an alteration and therefore a lease violation. Cooper called that "a veiled threat of eviction" on a blog she's been maintaining about the issue.

This week, both Cooper and the Land Trust were taking a more conciliatory tone. "I don't have any problem with the Land Trust," she said. "I think they do very good work in the community" by providing affordable housing for low- and moderate-income people.

For its part, the Land Trust issued a statement in response to press inquiries. "CVCLT's policy is to make every effort to accommodate the specific needs of our disabled residents, including making allowances for service animals when the service to be provided is reasonably related to the disability at issue," it said.

"Due to the unusual circumstances associated with housing a pony in an apartment setting," it added, "careful review and consideration is being given to this request in order to determine whether this animal can reasonably address the specific needs described by this resident while assuring the overall welfare of both the animal involved and neighboring residents in the apartment complex."

Cooper said she already had tried to respond to some of the Land Trust's worries, installing a rubber mat at the base of the stall, which she says didn't require any apartment alterations, as well as rubber-backed carpeting in case of an accident before Earl can make it outside. She said she was talking with a neighbor of the apartment complex about grazing space on that property.

"I'm confident it's all going to work out," she said.

One benefit of a horse versus a dog is a longer life span. Tippy, the mixed-breed dog who was Cooper's previous service animal, died recently. "I don't want to have to go through this again in 10 years," she said. "Earl will live at least another 50 years. I'll still have him when I'm 100."

The Associated Press: Vt. Woman Wants Horse As Service Animal

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal district court judge issued two landmark decisions today in a nationwide class action against Target Corporation. First, the court certified the case as a class action on behalf of blind Internet users throughout the country under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Second, the court held that Web sites such as target.com are required by California law to be accessible.

The President of the National Federation of the Blind, Dr. Marc Maurer, commented on the court’s ruling: “This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy. All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind.”

Larry Paradis of Disability Rights Advocates, one of the lead counsel for the class, commented on the court’s decision: “Target Corporation has led a battle against blind consumers in a key area of modern life: the Internet economy. The court’s decision today makes clear that people with disabilities no longer can be treated as second-class citizens in any sphere of mainstream life. This ruling will benefit hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities.”

The ruling was issued in a case brought by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The suit charges that Target failed and refused to make its Web site (www.target.com) accessible to the blind and, therefore, violated the ADA as well as two California civil rights statutes: the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Disabled Persons Act.

The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a nationwide class under the ADA for injunctive relief. The court also granted the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a California subclass for both injunctive relief and statutory minimum damages. The court denied Target’s motion for summary judgment.

The court certified, as counsel for the class, the following law firms: Disability Rights Advocates (www.dralegal.org), a Berkeley-based nonprofit law firm that specializes in high-impact cases on behalf of people with disabilities; Brown, Goldstein & Levy (www.browngold.com), a leading civil rights law firm in Baltimore, Maryland; Schneider & Wallace (www.schneiderwallace.com), a national plaintiffs’ class action and civil rights law firm based in San Francisco, California; and Peter Blanck, chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute and university professor at Syracuse University (www.bbi.syr.edu).

Dan Goldstein of Brown, Goldstein & Levy noted that: “The blind of America seek only the same rights and opportunities as others take for granted. This case should be a wake-up call to all businesses that their services must be accessible to all.”

Josh Konecky of Schneider & Wallace also noted: “This has been a hard-fought case addressing fundamental issues of access and equality. The judge’s decision today is a great step forward.”

About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people’s lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation’s blind. In January 2004, the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

Case Information
Case Name:
  National Federation of the Blind, et al. v. Target Corporation, et al.
Case No:
  C 06-1802 MHP 
Court:
  U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, The Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel presiding 
Date Case Filed:
  February 7, 2006 
Case Type:
  Class action lawsuit for injunctive relief, declaratory relief and damages 
Claims:
  The Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. ss. 12182); California Unruh Civil Rights Act (California Civil Code ss. 51); and California's Disabled Persons Act (California Civil Code ss. 54.1) 

dBusinessNews :: Daily Business News Delivered to Your Desktop

Boston is hardly friendly to people in wheelchairs. For one day, I saw up close just how frustrating this is.

