NAD Criticizes National Restaurant Association Endorsement of ADA Notification Act

March 2004

Remember the ADA Notification Act? It's a proposed law that would further weaken the ADA, whose protections are gradually being stripped away. It was proposed a few years ago, but defeated in Congress. Well, it's back!

Here's the NAD press release about this proposed legislation. Please take the time to become informed about it, so you can help educate the folks you encounter.

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Silver Spring, MD -- The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) criticized the National Restaurant Association for its endorsement of Mark Foley's legislative proposal, called the "ADA Notification Act" to weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a letter, Kelby Brick, NAD Associate Executive Director for Law and Advocacy urged the Association to take a leadership role in educating its members about their obligations under the ADA.

Congressman Mark Foley of Florida recently reintroduced his ADA Notification Act (H.R. 728). The ADA Notification Act endangers disability rights. In the past, strong opposition by disability organizations and the NAD have blocked his act.

The ADA Notification Act would ban individuals from filing a lawsuit against any public places of accommodation (such as hospitals, hotels, airports, lawyer's offices, museums and sports events) that have discriminated against them. According to the ADA Notification Act, the person who was discriminated against will be required to first inform the business where discrimination occurred, then give the place 90 days to "promise" that the discrimination will not happen again. If another person later suffers discrimination, that person must then give the business another 90 days to "promise" discrimination will not happen again.

Congressman Foley has argued that the ADA Notification Act is necessary to "warn" businesses of their legal obligations under the ADA. If Congress passes HR 728, Congress would be saying that ignorance of the law is a valid and legal defense.

This is not the first time that the ADA Notification Act has been brought to the floor of the Congress. The NAD vigorously, and successfully, fought against the ADA Notification Act in 2000. "The ADA Notification Act attempts to make ignorance of the law a valid and legal defense. Ignorance of the law is not, and should not be, a defense," said Brick.

In Brick's letter, the NAD invited the National Restaurant Association to meet and discuss collaborative efforts to educate the industry about its obligation to comply with critical civil rights laws.

A copy of the letter can be found at: http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/adanotification/

natlrestuarantassoc.html

More information about the legislation is located at: http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/adanotification/index.html

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About the NAD Established in 1880, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization safeguarding the accessibility and civil rights of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans across a broad range of areas including education, employment, health care, and telecommunications.