How to Comply

Access Means Opportunity!

The Accessible Cities Alliance strives to provide a wide range of resources and information to:

1. businesses and owners who are in the process of becoming fully compliant and

2. to persons with disabilities who are eager to access public accommodations in and around the City of Joliet.

This website is designed to offer federal, regional, state and local resources which can provide background on the laws, assist businesses in interpreting and complying with the laws, and offer local case studies in success from which other businesses and consumers can learn first hand that access means opportunity!

Increasing Compliance in Public Accomodations

The Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living, City of Joliet and members of the Accessible Cities Alliance encouraged voluntary compliance with federal, state and local accessibility laws by all public accommodations in Joliet.

Businesses are Encouraged To:

1. Contact City of Joliet Building Division and/or the Business License Division to request an audit or obtain a current analysis of your current accessibility. Kevin Gahr, Building Safety/Accessibility Specialist, 724-4146 kgahr@jolietcity.org or visit www.cityofjoliet.info

2. Once the level of compliance has been established:

a. Public accommodations who are found to be FULLY COMPLIANT are encouraged to contact the City as well as the Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living to ensure that your facility is recorded as such. On an ongoing basis, the Accessible Cities Alliance will promote those businesses with "Accessibility Applause" in a wide range of promotions, media relations, newsletters and website updates.

b. For public accommodations which are found INACCESSIBLE, owners and operators are encouraged to contact the Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living as well as the following regional and national resources for information on achieving compliance.

3. Business who are compliant are encouraged to promote their accessibility. People with disabilities are seeking access to their locations! From families with children with disabilities to adults with short-term disabilities or seniors with mobility challenges, it is clear to see that "Good Access Means Good Business."

The Accessible Cities Alliance Campaign encourages your support of its efforts toward a barrier-free society, and welcomes input and involvement from the business community, disability community and the public at large.

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.

Take the test and review the answers.

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