VIDEO

John Kelly, 49, has spent more than half his life in a wheelchair. We followed John around his neighborhood near Symphony Hall. He showed us obstacles that he and other disabled people face on a daily basis. Chona Camomot reports for the Boston Globe

By Geoff Edgers  |  September 16, 2007

In 12 years, Blue Man Group has played a few thousand shows at the Charles Playhouse, as part of a company that, conservatively, pockets $2 million a week. But there is another, more important number you should know: Twenty-six. That’s how many stairs you have to climb to watch the paint-spattering baldies in Boston. A woman in the box office told me this on a recent afternoon. What’s odd is that I was sitting in front of her in a wheelchair. Wheelchairs, incidentally, don’t do so well on stairs. "We can get you carried up," she offered cheerfully. "A lot of people do that."

How dignified. And how virtually impossible for someone like Brian Moore, a 22-year-old Boston man who uses a heavy, battery-powered chair as the result of muscular dystrophy. "All his muscles have rotted out and he’s taking steroids that make his bones brittle," says Jim Moore, Brian’s father. "Even when we transport him, we have to use a special lift to keep him from breaking his arms and legs."

Twelve years ago, I took a wheelchair out for a test drive through Boston, as part of my own unscientific study of the city’s attempts, or lack thereof, to comply with 1990’s Americans With Disabilities Act. Since then, I’ve found myself making mental footnotes as I see the best, and worst, efforts to get up to speed. Recently, with Brian and others in mind, I figured this was a good time for an update. Bear in mind, my experience, no matter how annoying, was brief. I can walk. The point was to get a refresher, up close, on how the city fails to be accessible to all.

Three snapshots from my day on the town:

A minivan with a "This Heart Loves Jesus" sticker is parked illegally on Court Street, blocking the ramp to the curb. I try anyway, and my wheelchair topples, soaking my leg in a puddle. "It’s so hard to park," the driver explains as she emerges from Staples, pleading with me not to give her a ticket. She scoots off, not giving me time to explain that I’m a reporter, not the police.

Ù I get stuck momentarily in a section of loose brick near City Hall. Brick, as those special people in the Fenway Alliance love to remind us, is such a wonderful aesthetic touch. Just try riding a wheelchair over it.

At Locke-Ober, I arrive to sample fancy-schmancy chef Lydia Shire’s cooking. Instead, I’m confronted by two granite steps. The man at the door offers me the name of a manager to contact to complain. I would have preferred the soft-shell crabs.

None of this surprised Bruce Bruneau. He was my guide back in 1995. When he was working, Bruneau was the trailblazing watchdog in the state’s Office of Disability. Now 59, Bruneau’s off the beat. He sounded discouraged.

"I thought I could make a change when I started doing this," Bruneau says. "I was wrong."

During the day, I found too many places without curb cuts, making the sidewalk a dead end for anybody in a wheelchair. I found steps blocking my way into the best restaurants and most basic coffee shops. Just try figuring out which T stations have an elevator. Want to get out at Government Center? They’re working on it.

John Kelly, a local wheelchair advocate, told me of one of his least favorite spots, a warped stretch of sidewalk on Huntington Avenue near Symphony Hall. It was never installed right. The Massachusetts Architectural Access Board agrees with Kelly. Since November of 2005, it has been fining Boston $500 a day until it fixes the area. Despite the city’s appeal, the fine stood at $325,000 at press time.

"Nobody knows," Kelly complains. "It’s barely been in the papers."

Back to the Charles Playhouse. Just to get into the box office, the cashier had to open a door in the neighboring Shear Madness space and get a construction worker to push me up a crumbling, too-steep concrete ramp. Inside, after nearly selling me a ticket, she mentioned the 26 steps. I didn’t make a stink. For one thing, I needed her help getting back out.

