What is the Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

The Americans with Disabilities Act is the civil rights law for persons with disabilities. It was passed in 1990 as a mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities and it establishes enforceable standards for eliminating discrimination and provides civil rights protections to people with disabilities. The five Titles are explained below. The City activities primarily fall in the following sections Title I - Employment, Title II - Programs and Services Operated by State and Local Governments and Title III - Public Accommodations.

ADA Titles in Brief

Title I of the ADA covers employment. Private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, and joint labor-management committees must comply with Title I. As of July 26, 1994, all employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local government employers, must comply with Title I. Employers include private sector and state and local government entities. Title I is managed by Human Resources because it involves the City as an employer in relationship to its employees.

Title II covers the programs and services operated by state and local governments; these are also known as public entities. Title II became effective on January 26, 1992 and is divided into two subtitles. 3

Subtitle A of Title II is intended to protect qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in the services, programs, or activities of all state and local governments. It extends the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability established by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, to all activities of state and local governments, including those that do not receive Federal financial assistance. By law, the Department of Justice's ADA Title II regulation adopts the general prohibitions of discrimination established under Section 504, and also incorporates specific prohibitions of discrimination from the ADA. This is the main area of the Title II program and the work of the ADA coordinators.

Subtitle B of Title II is intended to clarify the requirements of Section 504 for public transportation entities that receive Federal financial assistance. It also extends coverage to all public entities that provide public transportation, whether or not they receive Federal financial assistance.

Title III covers public accommodations, commercial facilities, and examinations and courses related to licensing or certification. Title III also covers transportation provided to the public by private entities. Title III became effective on January 26, 1992.

Public accommodations are private entities that own, operate, or lease to places that provide goods and services to the public. Places of public accommodation include, but are not limited to, restaurants, hotels, theaters, convention centers, retail stores, shopping centers, dry cleaners, laundromats, pharmacies, doctors' offices, hospitals, museums, libraries, parks, zoos, amusement parks, private schools, day care centers, health spas, and bowling alleys.

Title IV addresses telephone and television access for people with hearing and speech disabilities.

Title V contains a variety of regulations including the prohibition against retaliation or coercion, the use of alternative dispute resolution, discrimination in insurance underwriting and smoking.

COMPLIANCE WITH TITLE II

To be compliant with Title II of the ADA the City must ensure that persons with disabilities have access to all services and programs. No qualified individual with a disability can be excluded from participation in or denied benefit from services, programs or activities of the City of Portland.

The City of Portland's ADA Transition Plan can be found here.

PBOT Ramps By Request Program

ODOT Information about Engineering for Accessibility

Office of Neighborhood Involvement's Disability Program

Office of Equity and Human Rights Commission on Disability

City of Portland list of ADA Coordinators by Bureau for all requests and accomodations