QUESTION:
“What challenges does the Access Advocates team foresee as we enter 2014?”
ANSWER:
Some of you have been asking about the challenges I see as we enter 2014. I am going to start with a little history.
The wheelchair community has and will continue to face many challenges as they access buildings. In 1973, Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act that was a voluntary program and really did not work; so in 1990 Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act and make the U.S. Department of Justice the litigator. Both are Civil Rights Law and the Federal Courts is the enforcer. Herein lies the challenge.
Federal Judges are over loaded with work as the past ten years they have encouraged parties to settle. Building owners have settled and paid attorney fees, but have not spent money to get their buildings ADA compliant. The ACCESS program to get buildings ADA compliant makes a little more work for these Federal Judges, but ultimately gets buildings ADA compliant.
The ACCESS program starts with a professional ADA detail audit of all items in that building and site that are not ADA compliant and proceeds to tell the owner’s architect and contractor the solution to each ADA non-compliant item. The owner’s lawyer is the challenge because he or she is the one who, more often than not, drags his feet with endless motions, all taking the time of the Federal courts. The job of ACCESS has always been to make this legal process as efficient as possible by giving the judge all of the technical building knowledge in which to make an informed and accurate decision.
So, our challenge in 2014 will be to get more experience for litigating attorneys as their comfort in ADA building compliance litigation will improve with each case they litigate. We at ACCESS have a backlog of cases to litigate. (Exciting, I know!!)
I can hear your questions and that is to just find another litigating attorney. I can assure you, we will. We are presently reviewing each case in litigation. My goal at ACCESS is to add a minimum of 100 new cases this year.
Are you going to be next? Contact me today!