United States Department of Justice
United States Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
Justin W. Williams United States Attorney’s Building (703) 299-3817 (direct)
Steven Gordon 2100 Jamieson Avenue (703) 299-3983 (fax) Assistant United States Attorney Alexandria, Virginia, 22314 steve.gordon@usdoj.gov
February 4, 2022
Re: ADA Coordinators Meeting on March 15, 2022 at 2 pm.
Dear Colleagues:
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12132, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in a range of critical areas, including the programs, services, and activities of all state and local governmental entities.
The ADA’s Title II regulations require public entities to take affirmative steps to ensure compliance with the ADA. One such affirmative step is to assign a responsible employee to coordinate a governmental entity’s ADA compliance. The ADA regulations require public entities that have 50 or more employees to designate at least one responsible employee to coordinate its ADA compliance. 28 C.F.R. § 35.107(a). State and local governments commonly refer to the individual with this responsibility as the “ADA Coordinator.”
The ADA Coordinator’s role is to coordinate the public entity’s efforts to comply with the ADA and investigate any complaints that the entity has violated the ADA. For example, the Coordinator may serve as the point of contact for individuals with disabilities to request auxiliary aids and services, policy modifications, and other accommodations in order to participate in the services, programs, or activities of the public entity. The ADA Coordinator is also responsible for a public entity’s process for individuals to file a complaint or grievance with the entity, and addressing ADA concerns of the general public. Through the coordination role, the ADA Coordinator can communicate requirements to other individuals in the agency who may be unaware of their responsibilities. Contact information for the ADA Coordinator is to be provided to interested individuals, including the name, office address, email address, and telephone number. State and local governments typically provide such information in a prominent location on their websites and post such information in other public locations.
During the course of our ADA investigations, we have found that public entities that do not have an ADA Coordinator, or do not have an ADA Coordinator who is knowledgeable of the ADA’s requirements, are far more likely to misunderstand their obligations under the ADA, and more likely to violate the ADA.
My office is organizing an online video meeting of ADA Coordinators for state and local governmental entities in Virginia on March 15, 2022, at 2 pm, in order to provide information on steps that state and local governmental entities can take to comply with the ADA and provide an opportunity for questions and collaboration. We would like to invite your ADA Coordinator to the meeting. To register for the meeting click here. If you currently do not have an ADA Coordinator, please have your entity’s representative register.
Additional information about the ADA’s requirements with respect to a wide range of government services, programs, and activities can be found at ADA.gov, which includes technical assistance on ADA requirements applicable to state and local governmental entities and public accommodations. For example, the following helpful technical assistance publications are available on ADA.gov: “ADA Update: A Primer for State and Local Governments”, “Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities”, “ADA Checklist for Polling Places”, “ADA Requirements: Effective Communication”, “ADA Requirements: Service Animals”, and “Frequently Asked Questions about Service Animals andthe ADA”.
If you have any questions or additional relevant information, please feel free to email me at steve.gordon@usdoj.gov(link sends e-mail) or call me at (703) 299-3817.
Sincerely,
Jessica D. Aber
United States Attorney
By: _____/s/____________________
STEVEN GORDON
Assistant United States Attorney
United States Attorney’s Office
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Telephone: (703) 299-3817
Email: steve.gordon@usdoj.gov