09:40:57 >> MS. FI 10:01:59 Good morning, everybody. 10:02:20 I''m Karen Alexander from the Bloustein school at Rutgers and I''m delighted to welcome you this morning to our ADA at 30 program, and you''ll be meeting Margaret Gilbride and Joe /STKPWHRES ski from the ADA center northeast. 10:02:25 Before we get started, I want to share with you a brief welcome from our dean. 10:02:30 (Video begins: 10:02:43 >> MR. THAKURIAH: Welcome to the Edward JBloustein school of planning public policy at Rutgers are the state university of inch. 10:02:49 I''m Vonu Thakuriah, the dean of the Bloustein school. 10:02:58 This year the U.S. celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 10:03:08 The ADA continues disability rights for people being treated equity /KWRABbly. 10:03:29 It bans discrimination for individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The ADA guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in mainstream American life. 10:03:43 The ADA gives civil protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age and religion. 10:03:56 It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. 10:04:04 Rutgers university is committed to expanding opportunities for people of all abilities through programs and activities across the university. 10:04:09 Many attending today''s webinar are affiliated with these programs. 10:04:22 One way that this commitment is demonstrated by the Bloustein school is by hosting the New Jersey travel independence program or NJTIP at Rutgers within the Voorhees transportation center. 10:04:31 N.J. At this point at Rutgers provides training for individuals to enhance their independence so they can use transportation safely. 10:04:44 This offers opportunities with employment, education, and activities and help people withabilities in our community. 10:04:53 We are very glad to help NJAPS and northeast ADcenter offer today''s professional development program virtually. 10:05:05 Please welcome Margaret Gilbride, president of NJAPS and Joe Zesski from the northeast ADA center to the Bloustein school. 10:05:07 Thank you. 10:05:08 (Video ends.) 10:05:22 >> MS. GILBRIDE: I''m Margaret Gilbride and welcome from the New Jersey chapter of APSE, the only national membership organization devoted solely to the employment of people with disabilities. 10:05:44 When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law 30 years ago, the senator Tom Harkin observed this vital legislation will open the door to full participation by people with disabilities in our neighborhoods, workplaces, our economy and our American dream." 10:05:55 It opened the door and for 30 years we have striven to push it open wider and wider. 10:06:10 Here''s to seeing what the next 30 years can bring in our fully realizing the equity of access that the ADA promised us and that we are still working hard to bring into reality. 10:06:24 With that being said, I''d like to introduce Lisa Fiore who is the chair of the professional development committee of your inch chapter of APSE. 10:06:25 >> MS. FIORE: Hi. 10:06:26 Good morning, everyone.. 10:06:30 Thank you for attending "THE ADA AT 30". 10:06:43 As Margaret said, I''m the it inch cocharge of the APSEprofessional development committee, and before continuing this program, I would like to thank the professional development committee for planning this event. 10:06:47 Your time, outreach and support has contributed to its success. 10:06:56 Which had initially 123 individuals register for today''s program and we still have more people that are joining the webinar as we speak. 10:06:59 So we''re hoping to reach that number of registrations. 10:07:09 I''d like to send a special thank you to Karen Alexander for connecting us to the Bloustein school and for all her technology assistance and guidance 10:07:15 And now, on to our presentation and our speaker, Joe Zesski. 10:07:27 Joe is the program manager of the northeast ADA center and has served as the inch affiliate of the northeast ADA for resources for independence living since 2009. 10:07:38 He has a masters of divinity degree from Harvard university and a bachelors in English communications from Cabrini university. 10:07:53 Joe''s focus has been on assistive technology, accessible web design, the transition of students from high school and accommodations in a post secondary education environment. 10:08:01 He was the communication reeducator at the independent living center serving burr ling county New Jersey. 10:08:08 Also shares the disability issues committee. 10:08:13 Bergen links, thank you Joe for being here with us today. 10:08:17 Take it away Joe. 10:08:19 >> MR. ZESSKI: Sorry. 10:08:24 So some reason my mic went mutted at first. 10:08:26 [Laughter] thank you, again, Lisa. 10:08:35 Thank you everyone for having me be a part of this with NJAPSE and the Bloustein school. 10:08:37 Thank you for this opportunity. 10:08:39 I appreciate it, and welcome everybody. 10:08:45 Thank you for joining us today and being a part of this presentation. 10:08:59 Hope you settle in for the next hour and-a-half or so, and hopefully we''ll have some good conversation along the way and have a lot to share with each other 10:09:09 So this is, of course, the 30th anniversary of the ADA, which was signed into law on July 26th, 1990. 