TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

ADA//Law

How to Adjust a Heavy Door – It Could Protect Against An Expensive Lawsuit

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Close-up view of door closing mechanism above door.

Earlier this year, a federal court upheld a jury verdict that awarded a wheelchair user $500,000 because a door at his employer’s office building was too difficult to open.

The Americans with Disabilities Act sets clear regulations on the maximum force that can be required to open interior doors in businesses and other places of public accommodation. 5 pounds of force is the greatest amount permissible, and “heavy” doors that require disabled people to exert greater effort violate the ADA regulations.

StepNpull, the company behind the ingenious hands-free door opener that relies on foot power, recently published a guide to the ADA Design Standards for doors, and described how doors can be easily adjusted to make them easier to open. Turns out, it’s actually very simple: A few turns of an Allen wrench or screwdriver could prevent an expensive lawsuit.

To read StepNpull’s guide to adjusting doors for ADA compliance, visit the StepNpull website.

See You in Court: Hotels Targeted for Not Describing Accessibility Features

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Close-up view of bed in hotel room.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires places of lodging to “identify and describe accessible features in the hotels and guest rooms offered through its reservations service in enough detail to reasonably permit individuals with disabilities to assess independently whether a given hotel or guest room meets his or her accessibility needs.”

Jim Butler, a hotel attorney, recently warned hotels about a surge in lawsuits targeting hotels for violations of this provision. He says that this is a popular avenue for ADA attorneys, because “one need only visit the defendant’s website or the websites of their OTAs to quickly test for compliance.” Since attorneys need not actually visit the hotel in order to file suit for violations of the requirement to describe accessible room features, filing cases is easier and faster.

OUR TAKE: Unclear information is often one of the most significant barriers to accessibility, and it also prevents businesses and destinations from taking full advantage of the disability market. Making accessibility information clear is the most important factor to mitigate the chances of getting sued. To see a model of an accessible landing page any hotel can emulate using a template developed by TravelAbility, click here.

To read more ADA lawsuits surrounding a lack of information about accessibility, click here.

One Woman Making Disability History—for Decades

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Judy H wearing a red sweater and smiling and finishing up her TedTalks speech. She is on set
Judith Heumann on set during her Ted Talk (smiling, wearing a red sweater).

No history of the ADA is complete without the mention of trailblazers, particularly Judith Heumann, author of a new book on her lifelong advocacy, a primer on how to get into good trouble. Heumann is also featured in CripCamp, the fearless and funny history of a summer camp for kids with disabilities in the 1970s that led to lifelong friendships and activism. Barack and Michele Obama produced the documentary. Here are a few of our favorite links to her work, including her new book, Netflix documentary, and a terrific Ted Talk and a brand-new profile of her in the New York Times.   See scenes that hit the cutting room floor, just released, here.

Dig This: Ancient Greek Temples May Have Had Disability Ramps

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rendering of ancient pyramid buildings
image courtesy of Livescience.com

The most reasonable explanation for ramps is that they were intended to help mobility-impaired visitors access the spaces that they needed to experience religious healing. The Greeks built these spaces for disabled people so that their target visitors could access them.  Read more, here.

30 Accessible Tips to Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the ADA

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three people having drinks at the bar of a hotel. one has a prosthetic leg all are wearing casual sportswear

Seyfarth, a prominent Washington firm, has a series of three videos, each only a few minutes in length, that illustrate 30 tips to help improve accessibility. Find them, here.