ADA Notification Act Fact Sheet

Editor: Several months ago we published an article about the ADA Notification Act, which is an attempt to further weaken the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). I know that many people in the disability community consider the ADA to be a hugely successful law that has greatly contributed to equivalent access. My opinion is that it's really political window dressing, because it contains no enforcement mechanism. Why anyone thinks it should be weakened further is beyond me.

Here's a notice from Diane Edge's Deaf Advocate email list. (If you'd like to join her list, send an email to DeafAdvocate-subscribe@yahoogroups.com). Thanks to Diane for her great work!

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As described in numerous NAPAS action alerts, during the last session of Congress Reps. Mark Foley (R-Fla) and E. Clay Shaw (R-Fla) invited Clint Eastwood to testify in support of HR 3590 - a bill to amend Title III of the ADA to impose a requirement that, before filing a Title III lawsuit, a person suffering discrimination must provide a formal notice of the violation to the business and wait 90 days. Rep. Foley has reintroduced the ADA Notification bill and it is now known as H.R. 914.

In the Senate, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) has introduced the equivalent of the House version of the ADA Notification Act. Like the House version, the Senate bill, if enacted into law, will weaken civil rights protections for people with disabilities and create a disincentive for voluntary compliance with the ADA. Additionally, the legislative process will open up the ADA and expose it to even more weakening amendments.

The amendment requires that prior to filing lawsuits, people with disabilities must provide business owners with specific notice of ADA violations detailing the location of inaccessible facilities, dates when access was attempted, and facts relating to their attempt to gain access. Supporters claim that this is not about infringing on the rights of persons with disabilities but about the "sleazy" lawyers who represent them, and whom they claim are abusing the law by filing excessive and unwarranted Title III lawsuits.

Message to Congress:

· If enacted, the changes would allow businesses to avoid making any accessibility modifications until they were caught. It would discourage voluntary compliance with the ADA's accessibility requirements and penalize all those who made efforts to ensure accessibility.

· People with disabilities have already waited almost 11 years since the ADA was signed into law. This is an attempt to open up the ADA and will lead to any number of amendments weakening the civil rights of people with disabilities.

· Millions and millions of Federal dollars continue to be spent to notify and educate business owners of their ADA obligations. We do not need to amend the ADA.

· States have started attaching ADA requirements to all new business licenses and renewals to further notify businesses of their need to comply with the law.