This is the recording from the October 18,2025 live episode. In this episode, we had a good discussion about how to advocate for our rights in private housing situations when the landlord or property manager knows nothing about the rights we have under the Fair Housing Act.

To make this easier to follow, the content has been edited to remove the breaks and pauses. All of the discussion that took place during the episode is part of this recording.

In this episode, I tried something new. I began with a brief recap of our rights under the Fair Housing Act in private housing situations. Then, I posed some scenarios to the people listening live in Zoom and we had interactive discussions as to how we could advocate for our rights under the fictional scenarios.

Note, I haven't yet figured out how to make a transcript of these kids of recordings. So, I don't know how to yet make them accessible to people with hearing disabilities. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Introduction

In this episode, I am briefly introducing the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and its amendments. Since this is intended to be an introduction to the FHA, I will only be covering the protections afforded people based on disability status in this episode. If we continue this discussion in future episodes, I would be happy to discuss the protections based on other protected classes.

Questions and Comments

I greatly appreciate your feedback. If you want to contact me about this episode, or about Demand Our Access in general, you can fill out the contact me form on the Demand Our Access website. If you prefer email, you can write me at [email protected].

The Next Episode

The next episode of the Demand Our Access podcast will take place on Saturday, September sixth. As of now, I’m not sure what I will cover in that episode. If there is interest in more about the Fair Housing Act, let me know.

Citations

As always, I will not be providing citations to sections of law during this episode. But the citations will be provided when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

Introducing The Fair Housing Act

Since I have not yet covered the Fair Housing Act (FHA) through Demand Our Access, this episode is intended to be a brief introduction to the FHA. I’m keeping this introduction brief, because I want to gage interest from the community in the subject of fair housing. If there is interest in diving deeper into housing discrimination, I’m very open to continuing this discussion into future episodes.

Since this is a brief introduction, I have sought to keep the explanations at a very high-level. If we continue the housing discrimination discussion in future episodes, I will take deeper dives into specifics based on your feedback.

I’m trying this new approach to introducing new subjects to see if community will assist me in planning what subjects are covered and how they are covered. I’m also hoping that by breaking things into smaller pieces they will be more relatable.

With that explanatory information out of the way, let’s begin our introduction to the Fair Housing Act.

Roadmap

In this episode, I will be covering the following five topics:

Brief history of the Fair Housing Act

Intent of the Fair Housing Act

Enforcement agencies

Protected Classes and Scope

Impact on People with Disabilities

Brief History

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1968, one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. When it became law, the FHA was added as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The original statute barred housing discrimination in terms of race, color, religion, and national origin.

In 1974, the FHA was amended to add sex as a protected class. In 1988, the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), added familial status and disability as protected classes when it comes to housing. The FHAA also added accessibility requirements that applied to newly constructed multi-family dwellings of four or more units intended to be occupied after March 13, 1991 to include certain accessibility features. Those accessibility features include: an accessible entrance on an accessible route; accessible common and public use areas; doors wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair; and more.

The FHAA also granted the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) additional enforcement powers through the introduction of administrative hearings, civil penalties, and expanded judicial remedies.

The FHAA transformed the Fair Housing Act from being a law that was largely symbolic to a law that would actually try to provide protections to those facing housing discrimination through meaningful enforcement.

In 1995, the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA) provided criteria for 55+ and 62+ housing and modified the familial status provisions of the FHA.

In 2021, HUD issued a directive covering gender and sexual identity under the FHA’s provision barring sex-based discrimination. Not to get too political, but I think most of us understand that today HUD is not likely to follow the 2021 directive.

Intent of the FHA

The FHA became law with the promise of eliminating housing discrimination and to promote more integrated, inclusive communities. It prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, advertising, or zoning of housing on the bases of protected class. The protected classes under the FHA are:

Race

Color

National origin

Religion

Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)

Disability

Familial status (including homes with children under the age of 18, people who are pregnant, and families with adopted or foster children)

Enforcement

Department of Housing and Urban Development

HUD enforces the provisions of the FHA through its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). Among its responsibilities, the FHEO:

Investigates complaints

Conducts compliance reviews of recipients of federal funding

Initiates charges through administrative law judges

Issues policy guidance

Refers cases to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in cases of systemic discrimination

The Department of Justice

DOJ enforces its responsibilities under the FHA through its Housing and Civil Enforcement Section. DOJ is responsible for the following housing discrimination issues:

Pattern or practice cases involving widespread or egregious violations

Lawsuits filed in federal court seeking injunctive relief, monetary damages, and civil penalties

Criminal cases involving harassment, violence, or threats that interfere with housing rights

Accepts referrals from Hud in cases of failed conciliation or serious systemic allegations

Summing up Enforcement

In most cases, housing discrimination you face will be addressed by HUD. DOJ only gets involved when the discrimination involves at least several people, when HUD cannot resolve the discrimination, or when the discrimination involves criminality.

As I have mentioned in previous episodes, like when we discussed our rights under Title II of the ADA, your state may also have an agency that can investigate housing discrimination. In some cases, your state agency may even partner with HUD in investigating Housing discrimination. Given today’s political realities, you may want to see if your state has its own housing laws and an agency that enforces them. If your state does have its own housing discrimination laws, you may want to consider filing with your state. In some cases, your state’s laws may provide greater protections than are provided under the FHA. If there is interest, I would be happy to discuss that possibility in a future episode.

Scope

The FHA covers nearly all forms of housing including:

Privately owned rentals or sales

Public housing and subsidized developments

Mortgage lending and insurance

Appraisals

Homeowners associations

Zoning decisions

It prohibits discriminatory actions such as:

Refusing to rent, sell, or negotiate

Setting different terms or conditions

Making discriminatory advertisements or statements about housing

Steering people to different areas

Failing to make reasonable accommodations for disabled people

Discrimination may be intentional or unintentional.

