ADA Title III: what it requires of businesses open to the public

Serving customers: policies, communication and service animals

The first duty applies whatever the state of the building. A public accommodation may not deny a person with a disability the chance to take part in or benefit from what it offers (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.202(a)), and it offers it “in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the individual” (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.203(a)). The regulation turns that into these rules:

• Policies. A business makes reasonable modifications in its policies, practices or procedures when they are needed to serve people with disabilities, unless it can show that the change would fundamentally alter what it offers (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(a)).
• Service animals. Generally, a business modifies its policies to allow a service animal (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(c)(1)). It may ask for the animal to be removed only if the animal is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it, or if it is not housebroken, and even then it offers its goods and services without the animal on the premises (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(c)(2) and (3)). More in guide dogs and service animals.
• Communication. A business provides auxiliary aids and services where necessary to communicate effectively with customers with disabilities, and with companions who have disabilities (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.303(c)(1)). The regulation’s examples include qualified interpreters, real-time captioning, assistive listening systems, qualified readers, Brailled materials and displays, screen reader software and large print materials (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.303(b)). The limit is a fundamental alteration or an undue burden, “i.e., significant difficulty or expense” (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.303(a)).
• Safety rules and charges. A business may impose legitimate safety requirements, but they “must be based on actual risks and not on mere speculation, stereotypes, or generalizations about individuals with disabilities” (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.301(b)). It may not add a surcharge to cover the cost of an auxiliary aid, barrier removal or a change of policy (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.301(c)).
• What is not required. A business does not have to provide personal devices, such as wheelchairs, prescription eyeglasses or hearing aids, or personal services such as help with eating, toileting or dressing (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.306). It does not have to stock special goods, but if it normally takes special orders from a supplier it usually deals with, it orders them on request; Brailled versions of books are one of the regulation’s examples (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.307).
• Maintenance. The accessible features a business has are kept in operable working condition; isolated or temporary interruptions for maintenance or repairs are allowed (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.211).

Existing buildings: readily achievable barrier removal

In a building that already exists, a public accommodation removes architectural barriers, including communication barriers that are structural in nature, where removal is readily achievable (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(a)). Readily achievable means “easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense”, judged by factors such as the nature and cost of the action, the financial resources of the site, the number of people employed there and, where there is one, the resources of a parent corporation (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.104).

So the answer depends on the business. The guide for small businesses says that businesses with more resources are expected to remove more barriers than businesses with fewer resources, and that “The barrier removal obligation is a continuing one”: a barrier that was not affordable one year may have to be removed when the money is there. It also warns that “Grandfather provisions” in local building codes do not exempt a business from the ADA (ADA primer for small business).

The regulation lists 21 examples of barrier removal, from installing ramps and making curb cuts in sidewalks and entrances to repositioning shelves, widening doors, installing accessible door hardware, grab bars in toilet stalls, insulating lavatory pipes under sinks, creating designated accessible parking spaces and removing high pile, low density carpeting (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(b)). It also sets an order of priorities that businesses are urged to follow (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(c)):

1. Getting in from public sidewalks, parking or public transportation: for example an entrance ramp, wider entrances and accessible parking spaces.
2. Reaching the goods and services: adjusting the layout of display racks, rearranging tables, Brailled and raised character signage, wider doors, visual alarms and ramps.
3. Restrooms: removing obstructing furniture or vending machines, wider doors, ramps, accessible signage, wider toilet stalls and grab bars.
4. Anything else needed to give access to what the business offers.

When a barrier is removed, the new element follows the rules for alterations, but the path of travel rule described below does not apply (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(d)(1)). If full compliance would not be readily achievable, the business may take other readily achievable measures, such as “providing a ramp with a steeper slope or widening a doorway to a narrower width than that mandated by the alterations requirements”, as long as none of them poses a significant risk to health or safety (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(d)(3)). A portable ramp is used only when a permanent ramp is not readily achievable, with attention to nonslip surfaces, railings, anchoring and strength of materials (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(e)). Rearranging furniture or display racks is not readily achievable to the extent that it causes a significant loss of selling or serving space (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(f)).

