The Harbor Course at the Putt-Putt Golf and Games in Hurst is accessible Plans are under way to update the landmark 1990 ADA legislation and create stronger standards to give disabled Americans better access to everything from courtrooms to swimming pools.
The changes that could go into effect next year, officials say, are geared to ensure that a disability doesn’t exclude anyone from anything — testifying in court, going to a movie, riding an amusement park ride, even playing miniature golf.
But that access would come at a cost. The proposed changes could affect more than 7 million businesses, as well as numerous government agencies, at a cost of more than $20 billion over the next 40 years, according to the Justice Department, which is spearheading the proposal.
"There’s some good stuff in there but some very negative things also," said Bob Kafka, an organizer for ADAPT of Texas, a disability rights group. "At the same time they giveth, they taketh away."
There are more than 41 million disabled people in the United States, including 3 million in Texas, more than 650,000 of them in Dallas-Fort Worth, Census Bureau records show.
The Justice Department has proposed about 1,000 pages of changes to the ADA, including requiring light switches in hotel rooms to be no higher than 48 inches from the floor and requiring courtrooms to provide lifts or ramps to help people into witness stands.
Not to mention requiring that half the holes at miniature golf courses be accessible to those in wheelchairs and ensuring that sports stadiums seating 25,000 or more provide written safety and emergency information — perhaps by flashing it on large screens — to alert the hard of hearing or deaf.
The Justice Department wants feedback on the proposal by Aug. 18. If approved, changes would affect new businesses or buildings scheduled to be altered.
Businesses would be required to make relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated changes.Disability advocates say they fear that some changes don’t go far enough, especially regarding information technology. Check-in kiosks at airports or hotels, for instance, present opportunities for fraud.
"I am very keen that there will be rules to ensure access for individuals with vision loss to all of the technology systems, present and future, that people use in their everyday lives," said Wayne Pound, a vice president with Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth. "Things like cellphones, ATM machines, computer systems — anything where there is an on-screen display — should be designed in a manner that would permit its use by an individual with limited eyesight."