I understand some of the terms discussed above may be confusing. If you have specific questions about who is covered and/or what acts or practices are covered, I can revisit any of that in future episodes. Again, this episode is intended to be a brief introduction.

Impact on People with Disabilities

The FHA affords those of us with disabilities the following protections:

Reasonable Modifications of existing Premises

Reasonable Accommodations

Design and Construction Requirements

Assistance Animals

Reasonable Modifications of Existing Premises

What we are talking about here is the need to make changes to an existing home so that it is more accessible to a disabled person. Think about someone needing to add grab bars in the bathroom to make using the toilet, shower, or tub more accessible.

In these cases, the disabled person cannot be denied the opportunity to have the accessibility improvements made, but the cost of those improvements is entirely the responsibility of the disabled person. Even worse, landlords can insist the disabled person have the accessibility improvements removed when they leave the home. When the landlord insists the accessibility improvements be removed, the cost of removing the accessibility features is also entirely the responsibility of the disabled person. Additionally, the landlord can require the disabled person to establish an escrow account to ensure funds will be available to restore the premises to its prior, less accessible state.

The landlord may also condition approval of the modification on the disabled person providing a description of the work to be done and assurances that the work will be done correctly.

These requirements are a huge part of the reason why so few homes are accessible to people with mobility devices and why people using mobility devices have an incredibly difficult time finding accessible housing.

To make sure there is no confusion, I have used the term “home” in this section to keep things simple. But all housing covered by the FHA including houses, apartments, condos, and more are covered by these requirements.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Preliminary Information

Questions and Comments

I greatly appreciate your feedback. If you want to contact me about this episode, or about Demand Our Access in general, you can fill out the contact me form on the Demand Our Access website. If you prefer email, you can write me at [email protected].

The Next Episode

Since the ACB convention is the first week in July and given that our family has a lot happening in July, I will not be doing a live episode of Demand Our Access in July. So, the next live episode of the Demand Our Access podcast will take place on Saturday, August second. As of now, I don’t know what topic I will cover in August. As always, I’m open to your ideas.

Updating the Website

Since I won’t be doing any live episodes during the month of July, I will be working on updating the Demand Our Access website. I will have more information about the updated website and maybe even demo it in August.

Complaints Under Title II

Introduction

As a reminder, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II), primarily covers state and local governments. I have mentioned complaints under Title II in previous episodes. But this time I will be taking a deeper dive into complaints under Title II. I’m doing that because I think it is more important than ever for us to understand our options for filing complaints under Title II and the rights we have in filing directly with our state or local government.

Citations

Again, I will not be mentioning citations to sections of law during this episode. I will post the citations to the specific sections of law when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

Public Entities

As a reminder, Title II often confers responsibilities to what the law calls “public entities.” In general, public entities are an entire local government or individual sections of a local government. Sometimes, different responsibilities under the law apply to public entities depending on whether or not they employ at least 50 employees. To keep this simple, I will, most of the time, refer to local governments (not public entities). The rights we have and the responsibilities the government must meet will be the same. The technical differences in what defines a public entity don’t change our rights as disabled people.

Roadmap

In this episode, I will cover the following five topics:

General complaint information

Filing complaints with your local government

Filing complaints with Federal Agencies

Filing Complaints with the Department of Justice

Tips on filing complaints

General Complaint Information

Where you Can File

When a local government is discriminating against you based on your status as a disabled person, you can file your complaint in one of three places:

The local government that is discriminating against you

A federal agency that oversees the program that is the basis of your complaint

With the Department of Justice (DOJ)

You are not limited to filing in only one of the three places; for example, you could file both with your state or local government and with DOJ.

Time Periods for Filing

One important thing to remember is the time periods in which you must file. Complaints filed with DOJ or a federal agency must be filed within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. State and local governments, on the other hand, can require that complaints under Title II be filed within 60 days of the alleged discrimination. When facing discrimination, it is a very good idea to figure out your local government’s complaint procedures (if any), because you may need to file within 60 days of the events comprising the discrimination.

Who can File

You don’t have to be the person who actually experienced the disability discrimination in order to file a complaint. As long as you have the permission of the disabled person or you are their guardian, you can file a complaint under Title II.

If you are so inclined, you can also file a complaint on behalf of a class of disabled people. But that’s something most people won’t try. So, I’ll leave it there.

Filing with a State or Local Government

Notice of Rights

Under Title II, public entities are required to notify those of us with disabilities of, among other things, of our right to file a complaint with them when we believe they are violating our rights under Title II. In this case, I have used the term “public entity” because I have seen situations where a state or local government has adopted a general framework for complaints but has allowed individual agencies within the local government to establish their own procedures for the investigation and resolution of complaints filed under Title II. While it would be nice to assume that the filing deadlines are the same among agencies of a state or local government, it’s important to remember they may not be the same.

If you are interested in filing a complaint with your state or local government, I would begin by seeing if they have published a notice of rights. If they have and it was done correctly, the notice of rights should give you the basic ideas as to how you should file your complaint with them and the time period in which they are requiring you to file your complaint. If the language in the notice of rights leads you to believe there is a question as to with whom the complaint would be filed, I would ask their designated ADA coordinator to tell you how you should file your complaint, with whom, and about the time period you have to file.

To keep this simple, you could just file your complaint within 60 days of the alleged discrimination. As long as you file with your state or local government within 60 days, your complaint will be considered timely.

Elements of Your State or Local Government’s Complaint Procedures

The complaint procedures developed by your state or local government (whether they are applicable to the entire state or local government or if agencies within the state or local government have developed their own complaint procedures) must be designed to ensure the investigation of complaints is equitable and that complaints are resolved in a timely manner. Here are steps they are to take to ensure they investigate complaints equitably and resolve them in a timely manner:

Complaints are to be in writing, but the process of filing complaints must be accessible.

