Paper: Sacramento Bee, The (CA)
Title: U.S. needs to enforce ADA rules
Author: Mary Lou Breslin and Silvia YeeSpecial to The Bee
Date: December 31, 2006
Section: FORUM
Page: E3
Mary Lou Breslin, a senior policy adviser for Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, and Silvia Yee, staff attorney, are responding to the Nov. 17 editorial "The Price of Access/Gaming the Americans with Disabilities Act" and the Nov. 12-14 series "The Price of Access."
The editorial draws the wrong conclusion about lawsuits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a civil rights law for people with disabilities. The Bee asserts a "simple solution" to the lack of access when business owners fail to comply, even though the law has been on the books for 16 years. The editorial proposes giving businesses another "60 days or so" to fix violations before one can sue.
The real problem is that inaccessible businesses operate in broad daylight with little fear of being penalized for violating the law, so they have limited motivation to comply voluntarily. Consequently, people with disabilities can achieve access only by relying on the good will of business owners or by filing a lawsuit.
Voluntary compliance would be great, but a recent collaboration between the disability and small business communities on a proactive approach in San Francisco produced disappointing results. Fewer than 3 percent of 2,200 businesses that were offered ADA information and assistance responded.
The Public Entity Risk Institute, one of the project's funders, asserted unequivocally in its report that "small businesses appear unwilling to act in the absence of a 'hammer' such as litigation or fines."
Even litigation has limited impact. According to The Bee, a small group of attorneys and plaintiffs filed 910 ADA lawsuits against businesses statewide in 2005. To put these numbers in context, the San Francisco Economic Development Office estimates that there are about 109,000 private businesses in San Francisco.
We need real solutions that foster action, not a notice requirement that makes people with disabilities bear the burden of monitoring and enforcing the law. If the carefully drafted ADA needs any change, it should be a strengthened federal enforcement role and the addition of compliance incentives such as new tax breaks.
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund is a national law and policy center with its headquarters in Berkeley. DREDF can be reached at www.dredf.org or (510) 644-2555 V/TTY.
Copyright 2006, 2007 The Sacramento Bee
