As the ski season approaches and skiers of all abilities head for the snowy slopes, all ski areas having special-use permits from the U.S. Forest Service must adhere to ADA compliance standards. The ADA applies because “ski areas [on public lands] operate as ‘public accommodations.’”
The U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, has published a detailed Accessibility Guidebook for Ski Areas Operating on Public Lands. The guide “provides information about program accessibility for ski areas…[to] ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities.”
This 56-page publication focuses exclusively on program access and all activities at ski areas, with only brief mention of facility or structural access, which are covered in detail in the general ADA accessibility rules. The guidebook uses the term skiing “to refer to snowsliding activities that may also include snowboarding or other methods.” The rules also address summer uses of alpine areas as well.
Safety is paramount
The sport of skiing presents a potential conflict between accessibility needs and true safety concerns. Therefore, the ADA imposes no legal requirement to compromise customer safety in the interests of accessibility, as safety should never be compromised. On the other hand, ski area operators must not base their decisions “simply on the fact that an individual carries the label of a disability. Instead, decisions must be based on what that individual can do.”
Basic tenets
The Guidebook stresses that a person with a disability cannot be barred from participating in a ski area’s program, unless the person with the disability cannot meet “essential eligibility criteria” applied to everyone else. Those criteria are dependent on what programs the ski area provides, and are based on the person’s “ability to perform the basic safety functions required for the activity.”
Just as a beginning skier should not attempt the difficult courses, skiers with disabilities could be disqualified from a particular ski lesson or activity on the basis that they cannot safely participate in that particular level of instruction or activity.
Determining essential eligibility criteria for skiers’ participation
Ski area operators pretty much already know what their customers should be able to do to take advantage of the activities offered at the ski area. The only thing they must do is write them down. The Guidebook offers a helpful seven-step process for doing that. Briefly stated, those steps include:
- determining the abilities (physical and mental) needed to participate
- breaking down the activity into basic stages of participation
- considering the abilities required to remain safe
- prioritizing the stages required in step 2 “into the critical abilities needed to be safe”
- considering the rules of skiing etiquette the skier must follow
- determining if the guidelines can be observed with the help of a companion skier
- editing everything for simplicity and sticking to the basics
So it all comes down to articulating, documenting and fairly enforcing of equal access based on ability and skills needed to participate in this fun activity. The skier with a disability must likewise take responsibility and adhere to written guidelines.
The skier’s adherence to individual responsibility is a crucial part of the original determination of eligibility criteria. On the other hand, the ski area operator must be alert to avoid the slippery slope of stereotyping that focuses on the disability rather than the skier’s actual ability.
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