Once your complaint is filed, you should be able to meet with someone to discuss your complaint within a reasonable amount of time (typically 15 days).

You should get an update on your complaint within 15 days of that initial meeting.

All communications to you from your state or local government regarding the complaint should be accessible to you.

The complaint procedures should include a right to appeal.

The contact information for someone to ask about the complaint should also be provided.

I want to briefly touch on some of the above points.

Accessibility of the Complaint Process

The question of accessibility is, obviously, really important. Since it’s better for everyone if your complaint is filed in writing, there are many ways this could be accomplished. Either they could provide an accessible online form, they could have someone assist you in completing an inaccessible online form, or someone could take your complaint over the phone. No matter how it’s done, your state or local government must provide you an accessible way to file your complaint.

Once your complaint has been filed, any communication from your state or local government to you about your complaint including but not limited to their initial response, questions they may have, their initial determination, and anything related to their appeals process and the ultimate decision must be accessible to you. As soon as you contact them about your complaint, you should let them know how you wish to be contacted about the complaint. Remember that when it comes to effective communication, your state or local government is required to give primary consideration to the method(s) you wish them to use when contacting you. They also need to ensure you have an accessible way to contact them about every aspect of your complaint and the complaint process.

ADA Coordinator

The issue of who to contact can also be tricky. Most people refer to the person who is supposed to address complaints as the ADA coordinator. Some state and local governments have one ADA coordinator for the whole state or local government. Others have created a situation where individual agencies have their own person designated as the ADA coordinator. In those cases, it is very unlikely that each agency of the state or local government will have its own ADA coordinator; rather, it is likely that a few large, public-facing agencies will have a designated ADA coordinator, but smaller agencies will not.

If your state or local government has not designated anyone to be the ADA coordinator, you should figure out how they address complaints under other civil rights las, like Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. No matter what, your state or local government must have someone, even if they don’t know how to do it, designated to investigate and resolve civil rights complaints.

Appeals Process

Even some of the state and local governments that claim to have a complaints procedure under Title II, don’t have the required appeals process in their complaint procedures.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Preliminary Information

Questions and Comments

I greatly appreciate your feedback. If you want to contact me about this episode, or about Demand Our Access in general, you can fill out the contact me form on the Demand Our Access website. If you prefer email, you can write me at [email protected].

The Next Episode

The next live episode will take place on Saturday June 21 at 2:00 PM Eastern time. Unless something changes, I will be diving deeply into complaints under Title II in that episode.

Since I’m expecting to be preempted by the ACB convention during the first week in July, and with some things that will be happening with our family during the month of July, I will be taking the month of July off from the Demand Our Access podcast. So, after the June 21st episode, there will not be another episode until August.

Maintenance of Accessibility Features, Assistive Mobility Devices, and Existing Facilities Under Title II

Introduction

In this episode, I am continuing my revisited look at Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II). As a reminder, Title II primarily covers state and local governments.

In this episode, I will be covering topics I haven’t covered before as a part of the Demand Our Access project. So, I will not be discussing effective communication, service animals, general prohibitions against discrimination, and other topics previously covered. For information about those topics, please check out the episodes previously posted to the Demand Our Access website.

During the month of July, I will be updating the website so that the page on Title II links to the episodes I think will help you best understand Title II.

In this episode, I am also not covering topics that primarily tell state and local governments how to comply with Title II. The Roadmap section will tell you exactly what will be covered in this episode.

Citations

Again, I will not be mentioning citations to sections of law during this episode. I will post the citations to the specific sections of law when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

Public Entities

As a reminder, Title II often confers responsibilities to what the law calls “public entities.” In general, public entities are an entire local government or individual sections of a local government. Sometimes, different responsibilities under the law apply to public entities depending on whether or not they employ at least 50 employees. To keep this simple, I will, most of the time, refer to local governments (not public entities). The rights we have and the responsibilities the government must meet will be the same. The technical differences in what defines a public entity don’t change our rights as disabled people.

Roadmap

In this episode, I will be covering the following three topics:

Maintenance of Accessible Features

Assistive mobility devices

Existing Facilities

Since I have decided, where possible, to title this episode and future episodes with the topics to be addressed, I may not include the roadmap section in future episodes. I included the roadmap section here, because I wanted it to be consistent with the previous episodes on revisiting Title II.

Maintenance of Accessibility Features

Defining Accessibility Features

Accessibility features are those facilities and equipment necessary for a local government to provide access to its activities, programs, and services to those of us with disabilities. This means that things like elevators provided to enable people with disabilities to move between floors are required to be maintained in working order. Electronic door openers are also examples of accessibility features that must be maintained in proper working order.

There are only two things you need to know about local governments being required to maintain accessibility features:

Local governments are required to maintain in operable and working condition those features of facilities and equipment that are required to be readily accessible and usable by people with disabilities.

This section does not prohibit isolated or temporary interruptions of access or service due to maintenance or repairs.

If a local government installs automatic door openers to assist people with disabilities in opening the heavy doors at city hall, the local government must ensure the electronic door openers are maintained in working condition. While it may be reasonable for a service interruption to last for a day or two if the electronic door openers fail, not repairing them for weeks is very likely to violate this provision of Title II.

Assistive Mobility Devices

The rules related to assistive mobility disabilities are set forth in two sections: Use of Wheelchairs and Manually-Powered Mobility Aids and Use of Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices.

Use of Wheelchairs and Manually-Powered Mobility Devices

Local governments shall permit the use of wheelchairs and manually-powered mobility aids, crutches, walkers, canes, braces, and others in any areas open to pedestrian use.

