The business obligation under the ADA can be summed up in one sentence: To provide equal access to goods and services to customers with disabilities in an integrated setting. Equal access is achieved when customers with disabilities are able to access goods and services in a way that is equivalent (not necessarily identical) to other customers.

Teenage girl with Down syndrome being served at outdoor cafe.

Integrated Settings

One of the major goals of the ADA is to achieve full inclusion of people with disabilities in American life. That requires not only access, but access in an integrated setting. Customers with disabilities want to enjoy activities such as eating out, going to the movies, and shopping with their friends and family. Accessible features should be integrated into the service areas so people with disabilities are included, not separated, from everyone else.

Creating Equal Access to Goods and Services

Providing equal access to goods and services may require businesses to take actions that remove common barriers to access. These barriers are generally thought of as physical, such as steps to front entrances. However, barriers can also be policies and procedures that make it difficult for customers with disabilities to access services. Sometimes additional assistance and services are necessary to meet the needs of customers with a wide range of disabilities.  Generally, actions businesses are required to take fall into four main categories: Barrier Removal, Effective Communication, Modification of Policies and Procedures, and Eliminating Unnecessary Eligibility Standards.

Barrier Removal

Access to the business facility should be accessible. This includes parking, the route to the building, and features inside the building such as bathrooms, drinking fountains, counters, and the check-out area. Businesses are expected to achieve physical accessibility by following the ADA 2010 Standards for Accessible Design in new construction and renovation. Existing facilities should be made accessible by making any changes that can be done without undue expense or difficulty, otherwise known as “readily achievable” changes.

Effective Communication

Businesses are required to provide “auxiliary aides or services” when needed to provide effective communication. That means communication with customers with disabilities should be as clear and understandable as communication with all customers.

Examples:
A doctor may need to provide an interpreter for his patient who is deaf during a medical consult.

A restaurant may provide large print menus for their patrons with low vision

Modification of Policies and Procedures

Access to goods and services should not be limited due to strict adherence to policies and procedures. Businesses are required to modify policies and procedures for their customers with disabilities when needed to fully use a business’s services. Note: This does not mean that businesses cannot have policies that might affect people with disabilities. Only that businesses must modify their policies, as needed. 
Examples:
A dress shop has a policy of only allowing one person in the dressing room at a time. However, this policy is modified so the customer’s personal care attendant can assist her in a dressing room.

A diabetic customer brings a small low sugar snack bar into the movie theatre. Since there are limited selections at concessions, the customer may need a specific snack due to their blood sugar levels. The usual policy could easily be modified for this individual.

Eliminate Unnecessary Eligibility Standards

Businesses should review any policies they have that would deny access due solely to someone’s disability or have criteria that could inadvertently affect them. 
Example: Allowing only a driver’s license as a means of identification could make it difficult or 
impossible for people who cannot drive to provide identification.

Businesses are required
to take these actions unless doing so would cause:

Undue Burden

“Undue burden” is defined as “significant difficulty or expense.” Deciding if an action is an undue burden should be based on the overall operating budget and resources (such as number of employees). Actions that would qualify as an undue burden will be different for different businesses. For example, a business with several employees working at the same time will have a greater ability to deliver items to a home or bring items to a customer’s car than a business with only one or two employees. 

Fundamental Alteration to the Business

A fundamental alteration is a modification that is so significant it alters the essential nature of the providing the businesses’ goods and services and/or the business facility.

Direct Threat to Health and Safety

Business are not required to take any action that would pose a threat to the health and safety of employees and/or other customers. Note that the threat to health and/or safety has to be a “direct” threat based upon specific criteria, not a “possible” threat based upon assumptions or speculations. 

Example :

  • Bill uses an oxygen tank and wants to enter the area in an auto shop where welding equipment is used. The owner lets Bill know they can meet in his office, but Bill cannot be in the area where there is welding–even though other customers can enter this area.
  • Janel uses a service dog to help her with balance. A local bakery owner is concerned that a dog may create a health hazard in her store. In this case, however, court decisions have established that a groomed service dog, under the handler’s control, does not cause a significant health threat in businesses that sell food. There isn’t sufficient evidence to confirm the business owner’s concern about service dogs and health issues.

Content developed by the Department of Justice, June 2009