Act to Protect the ADA Regulations -Information Bulletin, # 256 (7/08)

By Steve Gold About five weeks ago, I wrote "Good-Bye Full Accessibility," Information Bulletin #250 in which I focused on only two disastrous aspects in the proposed Department of Justice Regulations that significantly change both Title II and Title III. Recently, the NDRN and DREDF, as well as other disability attorneys, wrote a set of "model" comments in response to the Department of Justice's(DOJ's) Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on these proposed changes. The model comments are now available on the DREDF website: http://www.dredf.org/DOJ_NPRM. Once you get to this website, you can see all the proposed changes, not just the two I raised, by clicking on the left column. DREDF and NDRN intend that the model comments be a starting point for disability rightsgroups and other interested parties to use in drafting and submitting their own comments. Feel free to "cut and pasted." Where possible, please provide personal anecdotes and experiences to adapt and personalize the model comments. Tell DOJ what accessibility problems you have faced since the ADA was enacted, what you have tried to do, how it's been unsuccessful, and why making the proposed changes will only make it more difficult to achieve "equal opportunities" and "full access." You might even mention, if it's true, whether or not you filed a complaint with DOJ and what, if anything, happened with it. Even if you block and copy, please take a few minutes to submit comments using the Regulations.gov website. Remember, the deadline for submitting comments to the proposed changes is very soon! Don't mourn, organize and get your friends to also write in their personal stories. Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com.