Tag: Americans With Disabilities Act

According to a recent news investigation, a law designed to help give the disabled access in the state of Florida is potentially being used for abusive reasons. Specifically, one man in particular has allegedly filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against local Florida businesses for supposedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), without even first bringing his concerns to the business owners and asking that they make specific changes to their accommodations (or even being a patron of the business itself).

In fact, many business owners claim that there are “ADA testers” filing various costly lawsuits—many of them over violations that have been called trivial, such as the height of a toilet paper dispenser being—and in doing so, potentially abusing the system for a cash payout.

The ADA is designed to prevent employers from discriminating against hiring someone due to a disability, and mandates that businesses make reasonable accommodations such that the disabled have access to their facilities. Many have now pointed out that this second requirement is very difficult to comply with because of how specific it is currently worded in terms of the permissible heights of toilet paper dispensers and other amenities, for example. Because of this, they say, even advocates of the disabled have failed to find anything that is 100 percent compliant with the ADA.