The safe harbor. Elements that have not been altered on or after March 15, 2012 and comply with the 1991 Standards do not have to be modified to meet the 2010 Standards (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(d)(2)(i)). The safe harbor does not cover elements the 1991 Standards did not address, such as play areas, swimming pools, saunas and steam rooms, exercise machines, golf facilities, team or player seating and the accessible route to bowling lanes (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(d)(2)(iii)).

When removal is not readily achievable, the business still offers its goods and services through alternative methods that are, such as curb service or home delivery, retrieving merchandise from shelves a customer cannot reach, or moving an activity to an accessible location. A multiscreen cinema that cannot make every theater accessible sets a film rotation schedule so that wheelchair users can see all the films (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.305).

Alterations and the 20 percent rule

Any alteration made after January 26, 1992 makes the altered parts accessible “to the maximum extent feasible” (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.402(a)). An alteration is a change that affects or could affect usability: remodeling, renovation, rehabilitation, reconstruction, historic restoration, or changes to structural parts or to the layout of walls. Normal maintenance, reroofing, painting or wallpapering, asbestos removal and changes to mechanical and electrical systems are not alterations unless they affect usability (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.402(b)).

When the alteration affects an area with a primary function, the business also makes accessible the path of travel to it and “the restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area”, unless the cost is disproportionate (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(a)). A primary function is a major activity the facility is for, such as the customer services lobby of a bank, the dining area of a cafeteria, meeting rooms or offices; mechanical rooms, storage rooms, employee lounges, janitorial closets, entrances, corridors and restrooms are not (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(b)). Changes to windows, hardware, controls, electrical outlets and signage do not trigger the rule (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(c)(2)).

The cost of the path of travel is disproportionate “when the cost exceeds 20% of the cost of the alteration to the primary function area” (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(f)(1)). As arithmetic, not an example from the regulation: on a $100,000 remodel of a dining room, spending on the path of travel becomes disproportionate only above $20,000. If a fully accessible path would cost more, the business still makes it accessible as far as it can without disproportionate cost, in this order of priority (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(g)):

1. an accessible entrance;
2. an accessible route to the altered area;
3. at least one accessible restroom for each sex or a single unisex restroom;
4. accessible telephones;
5. accessible drinking fountains;
6. when possible, other accessible elements such as parking, storage and alarms.

A series of small alterations does not get around the rule: if the area is altered again within three years without an accessible path of travel, the costs of those alterations are considered together (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.403(h)). Historic buildings follow the same rules to the maximum extent feasible, and where physical access would threaten or destroy the historic significance of the building, alternative methods of access are provided (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.405).

Title III and Braillito Maps

Title III is written for the business. A customer needs something simpler: knowing, before going, whether the place can be used. Braillito Maps is a community map that answers ten questions about each place: step-free entrance or ramp, wide doorway, accessible restroom, accessible parking, tactile paving, braille signage, braille menu, audible signals, guide dogs welcome and a quiet environment.

Several of them follow the order of priorities in section 36.304. Step-free entrance or ramp, accessible parking and wide doorway are the first priority, getting in; the door is explained in ADA door width. Braille signage belongs to the second, explained in braille signage, and the accessible restroom is the third, in ADA bathroom requirements. Guide dogs welcome is the service animal rule. Each question is answered yes or no, or stays without data until someone knows. The score of a place is the number of yes answers out of ten, and its color always appears next to the number, never on its own.

The map is not a compliance test: a yes means that a visitor found it there, not that the business meets the ADA. Only mark what you saw, and if what a place says is wrong, use “Report a problem”. Meet Braillito Maps.

More accessibility guides

• ADA compliance: a checklist for small businesses, with the 2010 Standards section behind each item.
• ADA Title II: what state and local governments have to make accessible: existing buildings, new construction, streets and curb ramps, parks, programs and the 2024 web rule.
• 2010 ADA Standards: what each of the ten chapters covers, since when the Standards apply and to which buildings, with the guide for each element.
• Accessible parking: ADA parking requirements: how many spaces, how wide, the access aisle and the sign.
• ADA door width: 32 inches of clear width, maneuvering space, thresholds, hardware and opening force.
• ADA bathroom requirements: toilet height and position, grab bar height, sink height, stall sizes and turning space.
• Guide dogs: how they work, where they can go under the ADA, and how to act around one.
• Braille signage: which signs need braille under the ADA, how high they go, on which side of the door, and the size of the dots.
• All accessibility guides