Comments on: ADA mass filing roundup

By: cecil

cecil — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 17:06:24 +0000

Understand, from my perspective I wish things to work and I also wish for them to be as low as possible for cost. Do you treat obscure barriers differently than obvious ones? Law enforcement gets a “good faith” exemption, do business owners? For example, I hired Joe x and this is the advice I received, all of which I implemented, as opposed to What is this ADA of which you speak?
I fully realize that the subject is so complex that even the government itself doesn’t comply. They certainly do not mind giving themselves a pass either… But this isn’t that discussion, this is more a question of what business should reasonably know and have changed already given how long ADA has been the law of the land. I understand you have a problem with the concept of ADA, but that’s not the discussion either… How long after it’s made illegal to shoot/kill/collect feathers of migratory birds should the law as written be enforced? And more importantly, would it be better or worse to put enforcement exclusively into government hands? And would that be any better than the current situation? After all, it’s not just private folks/lawyers that love that sweet sweet cash, governments love to boost their bottom line at the expense of poor hapless folks with cash to take.
I guess what I really want the answer to is how to make the law we have actually effective without any form of expense above and beyond the changes themselves. And that’s as likely as finding a unicorn.

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 14:30:22 +0000

In reply to cecil.

It’s a meaningless question. Accessibility demands are not something the owner of a small building or business can look up and then work through on a punchlist, even if willing to bear great expense. Instead, it’s common to hire an ADA consultant, do the recommended fixes and still get sued because a different consultant or activist (especially one with money to make by finding grounds for complaint) will find different issues.

Questions like this do point up the need for much more radical steps to address the injustice and presumption of this law.

By: cecil

cecil — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 13:52:11 +0000

Just a question for thought… How long after passage of ADA are those required to provide accessible facilities presumed to know the law and to have complied with it? 1 year? 10 years? 25 years? 100 years?