On July 23, 2004 the U.S. Access Board announced the release of new design guidelines that cover access to facilities for people with disabilities. The new design document is the culmination of a 10 year review and update of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) which were first published in 1991. This update also revised the guidelines for accessible federal buildings under the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968. The purpose of the new guidelines is to create a consistent level of access as specified under the ADA and the ABA and with model building codes such as the International Building Code (IBC). The U.S. Access Board released the latest Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, which cover a wide range of public and private facilities. Although these are final guidelines from the Access Board, they do not become enforceable standards until the various federal agencies charged with enforcing the ADA and ABA adopt them, which will be done in separate rulemakings. You can download this document by visiting the US Access Board website at:

www.access-board.gov

You can download a checklist for conducting accessibility surveys for facilities that will serve or have served as polling places at the DOJ website dedicated to information on the Americans with Disabilities Act at www.ada.gov. This document is available in both HTML and printable PDF formats. The checklist is designed to assist in determining whether a polling place has basic accessible features needed by most voters with disabilities. It can be used to evaluate the accessibility of sites designated to be new polling places and identify physical barriers in existing polling places. The checklist can help to address accessibility issues before temporary or permanent modifications are made to improve accessibility of polling places for elections.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a publication titled QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EPILEPSY IN THE WORKPLACE AND THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA). This document explains how the ADA might apply to job applicants and employees with epilepsy. Topics discussed include:

• when epilepsy is considered a disability under the ADA;
• when an employer may ask an applicant or employee questions about epilepsy and how it should treat voluntary disclosures;
• what types of reasonable accommodations employees with epilepsy may need;
• how an employer should handle safety concerns about applicants and employees with epilepsy;
• how employers can ensure that no employee is harassed because of epilepsy or any other disability.

A copy of the fact sheet is available for download at the EEOC website at:

www.eeoc.gov