Test Your Knowledge of ADA compliance for small businesses

No matter how well-intentioned a small business owner may be, unintentional oversights, such as failure to teach employees how to handle calls placed using a telecommunications service, can be an open invitation to Title II litigation. In an effort to head off this unfortunate situation and foster ADA compliance, the Department of Justice has posted on online course for business owners on its website. Each section of the course, which is entitled “Reaching Out to Customers with Disabilities,” ends with a short quiz.

How well do you know the basics of ADA compliance? To find out, answer the following questions, each of which was actually taken from the course. The answers to the quiz follow.

1. You are planning to build an addition to an existing facility. What are your obligations to ensure that the work complies with the ADA?
2. If you are planning to make any improvements or changes in your existing facility, what must you do to make sure the work complies with the ADA?
3. How do you plan to change architectural barriers to improve accessibility?
4. What are some of the ways that a customer with a disability may need extra assistance?
5. Do your employees know they are supposed to provide extra assistance to a customer with a disability when needed, as long as it does not jeopardize the safe operation of your business?
6. What is the basic rule of thumb your employees should follow when it comes to a patron’s service animal?
7. A customer who is deaf comes into a flower shop and wants to order flowers. How does the clerk communicate with the customer?
8. A couple goes to dinner at a restaurant. The wife is blind. How does the restaurant let her know what is on the menu?
9. A man who is deaf has a presurgery meeting with his physician. The man uses sign language to communicate. How does the doctor explain the surgical procedures and answer questions?
10. A clerk at a takeout restaurant answers the telephone. He hears, “This is relay CA#___. Have you receieved a relay call before?” What does he do?

How Did You Do?

Here are the correct answers to the ADA compliance quiz for small business owners on the previous page. If you didn’t answer any of these correctly, taking the course, found at www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/reachingout/intro.htm, may be the first step in avoiding a costly and unnecessary situation resulting from non-compliance.

Answers

1. You are planning to build an addition to an existing facility. What are your obligations to ensure that the work complies with the ADA?
   When a building is expanded, the completely new spaces or elements that are part of the addition must meet the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. There is no inspection process for the ADA. The building owner, as well as those responsible for design and construction, are responsible for complying with the ADA. (Local inspectors do, however, use the Illinois Accessibility Code which is available elsewhere on this website.)
2. If you are planning to make any improvements or changes in your existing facility, what must you do to make sure the work complies with the ADA?
   When a business alters an existing facility in any way that affects usability, the areas or elements being altered must comply with the ADA standards. A core concept is the path a person travels in getting from the parking area or sidewalk into the building, to the areas where she works or is served as a customer, and to the restrooms and other amenities that are provided in the facility.
3. How do you plan to change architectural barriers to improve accessibility?
   Business should give first priority to the measures that enable people with disabilities to get in the door, followed by measures that enable them to get to the areas where the business provides its goods and services to the public. The next priority is access to the restroom facilities that are provided for the customers’ use. Lastly, the business should eliminate any other barriers they have. Business are not expected to reduce the amount of furniture or display racks to the extent that it would result in a significant loss of selling or service space.
4. What are some of the ways that a customer with a disability may need extra assistance?
   Most accommodations involve making minor adjustments in procedures, or providing some extra assistance. Usually the customer will let you know if he needs some kind of accommodation and what form it might be in.
5. Do your employees know they are supposed to provide extra assistance to a customer with a disability when needed, as long as it does not jeopardize the safe operation of your business?
   Businesses are not required to change their policies and procedures in any way that would cause a fundamental alteration in the nature of their goods or services, would undermine the safe operation of the business, or would cause a direct threat to the health or safety of others.
6. What is the basic rule of thumb your employees should follow when it comes to a patron’s service animal?
   Businesses must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals into all areas of the business where customers are normally allowed to go, so long as the animal is under control and does not present a direct threat to others.
7. A customer who is deaf comes into a flower shop and wants to order flowers. How does the clerk communicate with the customer?
   Methods of communicating with customers who are deaf or hearing impaired include: using gestures, writing notes, providing printed information, using a sign language interpreter, or using a real-time captioning service.
8. A couple goes to dinner at a restaurant. The wife is blind. How does the restaurant let her know what is on the menu?
   Methods for communicating with customers who are blind or have a vision impairment include: having staff read printed information to the customer; providing the information in large print; in Braille or on a computer disk, or in an audio format so the customer can read or listen to it; or assisting the customer in finding an item or maneuvering through your business’s space.
9. A man who is deaf has a presurgery meeting with his physician. The man uses sign language to communicate. How does the doctor explain the surgical procedures and answer questions?
   Generally, a sign language interpreter is required when a customer’s primary method of communicating is sign language and the information is so complex or lengthy that sign language is required to communicate effectively.
10. A clerk at a takeout restaurant answers the telephone. He hears, “This is relay CA#___. Have you received a relay call before?” What does he do?
    Don’t hang up! The telecommunications relay service is a free nationwide service that enables people who have hearing or speech disabilities who use text telephones or other devices to communicate with people who use telephones, and vice versa. If a business accepts a call from the public, they must accept relay calls. To place a call to a customer who uses a TTY, dial 7-1-1 to access the relay service.

Design by: Gammon Group