Use of Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices

Other power-driven mobility devices are devices not specifically designed for use as mobility aids that rely on motor power, not manual effort. The best examples of power-driven mobility devices that have not been expressly designed as mobility devices but that are typically used as assistive mobility devices are scooters and golf carts. A local government shall make reasonable modifications in its policies, practices, or procedures to permit the use of other power-driven mobility devices by individuals with mobility disabilities, unless the public entity can demonstrate that the class of other power-driven mobility devices cannot be operated in accordance with legitimate safety requirements. The phrase “legitimate safety requirements” relates to the ability of local governments to establish legitimate safety requirements necessary for the safe operation of their activities, programs, and services. But those legitimate safety requirements must be based on actual risks, not on mere speculation, stereotypes, or generalizations about disabled people.

I want to make sure you understand that when a local government is considering your request to use a power-driven device as an assistive mobility device, the local government cannot ask you questions about the nature and extent of your disability. The only thing they can consider is whether the class of power-driven device you want to use as an assistive mobility device can be safely operated in the facility where you wish to use it as an assistive mobility device.

Local governments can ask for assurance that use of the power-driven device is related to a disability. In doing so, local governments shall accept as proof of your disability a state ID or parking placard issued to disabled people. If you don’t have physical state-issued proof of disability, the local government shall accept verbal assurance, not contradicted by observable fact, that you are disabled.

For example, if you want to use a scooter in a historic park where power-driven devices aren’t typically allowed, your verbal assurance is enough to justify the contention that the scooter is being used by you as an assistive mobility device as long as you aren’t also walking around and doing other things that would tend to call into question your need to use the scooter as an assistive mobility device.

Another thing you should know is that when a local government makes this determination, they are allowed to consider potential damage to the land and the environment where you wish to use the power-driven device.

Existing Facilities

I called this section of the episode Existing Facilities, because we are talking about the accessibility of facilities that existed prior to the ADA and related laws required the physical facilities of local governments to be accessible to those of us with disabilities. But it’s worth noting that there are three related sections of law that affect the requirement of local governments to provide accessible existing facilities: Discrimination Prohibited; Existing Facilities; and New Construction and Alterations.

Discrimination Prohibited

Except as provided in the Section on existing facilities, no qualified individual with a disability shall, because a local governments facilities are inaccessible to or unusable by individuals with disabilities, be excluded from participation in, or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a local government, or be subjected to discrimination by any local government. What this section is trying to say is that regardless of the accessibility of a local governments physical facilities, the activities, programs, and services offered by that local government must be accessible to those of us with disabilities.

Existing Facilities

General

A public entity shall operate each service, program, or activity so that the service, program, or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. This requirement does not:

Necessarily require a local government to make all of its existing facilities accessible to and useable by people with disabilities

Require a local government to take any action that would threaten or destroy the historic significance of a historic property

In this episode, Desiree and I discuss those terrible accessibility overlays that promise to make websites more accessible while actually doing little to improve accessibility. As Desiree's demonstration shows, these overlays are hard to use, don't behave consistently, and provide little in the way of greater access.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Introduction

In this episode, I am continuing my revisited look at Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II). As a reminder, Title II primarily covers state and local governments.

In this episode, I will be covering topics I haven't covered before as a part of the Demand Our Access project. So, I will not be discussing effective communication and service animals. For information about those topics, please check out the episodes previously posted to the Demand Our Access website.

In this episode, I am also not covering topics that primarily tell state and local governments how to comply with Title II. The Roadmap section will tell you exactly what will be covered in this episode.

Comments and Questions

As always, I want to hear from you. To share your comments and questions about the material covered in this episode, or general thoughts about Demand Our Access, you can contact me by completing the contact form on the Demand Our Access website. If you would rather email, send your message to [email protected].

Citations

To make the material easier to follow, I will not provide citations to sections of law. The links to the relevant sections of law will be included when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

Roadmap

In this episode, I will cover the following topics:

Discrimination prohibited

Illegal use of drugs

Retaliation and coercion

Personal mobility devices and personal services

Continuing Our Look at Title II

Discrimination Prohibited

Even though the discrimination that is prohibited under Title II is largely in the law to tell state and local governments what they should be doing as a starting point for complying with Title II, it's important for us (as disabled people) to understand what our local governments are supposed to be doing to include us.

The material in this section is a bit dense. So, I have tried to summarize it in a way that communicates what you should know while leaving out a lot of legal language.

Qualified Person with a Disability

The definition of a qualified person with a disability is found in the Definitions section of Title II. I'm including here, because the Discrimination Prohibited section repeatedly references qualified people with disabilities.

Defining a Qualified Person with a Disability

Qualified individual with a disability means an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity.

I know I said I wouldn't include a lot of legal language, and I generally will not. I included the exact definition of a qualified person with a disability because it's a definable term that's used throughout Title II.

All of that legal language can be simplified down to this:

A qualified person with a disability is a person with a disability who, with or without an accommodation or modification, can participate in the activity or program they wish to join.

If you want to swim and there are no physical limitations associated with your being able to swim, you are a qualified person with a disability for the purposes of taking swimming lessons. You are qualified to take swimming lessons even if you need an accommodation to take swimming lessons.

No Disability Exclusion

A state or local government cannot, based on our being disabled, prevent us from participating in its programs, nor may it deny us the benefits of its services. This is true even if the program in which we choose to participate or if the service we wish to benefit from is administered completely by a third party or jointly between our government and a third party.

If your local government contracts with a company to provide its water bills, the water bills they provide must be accessible. The government cannot say that they aren't responsible for the inaccessible bill because they contracted with a company to process them.

4Types of Discrimination

In order to stay away from things that may be confusing, I'm not going to cover all the types of discrimination listed; instead, I'm going to focus on the ones I believe are most likely to be encountered by you in your dealings with your local government.

Afforded Opportunities

Local governments cannot provide us an aid or service that is not as effective in affording us an equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement as that provided people without disabilities.