10:09:32 And so it''s one of those anniversaries, nice even anniversaries. The 25th anniversary was also significant and the 30th is, too, and it''s important to take time to remember and to think about what impact this civil rights law has made and where we''ve come since it was passed back in 1990. 10:09:50 A few housekeeping things at the beginning, just as a reminder, some of you may have seen I believe in the chat box, but following today''s presentation, everyone will get a PDF copy of the slides. 10:09:54 So you will have an opportunity to look them over. 10:10:08 They''ll be some content that''s not on the slide that I just communicate verbally, but hopefully you will feel comfortable and that you''ve got the information that you were hoping for 10:10:22 With that being said, let me just let you know a little bit about what the northeast ADA center is and what we are not. 10:10:37 We have this year standard disclaimer which lets you know that we are not legal advocate organization, or we do not provide legal advice, just keep in mind. 10:10:53 And the Northeast ADA Center is one, is a center based out of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. 10:11:08 It has affiliates in different areas, which I will get to in a moment, and as Lisa said, I am the New Jersey affiliate as well as the program manager for the Northeast ADA Center 10:11:10 So what are we going to cover today? 10:11:14 Well, there''s several different things I want to get to. 10:11:38 First I want to think back to what things were like before the ADA was passed to give us some frame of reference and to remember back to pre-ADA what the situation was like for people with disabilities, and of a variety of disabilities. 10:11:43 I want to share with you how the ADA came to be. 10:11:56 Primarily, it will be how it came to be in terms of legislation, but I will address some of the other -- there were many factors, including advocacy that led to the ADA. 10:12:11 I''ll also describe what the law actually is and what it covers so that you have a better understanding of the scope of the ADA and we''ll go forward and look at what difference has the ADA made? 10:12:20 With a impact has the ADA had on the U.S., on our communities and the lives of people with disabilities? 10:12:28 And, lastly, I will want to cover some hot topic issues. 10:12:40 When we were setting up this event, and I was speaking with Lisa, she mentioned that a number of members of APSE wanted to hear some about some hot topic issues. 10:12:43 For example -- 10:12:46 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Joe, it''s Karen. 10:12:49 Can you share your screen with us, please? 10:12:50 >> MR. ZESSKI: Yes. 10:12:51 I had hit it. 10:12:54 Let me rehit it again one moment everybody. 10:13:00 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Yeah, thank you. 10:13:07 >> MR. ZESSKI: It says host disabled screen sharing." 10:13:19 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Ah, okay. 10:13:23 >> MR. ZESSKI: Now I''m a cohost. 10:13:25 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Tamara. 10:13:25 Thank you. 10:13:29 >> MR. ZESSKI: Pardon me, everyone. 10:13:33 Just give me one moment. 10:13:35 There we go. 10:13:37 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Terrific. 10:13:38 We can see it small. 10:13:39 Much better. 10:13:41 Thank you, Joe. 10:13:43 >> MR. ZESSKI: There we go. 10:13:44 Thank you Karen. 10:13:48 I think when we switched speakers, I may have dropped. 10:13:51 But any way we''re set now. 10:13:52 >> MS. ALEXANDER: All good. 10:13:53 Thank you. 10:13:54 >> MR. ZESSKI: Thank you. 10:14:40 And so after, as I mentioned, we were going to talk about some hot topics including the impact of the Coronavirus on people with disabilities in terms of employment, in terms of accessing public places, as well as two other issues that I thought were worth highlighting because they''re things that we hear about so often at the Northeast ADA Center, one for websites, service dogs and digital media 10:14:48 So we will have a break for you participants and we''d be glad to take your feedback and I hope you''ll get a lot out of it. 10:14:59 So what is the 10:15:05 Northeast ADA Center? 10:15:19 It is a member of a national network of ADA centers, not part of the Federal government but receives grant from NIDLIRR, which is the institute of independent living. 10:15:26 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Joe, we lost your audio. 10:15:28 >> MS. FIORE: I had Joe''s audio. 10:15:31 >> MS. SWEDBERG: I think it''s okay. I hear you fine. 10:15:33 Keep going Joe. 10:15:35 >> MR. ZESSKI: I hope so. 10:15:38 I apologize if it''s not. 10:15:40 >> MS. FIORE: We can hear you. 10:16:13 >> MR. ZESSKI: Reserve New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, based on the department of education how they divided the country back when the ADA centers began back in 1993, so quite a long time ago. 10:16:41 We''re considered region 2, we have a 1-800 number you can call for free and confidential assistance about questions related to the ADA and also answer other questions but our primary mission is the ADA. 10:17:11 Let''s look at some numbers to get a sense with people with disabilities and a lot of you particularly who are advocates independent field or been in the field related to disability for a while, you may know that one of the common statistics that''s often thrown out is that about one out of every five people have disability, and that is true, but that goes into a very complicated discussion of how you count numbers 10:17:13 . 