Guide to evaluate the Accessibility of Your Business

Introduction

As a business owner you cannot afford to ignore more than 50 million consumers with billions of dollars to spend, they are people with disabilities who represent the single largest minority group in this country according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Having a business that compliance with the state and federal standards of accessibility will attracts not only clients with disabilities but also their families and friends. Many business facilities were built with features that do not accommodate clients with disabilities, including customers who use a mobility aid. This lack of accessibility makes it impossible for many of this customer to access to you goods and services but the most common concerns for small business are focus on the cost of the modification but there are two Federal tax incentives available to help cover costs of making access improvements for customers with disabilities. In order to assist businesses to achieve their efforts to better serve customers with disabilities the Great Lakes ADA Center is presenting you a quick reference material that has been compile in this ADA compliance reference guide for Small Businesses with the most simple and comprehensive information that will help you to identify those accessibility problems and possible solutions available that can bring your business into compliance with the ADA standards of accessibility Design and title III provisions of this federal regulation.

This ADA compliance reference guide for Small Businesses contains six simple items that will help you to follow the ADA requirements these items are:

1. A Quick Reference Chart that guide you to the basic ADA requirements for architectural access and provisions for Access to goods and Services.
2. Checklist for Existing Facilities, Summary of the Title III technical assistance manual for small business,A primer for Small Business
3. Department of Justice 10 small business mistakes audio and transcript
4. Tax incentives for improvements access
5. Disability Etiquette examples to how to interact with customer with disabilities
6. List of Resources

Guide to evaluate the Accessibility of Your Business

The Great Lakes ADA Center offer in this site a quick and easy online interactive bilingual resource to help businesses with marketing ideas that diversify your clientele and expand your business to customers with disabilities by compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This site has valuable recommendations and resources useful for you to evaluate the accessibility, policy of your business to access to the goods and services and identify the priorities for ADA compliance for example:

• Accessible Parking
• Accessible Entrance
• Shelves and Maneuvering Space
• Usability of Rest Rooms
• Sales and Service Counters
• Communicating with Customers with disabilities
• Obligations of Landlord and tenant
• Tax incentives for access improvements and many more

The Great Lakes ADA Center,
640 West Roosevelt Road Suite 405,
Chicago, Illinois 60608

For questions call The Great Lakes ADA Center at 1-800-949-4232

Instructions

Step 1:

Reference Chart to barriers removal of Access to Goods and Services follow each of the priorities recommended at the file Summary of the Title III Technical Assistance Manual for Small Business and A primer for Small business

Step 2:

Open the Quick accessibility Reference Chart then evaluate the accessibility of your business by following each of the priorities recommended at the Side 1 of the Architectural Access Chart, then open the file Checklist for Existing Facilities, then look at each of the pages that the chart refers to it, the Checklist provides you with possible barriers removal solutions when is readily achievable to do so.

Step 3:

Review the 10 Small Business Mistakes illustration audio and transcript.

Step 4:

If you have an accessibility issue in you store please contact us by send us an e-mail and enclose a picture that illustrate your accessibility barrier that you have in your store also for questions and assistance open the file it call list of Resources in this site.

Your business obligations under ADA title III

Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in places of public accommodation and commercial facilities. Places of public accommodation include over 6 million privately owned business establishments of all sizes such as restaurants, hotels, theaters, convention centers, doctor’s offices, retail stores, museums, libraries, private schools, and day care centers and many more.

The ADA mandate that privately business owners must:

1. provide goods and services in an integrated setting, unless separate or different measures are necessary to ensure equal opportunity
2. eliminate unnecessary eligibility standards or rules that deny clients with disabilities an equal opportunity to enjoy the goods and services
3. make reasonable modifications in policies, practices and procedures that deny equal access to individuals with disabilities, unless a fundamental alteration would result in the nature of the goods and services provided
4. ensure effective communication through the use of auxiliary aids and services when necessary, unless an undue burden or fundamental alteration would result
5. remove architectural and structural communication barriers in existing facilities where readily achievable
6. provide goods and services through alternative measures when removal of barriers is not readily achievable
7. When public accommodations or commercial facilities design and construct new facilities, or alter existing facilities, they must do so in accordance with the Standards for Accessible Design. Title III is enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice.
8. Note: The ADA exempts private clubs and religious organizations, including places of worship, from its public accommodation requirements
 

Access to Goods and Services – Reference to the Summary of the Americans with disabilities Act Title III Technical Assistance Manual a Quick reference for Small Businesses