If your local government offers barbecuing lessons and the goal of the lessons is for each person enrolled in the lessons to independently barbecue a steak and vegetables by the end of the lessons, you (as a disabled person) cannot be told you will cook the steak on the stove. If you were told you would need to make your steak on the stove, your local government would be denying you the opportunity to obtain the same result and to reach the same level of achievement.

Maybe you would agree to use a gas grill. Maybe you would agree to use different cooking tools. But at the end of the lesson, you need to have the same opportunity to learn how to grill your steak and vegetables. That is the only way you could have the chance to obtain the same result and reach the same level of achievement offered to participants without disabilities.

The Provision of Different Aids and Services

Local governments cannot provide you with aids and services that are different from the aids and services provided program participants who are not disabled unless the provision of different aids and services is necessary to ensure the aids and services you are provided are accessible.

Returning to the example of the barbecuing lessons: it would be acceptable for a local government to provide you a talking meat thermometer instead of providing you a meat thermometer that doesn't talk. The different thermometer is clearly necessary for you to tell the temperature of your meat.

Participation in Advisory Boards

Local governments must make accommodations to enable people with disabilities to participate in their advisory bodies and their public boards. This requirement is not limited to those bodies they may establish to get input from the disability community. It applies to all of their advisory bodies and public boards.

If you have an interest in joining your local government's taskforce on the selection of a new public portal to process tax collections, your local government is required to ensure you can fully participate.

Most Integrated Setting

Local governments are to provide those of us with disabilities the opportunity to participate in the most integrated setting possible. This means they cannot establish a group for hikers with disabilities and force all disabled hikers to participate in that group. If you, as a person with a disability, wish to participate in hikes open to the general public, your local government is required to follow the provisions of Title II and accommodate you to the best of its ability and with certain limitations.

Separate Programs

Local governments can offer the disability community separate, segregated programming. A good example of this is wheelchair basketball. Since it would be very difficult to make traditional basketball games accessible to someone using a wheelchair, wheelchair basketball is a good accommodation for a local government to offer.

Completely Different Programming

Nothing in Title II prevents local governments from offering programming that is entirely created for those of us with disabilities.

For instance, a local government could establish a goalball program for those of us who are blind or low vision. This is true even though there is not a goalball program for the general community.

Choosing Facilities

Local governments cannot choose facilities for events that are not accessible to those of us with disabilities. Sadly, this is a part of Title II that is violated on a very regular basis.

Eligibility Criteria

Local governments cannot use eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out those of us with disabilities unless the eligibility criteria being used is necessary for the provision of the service being offered.

Returning to our example of the barbecue lessons, the local government couldn't say that eyesight is necessary for someone to safely barbecue. So, a requirement that people participating in the barbecue lessons need to be able to see would result in the local government establishing eligibility criteria for the barbecue lessons that would screen out anyone who is blind and potentially lots of people who are low vision. Since eyesight is not necessary to barbecue that eligibility requirement would be illegal.

No Surcharges

I'm sure I have said this before, but it's worth repeating: local governments cannot charge those of us with disabilities for the cost of the accommodations we need. This rule applies to even a portion of the cost. The cost of our accommodations is completely the responsibility of the local government.

Legitimate Safety Requirements

Local governments may impose legitimate safety requirements.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Introduction

In the last episode of the Demand Our Access podcast, I discussed Texas v. Becerra, a lawsuit seeking to have Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) declared unconstitutional. If you want to learn more about the lawsuit, please listen to that episode or read the transcript of what I said about the lawsuit.

During the questions and comments portion of that episode, there was a lot of interest in advocating for the protection of Section 504. So, this episode will present strategies those of you living in the 17 states can take to try to protect Section 504 and things those of us who don't live in one of those 17 states can do to be heard.

Before discussing how we can advocate to protect Section 504, I will discuss the next episode and let you know how you can contact me.

The Next Live Episode

The next live episode will take place on Saturday, April sixth at 2:00 PM EDT. In that episode, I am planning to continue my revisited

look at Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, primarily covering state and local governments.

Comments and Questions

If you have any comments and/or questions about the Demand Our Access project, you can fill out the contact form on the Demand Our Access website or you can email me at [email protected].

How You Can Advocate for Section 504

If You Live in One of the 17 States

As a reminder, the 17 states suing to have Section 504 declared unconstitutional are as follows:

Alabama

Alaska

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Louisiana

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

South Carolina

South Dakota

Texas

Utah

West Virginia

Contacting Your Attorney General

If you live in one of the 17 states, the best thing you can do is contact your attorney general and let them know why you support Section 504 and that you want them to withdraw from the lawsuit. In order to make contacting your attorney general easier, I have worked with ChatGPT to create a table of contact information for the 17 attorneys general involved in the lawsuit. The table provides the name, mailing address, phone number, and website for each attorney general. I didn't include an email address and/or contact form, because those methods of contact weren't consistent enough among the attorneys general for them to be easily included in a table. if you would rather send an email or complete a contact form, visit your attorney general's website to see how you can do that.

I'm not going to read the names of the attorneys general and their

individual contact information. The table of contact information will be provided at the end of the transcript when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

What to Say

Obviously, you should voice your support in a way that is comfortable for you and that reflects your voice. So, I can't tell you exactly what to say when contacting your attorney general. Also, I can't provide a different script for every possible method of communication you may use to contact your attorney general. So, I have developed a short sample script that works whether you contact your attorney general over the phone, through email, by using a contact form, by writing a letter, or even if you meet them.

Before providing the script, I want to make one important point: the more personal your appeal the more likely it is to be heard. That doesn't mean you should provide health information or anything else that you typically don't provide strangers. What it means is that the more you can demonstrate how Section 504 has personally helped you, the more impactful your support of Section 504 will be when offered to your attorney general.

I say that because attorneys general hear from lots of people every day. Much of what they receive is from people who are simply regurgitating what one organization or another has told them to say by providing a template or sample script. While that will be what you will also be doing, you can make your support of Section 504 more impactful by adding some of your personal experience with Section 504 to what I will provide here.