"Well," I told her, "I’ll pass for now."

"You can always come back if you reconsider," she said, and smiled.

Geoff Edgers is an arts reporter for the Globe. E-mail him at gedgers@globe.com.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Access Denied - The Boston Globe

Advocates for the disabled are pressing companies to make their Web sites more accessible

Sherry Karabin
Corporate Counsel
September 6, 2007

Alex Bloch, Getty Images

Does the Americans with Disabilities Act apply in cyberspace? Without clear guidance from the courts, companies are deciding for themselves. Pressured by advocacy groups, some businesses have already taken steps to make their Web sites more accessible to the disabled. But other companies have said that while they'll voluntarily alter their sites, they aren't required to do so by the ADA.

RadioShack Corp. is the latest company to reach an agreement with advocates for the disabled. On June 13, the Fort Worth, Texas-based electronics retailer announced that it would make several improvements to its Web site for users who are visually impaired. The agreement grew out of negotiations between RadioShack and the American Council of the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind.

"RadioShack believes that its products and services should be accessible to individuals with disabilities," says Mickey Clark, a senior litigation attorney at the company. "It was apparent that RadioShack and the [blindness organizations] shared a common goal, and we decided to work together to come up with a sensible solution."

By contrast, Target Corp. and the National Federation of the Blind are still fighting in court. The Minneapolis-based big-box retailer says that it made sufficient changes to its Web site after being sued by the NFB and blind individuals last year. The plaintiffs, however, maintain that Target has to do more. The company is now arguing that its Web site isn't covered by disability access laws, while the NFB says that it is. A hearing was held on July 31 on Target's motion to dismiss the suit and the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, with a ruling expected later this year.

According to Target spokesperson Carolyn Brookter, the company "believes our Web site is fully accessible, and complies with all applicable laws."

When Congress passed the ADA in 1990, it required that all "places of public accommodation" -- stores, offices, and the like -- be fully accessible to the disabled. But lawmakers failed to anticipate the wide range of technological innovations that have been adopted in the business world since then. The question that several disabled advocates have raised is whether a corporate Web site should be considered a "service" of a place of public accommodation. If it is, then Title III of the ADA would require the site to be fully accessible.

So far, challenges have largely come from groups representing the visually impaired. Many of these people use software that reads the text on a computer screen and then vocalizes it. Some of the words on a Web page, however, may not appear as plain text, but may be contained in a graphic or pop-up box. In order for the screen-reading software to pick up the information in these elements, a Web page must be designed with hidden features.

RadioShack agreed to do just this in its recent agreement with the blindness groups. Other companies have previously pledged to do the same. In March, Amazon.com Inc., promised to work with the NFB to make its site more accessible for the visually impaired. Ramada Franchise Systems, Inc., and Priceline.com, Inc. also agreed to alter their sites after reaching settlements with the New York state attorney general's office in 2004.

Not all businesses settle, however. Several years ago, Southwest Airlines Co. decided to let the courts rule on the merits of a challenge to its Web site. The suit, filed by Access Now Inc., another advocacy group for the blind, was dismissed by a federal district court judge in 2002. The dismissal was upheld two years later by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Target appears to be making the same argument as Southwest -- laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled don't apply to Web sites. The retailer's defense may be a little tougher, however, since it's been sued not just under the ADA, but also under California state civil rights laws. In an answer filed last September, Target said that the changes to its Web site that the NFB is demanding "are not required under California or federal law, and any requirement to make those changes would impose an undue burden upon Target and would not be readily achievable."

Still, Target has made some changes to its site. In a brief filed March 8, the company said, "Since this action was filed, Target.com has been substantially modified, and the issues identified by the plaintiffs have been eliminated."

Daniel Goldstein, a partner at Baltimore's Brown, Goldstein & Levy who is representing the plaintiffs in the case, isn't persuaded. "Target's claims of accessibility are greatly exaggerated," Goldstein says. "[The company] confuses having done some things that need to be done, with doing everything that needs to be done."

