On July 26th, in conjunction with the celebration of the anniversary of the American's with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has rleased regulations to clarify some terms under the Act. Among these are :
- Major changes include a new definition for the term "service animal." Dogs and miniature horses individually trained to mitigate the effects of a disability are now the only animals that qualify as service animals.
- The rules also now require entities to allow individuals with disabilities to use Segways wherever pedestrians and wheelchairs are permitted, unless it would fundamentally alter the entity's services or pose a threat to safety. New requirements for event ticketing and reservations at hotels are also included in the rules.
- The rules provide a general safe harbor for elements in covered facilities that were built or altered in compliance with the previous standards. Those elements will not need to be brought into compliance with the new standards until they are subject to a planned alteration, according to DOJ.
- Entities that previously had the option to comply with either the ADA Accessibility Guidelines or the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards no longer have that option. All entities subject to Titles II or III of the ADA must now comply with the new accessibility standards.
- In addition to the new final rules, DOJ issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding its intention to regulate websites, movie captioning and 911 services, among other things. Notably, the department has requested public input on which web standards it should adopt in requiring entities covered by Titles II and III to make their websites accessible: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or the section 508 standards.
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