In my view, the more personal information about how Section 504 has been a positive in your life really matters in this case because your attorney general doesn't understand the benefits to those of us with disabilities that have been gained as a result of Section 504. Even worse, they believe it shouldn't exist. This means convincing them to stop opposing Section 504 is an uphill job. The more they come to believe their voters support Section 504 for personal reasons, the better the chance they will realize their opposition to Section 504 is not smart.

Before providing the script of what you could say, I want to make one more important point: please contact your attorney general. Even if you aren't comfortable sharing any personal experiences, contact them. Even if you don't really know how Section 504 has benefited you, contact them. Even if all you are comfortable doing is using the below script, contact your attorney general if you live in one of the 17 states and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Becerra.

The Script

For the purposes of developing a script, I'm pretending my name is John Smith, I live in Waterloo, Iowa, and that I'm calling the office of the attorney general of Iowa. Obviously, you should edit the script as necessary if you don't live in Iowa. Now for the script:

My name is John Smith. I'm a resident of Waterloo. In the last election, I voted for Attorney General Bird.

As a person with a disability, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has helped me achieve things I would have never achieved without it.

I'm calling to ask Attorney General Bird to please withdraw our state from Texas v. Becerra. If Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is declared unconstitutional, those of us with disabilities will have even a harder time realizing our potential.

Something like that is all you need to do to let your attorney general know Section 504 is important to you and that you want your state to withdraw from the lawsuit. But I will include a script that has more personal details, in case that's helpful to those of you who would be comfortable sharing some personal information.

A More Personal Script

My name is John Smith. I'm a resident of Waterloo. In the last election, I voted for Attorney General Bird.

As a blind person, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has helped me achieve things I would have never achieved without it.

When I was a child, my public school education was more accessible to me than it would have been had Section 504 not been the law. As an adult, Section 504 allows me to request accommodations from federal agencies I wouldn't be able to request without Section 504. As a resident of Iowa, Section 504 means I can better participate in all programs offered by our state in ways I could never participate without Section 504.

I'm asking Attorney General Bird to please withdraw our state from Texas v. Becerra. If Section 504 is declared unconstitutional, those of us with disabilities will have a much harder time reaching our

potential.

As you can see, the more personal script is longer. It's longer because it highlights ways Section 504 helps those of us with disabilities. If the generic examples I included in the more personal script doesn't apply to you, or if you can think of state-specific examples that would resonate better with your attorney general, feel free to replace them with ones that better fit your life and represent the programs offered by your state that are more accessible to you because of Section 504. If you're having trouble coming up with more personal ways Section 504 has helped you, discuss it with others in your state. Maybe others have ideas that sound better to you than what I included as examples here.

Other Things to Try

I have listed three items in this section based on the impact I believe they would have. The three things you can also try to protect Section 504 if you live in one of the 17 states are as follows:

Organize a protest

Contact the media

Tell your community

Organize a Protest

If you aren't comfortable with the word "protest" think of what you will be organizing as an event in Support of Section 504 and the civil rights of those of us with disabilities. To be effective, this kind of protest, obviously, needs many participants. So, contact groups of which you are a member and/or those groups with which you have an affiliation and gage their interest. This could be as simple as a local chapter of ACB or a state affiliate of ACB deciding to organize a local event in support of Section 504. This could be ACB chapters and affiliates working in a cross-disability manner with other organizations of those of us with disabilities. Consider Blinded Veterans of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and others.

To give your protest even more of a chance at success, contact groups not specifically dedicated to increasing accessibility to those of us with disabilities. Think about teachers organizations and teachers unions. Maybe look at organizations of local government workers. In short, think which groups would be affected if Section 504 was declared unconstitutional and see if they want to work on a protest in support of Section 504.

Lastly, look at organizations in your community that may already be organizing protests in opposition to what is happening politically.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast

episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Introduction

In this episode I will be covering the lawsuit threatening Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504).

Sharing my Feelings

Usually, I try to avoid my personal feelings when I discuss the law as a part of Demand Our Access. In preparing this episode, I had an impossible time fully separating my feelings of anger and hurt from the material I’m presenting. Given the reality that if the states are successful all of us with disabilities will have significantly fewer civil rights, I’m hoping you can understand why some of my feelings and opinions have made their way into this material.

Before discussing Section 504 I will briefly describe the next episode and provide my contact information.

The Next Episode

The next live episode of the Demand Our Access podcast will take place on Saturday, March 15. In that episode, I will continue my revisited look at Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Questions and Comments

As always, I’m interested in hearing from you. Please provide any feedback by completing the contact form on the Demand Our Access website or by emailing me at [email protected].

The Threat to Section 504

Briefly Describing Section 504

So we all understand the potential magnitude of this lawsuit, I want to briefly describe Section 504’s history and what it covers.

As mentioned earlier, Section 504 is a section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. The regulations implementing Section 504 were not published by the Department of Health and Human Services until 1977, after the protests addressed in the documentary Crip Camp.

Simply put, Section 504 applies to programs of the federal government and programs receiving money from the federal government. This means that Section 504 currently provides legal protections to those of us with disabilities in all public programs offered by the federal government and all programs receiving any funding from the federal government.

For more information about Section 504, check out the episode titled Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Texas v. Becerra

On September 26, 2024, a group of 17 states led by Texas filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Northern District of Texas. The currently named defendant in the suit is Xavior Becerra (the secretary of HHS during the Biden administration).

This is why the lawsuit is currently referred to as Texas v. Becerra. Note, the link to the complaint filed by the 17 states posted to the Demand Our Access website when this episode of the podcast

is posted goes to a reasonably accessible PDF on the Texas attorney general’s website.

