III - 4.000 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Regulatory references: 28 CFR 36.301 - 36.310

Section 36.301 Eligibility Criteria

III - 4.1100 General. A public accommodation may not impose eligibility criteria that either screen out or tend to screen out persons with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying any goods, services, privileges, advantages or accommodations offered to individuals without disabilities, unless it can show that such requirements are necessary for the provision of the goods, services, privileges, advantages, or accommodations.

III - 4.1400 Surcharges. Paragraph (c) of §36.301 provides that public accommodations may not place a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the costs of measures, such as the provision of auxiliary aids and services.

III-4.2300 Service animals. Section 36.302 (c) 1 A public accommodation must modify its policies to permit the use of a service animal by an individual with a disability, unless doing so would result in a fundamental alteration or jeopardize the safe operation of the public accommodation. This reflects the general intent of Congress that public accommodations take the necessary steps to accommodate service animals and to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not separated from their service animals.

It is intended that the broadest feasible access be provided to service animals in all places of public accommodation, including movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, retail stores, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Service animals include any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. Example: alerting individuals with impaired hearing to the presence of intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work.

The care or supervision of a service animal is the responsibility of his or her owner, not the public accommodation. A public accommodation may not require an individual with a disability to post a deposit as a condition to permitting a service animal to accompany its owner in a place of public accommodation, even if such deposits are required for pets.

Section 36.303 Auxiliary Aids and Services

III-4.3100 General. A public accommodation is required to provide auxiliary aids and services that are necessary to ensure equal access to the goods, services, facilities, privileges, or accommodations that it offers, unless an undue burden or a fundamental alteration would result.

III-4.3200 Effective communication. In order to provide equal access, a public accommodation is required to make available appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communication. The type of auxiliary aid or service necessary to ensure effective communication will vary in accordance with the length and complexity of the communication involved. Public accommodations should consult with individuals with disabilities wherever possible to determine what type of auxiliary aid is needed to ensure effective communication. In many cases, more than one type of auxiliary aid or service may make effective communication possible. While consultation is strongly encouraged, the ultimate decision as to what measures to take to ensure effective communication rests in the hands of the public accommodation, provided that the method chosen results in effective communication.

Section 36.303 Auxiliary Aids and Services (cont.)

III - 4.3420 Outgoing calls by customers, clients, patients, or participants. A public accommodation is required to make a TDD available to an individual with impaired hearing or speech, if it customarily offers telephone service to its customers, clients, patients, or participants on more than an incidental convenience basis. Example, TDD’s must be made available on request to hospital patients or hotel guests where in-room phone service is provided. A hospital or hotel front desk should also be equipped with a TDD so that patients or guests using TDD’s in their rooms have the same access to in-house services as other patients or guests. Where entry to a place of public accommodation requires use of a security entrance telephone, a TDD or other effective means of communication must be provided for use by an individual with impaired hearing or speech.

III - 4.3500 Closed caption decoders. Hospitals that provide televisions for use by patients and hotels, motels, and other places of lodging that provide televisions in five or more guest rooms, must provide closed caption decoder service upon request.

III - 4.4100 General. Public accommodations must remove architectural barriers and communication barriers that are structural in nature in existing facilities, when it is readily achievable to do so. Communication barriers that are "structural in nature" are barriers that are an integral part of the physical structure of a facility. Examples include signage, audible alarm systems, physical partitions that hamper the passage of sound waves between employees and customers, and the absence of adequate sound buffers in noisy areas that would reduce the extraneous noise that interferes with communication with people who have limited hearing. The term "facility" includes all or any part of a building, structure, equipment, vehicle, site (including roads, walks, passageways, and parking lots), or other real or personal property. Both permanent and temporary facilities are subject to the barrier removal requirements.

III - 4.4200 Readily achievable barrier removal. Examples: rearranging tables, chairs, vending machines, display racks, and other furniture, repositioning telephones, installing flashing alarm lights.

III - 4.5200 Multiscreen cinemas. Public notice must be provided as to the location and time of accessible showings. Methods for providing notice include appropriate use of the international accessibility symbol in a cinema’s print advertising and the addition of accessibility information to a cinema’s recorded telephone information line.

III - 4.600 Examinations and courses. Any private entity that offers examinations or courses related to applications, licensing, certification, or credentialing for secondary or postsecondary education, professional, or trade purposes must offer such examination or courses in a place and manner accessible to persons with disabilities, or offer alternative accessible arrangements for such individuals.

III - 4.6100 Examinations. Coverage by this section include examinations for admission to secondary schools, college entrance examination, examinations for admission to trade or professional school, and licensing examinations for certified public accountants.