Meeting planners becoming more aware of ADA access issues

From Meeting News:

What planners don't ask can hurt their meetings.

Planners may not think much—or often—about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but it's a law that, if ignored, can add thousands of dollars in liability penalties to any meeting. Since the beginning of 2009, two New York City hotels have settled with the U.S. Department of Justice over instances of ADA non-compliance, while five more have been sued by the DOJ.

In Dayton, OH, a business conducting one-day workshops was found in non-compliance for not providing a qualified sign language interpreter, and a Los Angeles massage company settled after refusing services to an HIV sufferer.

Although planners note that questions from attendees regarding disabilities are among the fewest they field (less than 4%), familiarization with the ADA is more important than ever: On Sept. 25, 2008, then-president George W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act, which, in some cases, significantly expanded the definitions of impairment of "major life activities" under the original 1990 act (signed by his father, president George H.W. Bush). The amended act, which went into effect Jan. 1, includes two expanded lists—conspicuous and non-visible impairments, respectively.

The ADA is administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, because, in the words of Nancy Starnes, senior VP of the Washington, DC-based National Organization on Disability, "it took the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to acknowledge the civil rights of persons with disabilities and bring focus to the fact that they are customers deserving consideration by hotels, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation." NOD's mission is expanding participation in major life activities by the current 54.4 million American men, women, and children with disabilities.

Recently, this population has expanded with disabled veterans from the U.S.'s global war on terror—veterans from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other theaters of conflict following September 11.

"Yet, there continues to be violations of the ADA, many instances resulting from a lack of knowledge and some still springing from deep-seated stereotypes about people with disabilities," noted Starnes.

To see how savvy planners are about including the physically challenged in their logistics, MeetingNews asked readers how often they inquire about ADA compliance while on site inspections. Of the 352 planners who responded, 40 percent said that they always inquired, while 17 percent admitted that they never do. Corporate planners were least likely to always ask (34%), as were planners under 31 of age (15%). However, young planners were most likely to frequently (26%) and occasionally (37%) ask, compared to the total number of planners in the survey (16% and 27%, respectively).

When it comes to including ADA compliance in their meetings contracts, 40 percent of all planners said they always have it listed. Of these, association planners (47%) and planners aged 51-plus (46%) are the most proactive.

"I always ask on site and in our contracts," said Sekeno Aldred, MTA, CMP, learning events specialist at Rockville, MD's Goodwill Industries International Inc. "My organization serves clients with disabilities, so it is a must."

Dana Neill, planner for the National Association of Wholesalers-Distributors, agreed: "It's a meeting planner's responsibility to ask about the needs of the attendees and to make sure they are met. There should always be a question either on the registration or in subsequent communications about restrictions physical or dietary."

Meanwhile, only 35 percent of corporate planners and 26 percent of twentysomethings inquire about ADA in contracts. Surprisingly, of the 21 percent of planners who confess to never inquiring, among the least inquisitive are independent planners (27%) and planners aged 51-plus (24%). (Twentysomethings were the leaders in this group, at 32%.)Ah, but were they telling the truth? MN decided to also hold a straw poll of meeting suppliers on how frequently they received questions about ADA compliance. The answers returned with a refreshing lack of equivocation: "North of never" claimed one hotelier, while a spokesperson for a brand said, "Almost never. We'll have a client ask maybe once for every 30 sites that we do."

Stephen P. Lowe, director of sales for Harrah's and Harveys Lake Tahoe, said, "From our perspective, planners do not even address the ADA unless they have delegates who are disabled or need assistance."

To which Keith Salwoski, spokesman for Kissimmee, FL-based Gaylord Palms Resort, concurred, "We find that planners inquire about accessibility occasionally. It is really a matter of planners knowing their group. For instance, if a group has a lot of drive-in attendees who have handicap parking permits, they will inquire about the number of accessible spaces we have. Most often, the inquiries about ADA-related design come from the groups who have a process in place for a site visit; for instance, they may have a form they fill out for each property they visit."

In some cases, as Melanie Bailey, national account manager for the destination management company Island Partners Hawaii, ADA awareness comes from learning the hard way: "When it is brought up, it usually is a result of an issue occurring at a recent event or a planner made aware of the issue by an attendee after the event is over."

However, Chris Chapman, CMP, senior project manager for meetings and conventions at the Jackson-based Mississippi Development Authority, said it depends: "In my 27 years of experience, I have seen a somewhat consistent pattern. The more formal the RFP and the larger the group, the more uniform the meeting planners are in requiring ADA compliance. In most cases, the contract will not be awarded without it. Smaller groups are not as diligent and especially those that do not have a formal bid process. I have never seen a 'national' organization's RFP without ADA requirements listed."

Planners are on firmer ground with having ADA compliance included within hotel contracts; for one thing, even if they don't ask, the standard hotel contract will cover it. As Brenda Miller, director of sales at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, noted: "ADA never seems to be brought up because I think clients assume that reputable hotels chains are in compliance (which they are). Perhaps it's more of an issue for hotels that are more than 20 years old."

Miller added, "We have a long section on ADA in our corporate contract, and it is rarely, if ever, questioned."To be fair, planners who learn the job "on the fly" are not likely to be familiar with ADA and issues arising from disability until directly confronted. Responding to which facet of their meetings do attendees most frequently inquire, 64 percent of 371 planners answered with cost. Questions to planners regarding wheelchair accessibility and presence of sign language interpreters were the least frequently asked (3% and 1%, respectively), and planners who offered more information typically gauged their disabled audience at 1 percent and offered no statistics on disabled veterans from recent conflicts, commonly referred to as "wounded warriors.

"The NOD helps administer the U.S. Army Wounded Warriors (AW2) career program to ensure that the most severely injured soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are productively engaged in pursuing their careers after they return home from service. The current number of these wounded warriors is 3,980, but, Starnes added, "All four military branches have wounded veteran programs."

She said the Army's program is the largest, followed by the Marines, then Air Force and Navy.According to AW2's careers literature, "many of these veterans are young men and women fresh out of high school with little labor market experience. The careers they envisioned must be remade at the same time as they remake their lives in general and acquire a host of new life skills to accommodate their disabilities."For meetings that specifically target attendees who are disabled, many suppliers are ready to go beyond ADA compliance.

Chris Gahl, senior spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors
Association, said, "We pride ourselves as a city that has been deliberately designed with accessibility in mind. We work closely with the mayor's office and local ADA experts on evaluating our destination and convention offerings. To this end, we've been designated one of America's top 10 'most accessible' cities by the NOD."

For a meeting by the United Spinal Association, Gaylord Palm's Salwoski said, "The group was expecting a lot of attendees in wheelchairs, and a planner was worried about them all waiting for the same elevator. In response, we mapped out multiple routes and installed 'push-button' hardware on doors along those routes to make traveling through the doors easier. We also put out a canopy across our piazza, to assist attendees who wanted to cut through the courtyard. Finally, we published custom maps for the group that outlined the multiple routes for wheelchairs. We also hosted a Q&A session for our [staff members] to better prepare them at providing flawless, compassionate, and appropriate service."