Participating States

The 17 states participating in the lawsuit are as follows:

Alabama Alaska Arkansas Florida Georgia Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Missouri Montana Nebraska South Carolina South Dakota Texas Utah West Virginia

Things to Know About the Lawsuit

To, hopefully, not get too technical, I want to briefly cover the seven major aspects of the complaint filed by the 17 states. After briefly highlighting the important aspects of the complaint, I will delve into more specifics about some of them.

I have organized the list of seven things you currently need to know about the lawsuit in a way that, I hope, addresses questions in an order most of you may be thinking about them:

In a status report filed with the court on February 19, the Department of Justice, which has not yet said how it will participate in the lawsuit, and the 17 states asked for a pause in the cases timeline.

Despite previous reporting, all 17 states that initially joined the lawsuit are still participating.

The lawsuit seeks to have Section 504 declared unconstitutional.

The lawsuit wants the rules developed by the Biden administration to further codify how Section 504 applies to health care providers dismissed.

A lot of the complaint mentions how the HHS rules will affect Medicaid.

The complaint seeks to limit the so-called integration of those of us with disabilities into community programs.

Much of the language in the complaint focuses on HHS’s determination that gender dysphoria is covered under Section 504 and that people with gender dysphporia are protected by Section 504.

The Unconstitutionality of Section 504

Since this is not an episode about constitutional law, I’m not going to dive deeply into constitutional arguments. Here, my goal is to provide a basic amount of education around the argument being made by the states that Section 504 is unconstitutional.

Here are things to know about the argument that Section 504 is unconstitutional:

The state’s argument is based around the Constitution’s Spending Clause.

The Spending Clause grants Congress permission to raise and spend money for the nation’s defense and general welfare.

There are three primary arguments being advanced by the states for why Section 504 violates the Spending Clause:

Section 504 fails to provide unambiguous conditions for states receiving federal funds

Section 504’s broad application imposes conditions on federal funding unrelated to the original purpose of the funds

Section 504 is coercive, as it compels states to choose between complying with its extensive requirements or forfeiting all federal funding

I can’t leave a discussion of the state’s argument that Section 504 is unconstitutional without highlighting the jeopardy our community faces from the second of the three arguments.

The second argument being advanced for the unconstitutionality of Section 504 is the most important. By arguing that applying Section 504 to programs that are not specifically designed to cover those of us with disabilities, the states are trying to ensure that, even if they can’t convince the courts to deem Section 504 unconstitutional, they may be able to restrict its application to only those programs specifically designed for those of us with disabilities. If they were to win this point, only programs, like rehabilitation services, would continue being covered by Section 504. Programs including Medicaid and public education would no longer be covered by Section 504.

The Biden Administration’s Rules on Health Care Providers and Accessibility

On May ninth, 2024, HHS’s Office of Civil Rights announced new rules designed to make health care more accessible to those of us with disabilities. Three of the more important provisions of the updated rules are as follows:

Child welfare agencies cannot remove children from the custody of disabled parents without an individualized determination that the child is not safe in the parent(s) custody.

Within certain limitations, the websites and mobile apps of health care providers must be accessible.

Equipment used in the provision of health care services is to be accessible to people with disabilities.

If the 17 states win their case, the updated rules will be removed resulting in parents facing the loss of their children because of discrimination, people not being able to access accessible digital content, and people not having important medical exams and procedures because medical equipment is not accessible to them.

Medicaid

The states are arguing against the strengthened integration rules because of the ways they will affect Medicaid. In the simplest terms, the states are arguing against home-based health care services to be provided to people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for their

health care. In their complaint, the states actually argue that Medicaid was constructed to favor institutionalization.

While there, sadly, may be truth in that argument, the provision of integrated health care services has been strong since the 1990s. In 1999, the Supreme Court in a case called Olmstead, supported the idea that services should be provided in the most integrated setting possible, with those certain limitations. So, plaintiffs are not only trying to have Section 504 declared unconstitutional, but they are trying to overturn nearly 26 years of Supreme Court rulings supporting the idea that services should be provided to those of us with disabilities in the most integrated setting possible.

Integration

Under the rules codified by Biden’s HHS in May of 2024, the government strengthened the integration provision under Section 504 as it applies to health care by indicating that recipients of federal money, including states, are required to provide services in settings that enable individuals with disabilities to interact with non-disabled persons to the fullest extent possible. The regulation explicitly prohibits actions that result in unnecessary segregation or pose a serious risk of such segregation. Examples of prohibited actions include policies that limit access to integrated settings, offering greater benefits in segregated environments, imposing more restrictive rules in integrated settings, or failing to provide community-based services, which could lead to institutionalization or a significant risk thereof.

There are two main arguments being made by the states against the strengthened integration rules:

The states argue that requiring states to administer programs in the "most integrated setting appropriate” imposes obligations beyond what Congress intended in the original statute.

The integration mandate infringes upon states’ rights.

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

The Next Episode

The next episode of the Demand Our Access podcast will take place on Saturday, March first. In that episode, I will continue our second look at Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II).

If you have any questions or comments about this episode or Demand Our Access in General, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected]. You can also complete the contact form on the Demand Our Access website.

Introduction

Title II primarily sets forth the requirements state and local governments are supposed to follow to ensure their activities, programs, and services are accessible to those of us with disabilities. Unfortunately, their isn't a single state or local government complying with Title II. Even worse, most state and local governments are demonstrably out of compliance with Title II.

This deliberate noncompliance with Title II on the part of every state and local government adds to the discrimination faced by those of us with disabilities on a daily basis. Since we all need to interact with our state and local government, their lack of compliance with Title II causes us lots of stress and difficulty.

For those reasons, I chose Title II to be the first topic I discussed through the Demand Our Access podcast. Over the last roughly 2.5 years, I hope my ability to teach important legal concepts has improved. So, I thought it would be good if I revisited Title II now.