The case is being heard by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco federal district court. Last year she dismissed some of the suit's claims, but allowed others to proceed. Perhaps most important, Patel has yet to rule on whether California law applies. She's expected to make this determination after the July 31 class certification hearing. Observers expect Patel to take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to make her decision.

Given that the certification stage is such a risky point in a class action suit, why has Target let the litigation get this far? The company won't say. But law professor David Moss speculates that the retailer may be thinking about the bigger picture. According to Moss, who supervises the Disability Law Clinic at Wayne State University, "Target may be taking a stand on behalf of industry generally, which wants to leave the Web unregulated."

Law.com - Companies, Courts Debate Whether ADA Applies to Web Sites

 Dan Stebbins

Community Health Systems, parent company of Northwest Medical Center, has reached a settlement with plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2003 involving physical access barriers at Northwest’s Oro Valley facilities on North La Cholla Boulevard and on East Tangerine Street.
The settlement, if approved by a federal court on October 12, means approximately 280 upgrades at Northwest facilities to bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to John Bosco, the attorney representing Community Health Systems which owns Northwest.
Bosco, with the Dallas, Texas law firm of Baker&McKenzie, said upgrades at Northwest would include installation of grab bars in restrooms, Braile room signage, adjustment of drinking fountain heights, coat-hook height adjustments and installation of new door knobs for easier grasping and turning.
The original lawsuit was filed against Triad, which owned Northwest at the time. Community Health Systems purchased triad recently.
The suit was filed by plaintiffs with an advocacy group known as Access Now, represented by the Miami, Fla., law firm of de la O & Marko.
Bosco told the EXPLORER, “It was an amicable resolution. Both sides want to make the facilities accessible.”
Basco explained that a settlement was reached after engineers and attorneys for both sides spent two days inspecting Northwest’s buildings with a focus on ADA issues. The U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas in Dallas, handles all ADA class-action suits, Bosco said.
The settlement the court will review on October 12 includes approximately 40 facilities originally owned by Triad and now owned by Community Health Systems. The settlement is expected to be approved.

EXPLORER News - News, Sports & Entertainment for Oro Valley, Marana & Northwest Tucson

By: Billy Shields

row between disability advocates and the Office of the State Courts Administrator will take center stage Thursday at a hearing in Tampa. The two factions are struggling to find common ground over procedures, education and funding for accommodating the disabled in court.

Web Extra:
Lawsuit

The question of who funds accommodations for attorneys will be the focus of the hearing, in which the nonprofit Disability Independence Group, and the Equal Opportunity and the Law Section of The Florida Bar will argue to the Bar’s Judicial Rules of Administration Committee that the state desperately needs reforms to existing court rules and their interpretations.

“When you say that an attorney is not entitled to an accommodation in the courthouse, you will not have firms hiring people with disabilities because of the extra expense they are going to have,” said Matthew W. Dietz, a Miami-based disability rights attorney who is the vice chairman of the Equal Opportunity and the Law Section of The Florida Bar. This is an especially big problem for someone with a hearing disability, which tends to require accommodations that would represent recurring costs, Dietz said.

“It leaves people with a disability in a sort of a vacuum, and it shouldn’t be their vacuum. You’re denying someone their livelihood.”

OSCA officials argue that court accommodations are the financial responsibility of the lawyer. But they won’t comment on the matter because it is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Orlando criminal defense attorney A. Scott Harrison. The lawyer — who is deaf — sued OSCA, administrators of the 18th and 9th Judicial Circuits, and others alleging they discriminated against him by not paying for the real-time court reporter that accommodates his disability.

During the seven years he worked as an assistant public defender, Orange County paid the costs for the reporter. Now that he’s a solo practitioner, he contends he is being “seriously harmed by the discrimination of the defendants” and is seeking injunctive relief that would force the courts to pay for his accommodations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is unclear on the subject of attorney accommodations as different parts of the act appear to support different claims.