10:17:14 I''ll save that for another time. 10:17:40 I wanted to show you a snapshot of New Jersey in terms of disability and we see here on the screen that the overall rate for the number of people with disabilities is about 10 percent, just a .tic over that 10:18:07 this is a national population survey that gathers various information including disability related information, and we see here that people who have visual disabilities are among the smallest group captured here, with just under 2 percent. 10:18:21 We have probably the largest category being those individuals ambulatory related, those individuals related to their mobility and able their ability to move in the environment. 10:18:26 The highest represented number was about 5.8 percent. 10:18:30 So these numbers are from 2018 and they''re publicly available. 10:18:38 You see on the bottom of this slide, the website where these come from. 10:18:52 It''s cure rated information, meaning the data is gathered together in a way that''s easily accessible that you can pull out information for, disabilitiesstatistics.org. 10:19:03 That is a website run within a different entity within Cornell and has a lot of statistical information based on the state. 10:19:12 One of the surveys they use is American community survey intervention, so it gives you a snapshot about the number of people in New Jersey. 10:19:22 And, again, this is one survey and there are other ways to look at NFLGS that could give you higher figures, but I chose this one for simplicity sake. 10:19:31 We have here a quote on this slide and typically I won''t read off slides. 10:19:40 However, this particular one, because it''s a quote, I will, and also in case there are those who may have trouble reading the screen this might be helpful. 10:20:03 It''s a quote from Franklin Roosevelt and the quote is "We know that the equality of individual ability has never existed and never will, but we do insist that equality of opportunity still be sought." This quote gets to the heart of what the ADA project really is B 10:20:25 it is about equality of equal access to the community as we started to talk about already this morning and have a chance to participate in the life of society, and for people with disabilities to be active members in that, and this particular quote really captures the essence of what we''re about. 10:20:37 I want to take a moment here, take a pause and have, invite you or some of you, anyway, hopefully, to type into the chat box. 10:20:44 I want you to think back to before 1990, for those of you who are old enough to remember. 10:20:53 Sadly, as time goes by and I make these references, when I first began doing these trainings, I remember I used to be younger. 10:21:03 Now I''m right in the middle of age and I''ve worked with more people who do not remember before the ADA, but hopefully some of you in the audience do. 10:21:07 Think back to before the ADA, and what do you think was different? 10:21:13 Or what do you remember being different then in terms of people with disabilities? 10:21:32 And let me just pause a minute in case people want to chat or put something in the chat box and then we''ll see what some people shared. 10:21:34 Lack of access to sidewalks, definitely and buses. 10:21:35 Right. 10:21:36 No lifts on business. 10:21:39 I here that was another one. 10:21:46 And the bus list was a big one and that impacts transportation. 10:21:56 >> MS. ALEXANDER: I''m seeing less access to employment, no toilets on trains, no curb cuts. 10:22:01 >> MR. ZESSKI: And I think I heard, which another someone access to recreation, which is important. 10:22:05 Sometimes we overlook that part of it. 10:22:20 A lot of times we focus, professionals in the field, on things that are employment related, which are critical important, but sometimes being able to enjoy and relax is important. 10:22:23 It can be overlooked. 10:22:36 >> MS. ALEXANDER: People were not away of specific disabilities. 10:22:38 >> MR. ZESSKI: That''s another good point. 10:22:54 People were less aware of what disability was and it''s still somewhat true today when a lot of people think of the word "disability" a lot of times they''ll think of someone using a wheelchair or they''ll think of someone who is blind or deaf. 10:23:14 A lot of times that sort of formed the core of what they imagined disability to be, things that are very much obvious or perceptible, but there certainly is, as people have begun to learn that there are so many more types of disabilities, a lot of which you don''t see. 10:23:21 >> MS. ALEXANDER: We''re also getting some comments about auditory crosswalks and relay systems. 10:23:28 So specific accommodations for people who have visual and auditory impairments. 10:23:32 >> MR. ZESSKI: Yes. 10:23:38 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Wheel way widths to accommodate wheelchairs. 