Much of the substance covered here will be very similar to what was covered more than two years ago. But I am, hopefully, presenting the information in a way that makes it easier to understand.

Episode Roadmap

I am covering these topics in this episode because they are the foundation of compliance under Title II. In the next episode, I will cover more of the information you will need to effectively request an accommodation or modification from your state or local government. If terms like accommodation and modification don't mean anything to you now, they should when I finish our revisited two-part look at Title II.

Below are the eight topics I will cover in this episode:

Code of Federal Regulations

Defining a Public Entity

Project Civic Access

ADA coordinator

Notice of rights

Grievance procedure

Self-evaluation

Transition plan

Title II Revisited

Code of Federal Regulations

Laws don’t often contain all their legal requirements.

Congress regularly directs federal agencies to develop or promulgate what the law will require.

Under the ADA, several federal agencies have responsibility for developing guidance as to what it means to comply with the ADA.

When an agency has responsibility for clarifying what compliance with section(s) of the ADA means, they have enforcement power over those section(s).

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has primary responsibility for establishing what guidelines for compliance under title II.

DOJ also has primary enforcement power over Title II.

When a federal agency establishes what constitutes compliance, those requirements are published in the Code of Federal regulations.

When I cite to a section of law (either during the episodes or on the website) I will almost always be citing to the Code of Federal Regulations.

Often, the Code of Federal Regulations is referred to as C.F.R.

When I refer to a section of C.F.R, I’m referring to a section in the Code of Federal Regulations.

For the rest of this episode, I'm not going to mention any section in the Code of Federal Regulations. I'm not mentioning specific sections of the Code of Federal Regulations here, because I have realized mentioning the citations is very distracting for listeners.

Even though I won't mention the citations to the Code of Federal Regulations, they will be provided when the text of this episode and this accompanying audio file are posted to the Demand Our Access website as a podcast episode.

Defining a Public Entity

A public entity is defined in 28 C.F.R. § 34.104.

Section 35.104 is the list of definitions under the ADA.

The definition of public entity has three parts:

any state or local government

any department, special purpose district, or instrumentality of state, states, or local government

the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and other commuter authorities

All public entities with at least 50 employees should appoint their own ADA coordinator and have their own grievance procedure.

Most local governments, if they have an ADA coordinator at all, do not have one in every agency or department.

Project Civic Access

Project Civic Access is the primary way the Department of Justice (DOJ) enforces Title II.

It has conducted audits of communities in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

It has done more than 200 audits in total.

The agreements are posted online to help communities come into compliance with the ADA.

The settlement between DOJ and the City and County of Denver, Colorado is representative of what is typically covered.

The settlement includes:

notice

grievance procedure

ADA coordinator

physical accessibility of facilities

accessible web content

emergency preparedness

If none of the concepts mentioned in the Denver settlement make sense to you, I hope you will have a better understanding of them when I finish these two episodes.

While Project Civic Access, especially now, may not do anything to hold state and local governments accountable, I believe it's important to understand what DOJ has already established as the issues it's most interested in state or local governments meeting. Even if DOJ won't help you now, the language in Project Civic Access settlements can assist you when advocating with your state and local government.

ADA Coordinator

Information about the requirements for an ADA coordinator, to provide public notice of rights, and grievance procedures can be found in Chapter Two of DOJ’s Title II Tool Kit.

The requirement for an ADA coordinator is established in 28 C.F.R. § 35.107(a).

Public entities with at least 50 employees must designate a “responsible employee”.

Most people refer to the responsible employee as an ADA coordinator.

The ADA coordinator is supposed to investigate and resolve complaints filed under Title II and ensure compliance with Title II.

The law does not specifically list any qualifications an ADA coordinator must have.

Every public entity is required to notify the public of their ADA coordinator and provide that person’s contact information.

One critical concept to remember about the requirement for all public entities to have an ADA coordinator is that a public entity is defined, in part, as the agencies, departments, and instrumentalities of a state or local government. If a state or local government took its compliance with Title II seriously, all of its agencies, departments, and instrumentalities with at least 50 employees would designate a qualified ADA coordinator.

Sadly, most state and local governments, if they designate anyone as the ADA coordinator, they only designate one person to be the ADA coordinator for the whole state or local government.

Notice of Rights

Notice of rights is established in 28 C.F.R. § 35.106.

The notice requirement applies to all public entities regardless of number of employees

The notice should include the following:

employment

effective communication

reasonable modifications

no surcharges

filing complaints

The notice Should be published in all facilities, on the website, and included in event notices.

The notice must be available in alternative formats

The notice of rights, when offered, can be an important step to advocating for greater access. This is because a proper notice of rights will help you understand what your rights are and how your state or local government hopes to ensure it follows the law and effectively accommodates you.

Unfortunately, many communities don't publish a notice of rights. Others publish a combined notice of rights that generically states the state or local government will comply with several civil rights laws, but provides little or no specifics about compliance under any of those civil rights laws. Other state or local governments publish a notice of rights and then do little to ensure it's followed.

No matter what, looking for your state or local governments notice of rights is a good place to start. If they don't have one, or if it lacks specifics, you have issues to raise at the beginning of your advocacy efforts.

Grievance Procedure

The grievance procedure requirement is established in 28 C.F.R. § 35.107(b).

Every public entity with at least 50 employees is required to adopt and publish a grievance procedure.

The grievance procedure is to allow for the “prompt and equitable” resolution of complaints filed under Title II.

The DOJ sample grievance procedure calls for the following:

the complaint filed preferably in writing

date of and description of the problem

should be submitted by the grievant or their designee within 60 days of the discrimination

Meeting within 15 days of complaint being received

Offer an appeal process

All correspondence from the state or local government to you about your complaint are to be provided in accessible (alternative formats)

One compliance mistake almost all state and local governments make is their failure to ensure every agency, department, or instrumentality meeting the definition of a public entity has its own grievance procedure.