Title I of the act applied to employment and provides protection for employees including judges and court staff. Title II applies to state and local governments, including the judiciary. OSCA points to Title I as the part of the ADA that should govern accommodations in court. OSCA maintains that attorneys or their employers must cover the cost of accommodations. The DIG and EOLS contend that Title II covers court access accommodations and mandates the public cover the cost.

Advocates such as Dietz charge that the Title II interpretation creates a scenario that makes it impossible for disabled solo practitioners like Harrison to practice and encourages law firms to discriminate — since under the current ADA interpretation the employer or attorney bears the cost.

In addition to slipping through the cracks created by the two sections of the ADA, funding is becoming an increasingly tangled issue imbedded in layers of government because of recent changes concerning the administration of Florida courts.

The maintenance of Florida’s court buildings — which would include structural issues like ramps — are the financial responsibility of the counties in which the courthouses are located. But the services and programs of those courts are the financial responsibility of the state. In other words, creating ramps, elevators or automatic doors would have to be funded from county coffers. But providing for something like sign interpreters for a witness in a trial would come out of the state’s budget.

A recent Daily Business Review story described the plight of persons with disabilities in Florida’s court system in terms of access to buildings and fair employment practices.

Advocates are also ready to stump for a package of systemwide reforms that fall under two other basic categories: Providing disabilities accommodations to everyone using the court system and documenting those accommodations and implementing a standardized, public grievance procedure.

OSCA officials view the EOLS and DIG’s claims as misconceptions. They contend that accommodations for everyone involved in court as well as a grievance procedure already exist.

Debra G. Howells, the statewide ADA coordinator for the courts system and a named defendant in the Harrison suit, said a grievance procedure has been on the books for eight years.

“The Florida court system established a grievance procedure. My understanding of the process is that they got a statewide working group and they developed a model. And subsequently every trial and appellate court did adopt a grievance procedure,” she said. She noted that her office is working on making the grievance procedures easier to understand: “It’s something I’ve been working on with my Web master.”

Dietz disputed the OSCA claim. He said the mechanisms and accommodations are not universally applied nor are they publicly advertised if they exist at all.

“If there are misconceptions, then the policy is not clear. And that’s the problem,” he said. “When the policies and procedures are not clear to every user of the system, there’s something very wrong.”

On the subject of accommodations for those with disabilities who simply wish to visit a courtroom, Howells said, “If they walked into court that day and requested an accommodation, we would certainly try to provide it.”

After Thursday’s hearing, the Judicial Rules of Administration Committee can recommend rule changes to the Florida Supreme Court, which in turn may adopt or reject them. If the state’s highest court accepts those recommendations, it would make statewide changes in court administration and likely satisfy the claims Harrison made in his suit, according to Dietz.

If reform recommendations go to the Florida Supreme Court, disability advocates may have an ally in Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis. He is a reformer in the disabilities area who has a daughter with sight and hearing impairments.

Daily Business Review

By DEBBIE GILBERT
The Times
GAINESVILLE

Not every animal that assists a disabled person is a Seeing Eye dog. These days, there are dogs trained to help people with all kinds of disabilities.

Sometimes the people are in wheelchairs and their condition is obvious. But some have hidden disabilities, and you would never guess that they need assistance.

That's the case with Gainesville resident John Ward. A former funeral home director, he has suffered from epilepsy since 1973, when he fell from a two-story building and fractured his skull.

For the past eight years, Ward has been accompanied everywhere he goes by Mara, a certified service dog trained by Michigan-based Paws With A Cause.

"She can detect when I'm about to have a seizure, by sensing changes in my body chemistry," Ward said. "She pokes me in the leg to let me know."

There is no way to prevent a seizure. But at least Ward can make sure he's in a safe place when it happens.

Then Mara does something that is quite extraordinary. She goes to the nearest person, attracts their attention and tries to persuade them to follow her back to Ward.