10:23:40 All suggestions from people. 10:23:45 >> MR. ZESSKI: I think you have highlighted some good points and areas. 10:23:46 There are. 10:23:51 In fact, let me advance our slide here. 10:23:56 You''ve hit a lot of the points that I wanted to race as things being different. 10:24:02 And you know what, a lot of these are tangible things in the environment. 10:24:13 You know, curb cuts or flatten trances into buildings, not to mention elevators to make sure that there''s access to a multi-story unit, a multi-story building. 10:24:32 Transportation, a huge area, where there used to be much greater issue, many Moorish use in terms of accessibility, a real lack in the community 10:24:45 in terms of media, another point to directly address, another point to keep in mind, someone just shared an excellent point in terms of general visibility, including media. 10:25:00 You really didn''t see other than a few cases of people with disabilities in the public and when you typically did, they were, again, those sort of disabilities I was just talking about where it tended to be a more obvious thing. 10:25:28 Something else I would say thinking back to before the ADA was that a good portion were living in institutions. 10:25:34 You may remember some of the exposes done in Willowbrook, New York. 10:26:03 Geraldo Rivera had done one in the late seventies, early eighties, highlighted people with disabilities were housed and the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independently were far different than what we have now 10:26:18 . With all of these issues, you really see why there was a need for some sort of civil rights work around people with disabilities. 10:26:47 I''m going focus primarily on the legal side of the development of the ADA, but I do just want to pause to take credit and take note of all of the disability advocates over the years, beginning with the independent living ability moved with Ed Roberts to adapt, transportation. 10:27:01 There were many people with disabilities who began to become their own advocates who also used to pursue their rights in the courts who began the movement to really push for civil rights of people with disabilities. 10:27:13 As I said, though, proper brevity''s sake, I''m going to focus on the legal development of the ADA, and it really began back in 1984. 10:27:46 Back then the National Council on Kwan disability, which had a different name, the National Council of the Handicapped, and the NCD is a 15-member panel of individuals from around the country that are appointed by the President, and, of course, then it was Ronald Reagan at the time, to advise policymakers on issues of people with disabilities. 10:27:53 This organization back in 1984 was formed and 2 years later they issued their first report. 10:28:28 It was called "Towards Independenceand assessment of people with disabilities and their rights, their ability to access things in the community and to participate in community living. It was a review It was a suggestion. 10:28:45 2 years later they issued another report and this report included the first draft, initial draft of what would become the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. 10:28:48 And with that it was significant to note. 10:28:52 It started a process, which took about 27 months. 10:28:54 It took quite a while. 10:29:06 As I said, the ADA was signed in 1990, in July, July 26th, 1990, but it began with this draft law in 1988. 10:29:09 It would go through many committees in Congress. 10:29:25 It would undergo quite a bit of change, but there are things really to note about the ADA that are important to note. 10:29:38 And, again, here we have another quote, which typically I don''t read straight from a slide, but I will here in case some people have difficulty seeing what the text is on the slide. 10:29:56 This quote is from Robert Burgdorf, who is one of the initial authors of the draft that would become the Americans with Disabilities Act and this is from a The Washington Post article he wrote on the 25th commemoration of the ADA. 10:30:28 The quote is:talking about how the ADA was really a bipartisan collaborative effort and had support and investment from all different sides of the political spectrum of different parts of the community, businesses, employers, state service providers, individuals, advocates all played a part of it, and, of course, politicians as well. 10:31:16 The quote here says, "Proposed by Reagan point ease in the NCD, initially sponsored by a Republican independent Senate, LOUL Weicker and a democrat in the House of Representatives, representative Tony Coelho, passed by a Democratic controlled Senate and House, and supported and signed by president George HW Bush, the ADA was a model of bipartisan ship." Again, I highlighted that quote here just because 10:31:20 it reflects the nature of AAD. 10:31:28 It''s always been an across-the-aisle issue, even though it''s been updated over the years. 10:31:31 In 2008, which we''ll get to in a minute. 10:31:33 It''s been something that many people have supported. 10:31:41 Not to say it hasn''t been easy; that is, it''s a whole another statement. 