If the first person does not respond, Mara is trained to go to the next person, and to keep trying until she finds someone who is willing to help.

But it's hard for many people to understand why someone with epilepsy would need a canine helper. Unlike the guide dog who wears a harness and pulls a blind person along, Mara's role is not immediately apparent.

This puts Ward in the position of constantly having to justify the dog's presence.

"I've sort of jokingly thought of putting on dark glasses (to pretend to be blind)," he says.

According to both Georgia law and the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, service dogs must be allowed inside any place that serves the general public, including restaurants, grocery stores, hotels and public transportation.

Yet Ward still finds himself confronted by business owners who think he has no right to bring the dog inside their establishment because he isn't blind.

"She wears a service dog jacket, and I carry a card that explains the law and says this dog is registered with Paws With a Cause," Ward said.

"But that doesn't seem to mean anything to some business owners, especially in some of the more rural areas. There have been times when the police ended up being called, and even the police officers were not familiar with the law."

Laurie Wentworth, a restaurant inspector with Hall County Environmental Health, said she has received calls from restaurant owners who feared allowing a dog into their business would create a health hazard.

"I have to explain the law to them, that they cannot refuse to serve a customer just because that person has a service animal," she said.

Wentworth added that some restaurateurs assume that the service animal will behave like a pet dog, running excitedly from one table to another, jumping up on people and making a nuisance of itself. But they don't understand that the animal is a "professional."

"These dogs are usually well-trained and very predictable," she said. "They typically just lie there at the owner's feet, and they don't come into contact with food."

Deb Davis, spokeswoman for Paws With A Cause, said the nonprofit has served more than 2,000 clients during the past 28 years.

"We've never heard of a negative incident," she said. "These dogs go through at least six months of intensive training, and they are extremely well socialized and screened."

And yet, the hassles that Ward has experienced are not that unusual for people with service animals.

"It's more common than we'd like it to be," Davis said. "One reason is that guide dogs (for the blind) have been around for more than 75 years, but the assistance dog industry started only about 25 years ago.

"Also, some of our clients are upright and mobile, and they look just like someone who's out walking their (pet) dog."

Bob McGarry, director of the Disability Resource Center in Gainesville, said there needs to be more education.

"We need the public to know that service dogs are for people with all types of disabilities," he said.

Also, McGarry said, business owners should know that the law does not force them to put up with bad behavior, either canine or human.

"If the dog is creating a nuisance or problem within the business, it is legal for you to ask them to leave," he said.

But you can't bar them on the presumption that they might create a problem, McGarry said. He added that under the law, you can't even force a person to provide documentation of their disability.

He said if someone is having difficulties with a business, it's best for them to contact a disability rights organization that can help to smooth out any misunderstandings.

"Better to take that approach than to sue," he said.

But some cases do end up in court.

"We've had a few clients who had to sue national business chains in order to defend their civil rights," Davis said.

Even though these corporations have policies of not discriminating against the disabled, she said, individual employees or franchise owners apparently did not understand the rules.

"In most cases where there were misunderstandings, the proprietor of the business was not a native of the United States," Davis said. "Most often the person was from an Asian country, where cultural perceptions about animals may differ from ours."

But Kit Dunlap, president of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce, said there are plenty of home-grown business owners who probably don't know the rules either.

"The mom-and-pop businesses are the hardest ones to reach with that type of information," she said. "It's almost impossible to educate everyone."

But Ward said once people meet Mara, a flat-coated retriever with a sweet personality, they realize she's not a threat to anyone.

"Ninety percent of people in Gainesville know me or my family one way or another, because we were in the funeral business," he said. "The places I go on a regular basis, everybody knows Mara, and there's never been a problem.

"But when I go outside my usual circles, I still encounter people who have never seen a service dog."

Contact: dgilbert@gainesvilletimes.com; (770) 718-3407

Service dogs, More than meets the eye: Businesses must let canine helpers in - gainesvilletimes.com