10:31:51 It''s support from people across the spectrum, which is something to note in the current times that we have 10:32:29 So, as I mentioned, the ADA finally made its way through the legislative process and was signed into law back in 1990, It is a civil rights law. 10:32:39 People are often confused by that when they contact our center, the Northeast ADA, they think the ADA is a place that you call. 10:32:40 It''s not. 10:32:55 It''s a civil rights law, like the civil rights Act of 1964, you wouldn''t call the Civil Rights Act to get assistance, nor would you call the ADA, but you call different agencies that enforce the ADA 10:33:23 So it''s important to note it''s not an agency, the ADA also is a law that applies to many parts of life but not all of them and I''ll get more into that in just a moment when I''m describing the five parts of the law. 10:33:34 It also is a law that is enforced by different agencies, the primary one being the DOJ, but there are other agencies as well. 10:34:05 Over the years there has been a lot of court decisions around the ADA and ultimately, the ADA was amended back in 2008 as a result of various Supreme Court decisions that narrowed the scope of the ADA and what it meant, particularly in terms of what disability meant. 10:34:17 And I''ll spend more time on that in just a moment. So I mentioned that there were parts to the law. 10:34:24 There are 5 titles and each one covers a different area. 10:34:48 Title I deals with employment, and the employment sections apply to private employers with 15 or more employees, and so what''s notable here, again, really small employers with under 15 employees are not technically covered by the ADA. 10:35:08 As a side-bar, in New Jersey we have the New Jersey law against discrimination, which is very similar in a lot of ways to what the ADA is, but that State law does apply basically to all private employers, employers with one or more employees. 10:35:24 So just keep a note that where the ADA does not cover here in New Jersey, we do have the NJLAD, law against discrimination. 10:35:36 So under this part of the law,Ttitle I, you have reasonable accommodations for people to do their jobs. 10:35:57 You have the concept to the right of privacy regarding your disability in employment, so people who are prospective candidates or recruited for or in the hiring process cannot be asked about their disability history and other key provisions were set. 10:36:04 Title II applies to state and local governments in several ways. 10:36:11 The key concept is that any agency or entity that is a part of state or local government. 10:36:26 So that ranges from a county office, but it would also apply for example to Rutgers, Rutgers being a State university, it''s considered a Title II entity. 10:36:41 Anything related to state/local government is covered by Title II and those entities have to ensure that people with disabilities are able to have an equal opportunity to access their program services and activities. 10:36:50 And there are other concepts as well that come under that part of the law, but that''s a key one to keep in mind. 10:36:55 With Title III, you have coverage for private businesses. 10:36:58 They''re called public accommodations in the law. 10:37:05 A public accommodation is essentially a place of business that impacts commerce. 10:37:19 So there are 12 very broad categories of public accommodations that really cover almost anything you could think of nuts and bolts from education. 10:37:41 So private colleges, private schools to things that you might more commonly think of, things like grocery stores, restaurants, movie theaters, to daycare centers to stadiums are generally if it''s open to the public, it''s a place of business. 10:38:02 Whether it''s a business or a nonprofit, they''re going to be covered under Title III, and public accommodations are required to make sure that their goods and services are accessible to people with disabilities and, again, there are other key ideas under this part of the law, too, but in the interest of time I''ll just give a brief highlight 10:38:22 We also have Title IV, which set up the Relay system, which is a telecommunications system that facilitated communication for people who had hearing and speech-related disabilities. 10:38:40 And so it set up the system for that to be available so that people could use TTYs, and video relays to communicate who may have trouble using an additional telephone. 10:38:52 The last part of the law, Title V, is sort of a miscellaneous catchall, what they call provisions that go across the whole law. 10:39:01 For example, Title V is where there is a prohibition against discriminating someone who is associated with a person with disabilities. 10:39:17 So let''s say you''re someone going to a movie theater with a friend, perhaps they have a disability that or, you know, that may require some accommodation. 10:39:24 The movie theater doesn''t want to provide it, and says, you both have to leave. 10:39:33 That would be discrimination based on association 10:39:35 So we have the parts of the law. 10:39:54 The other key thing to keep in mind is the meaning of disability itself, and there are so many different possible meanings for disabilities because as with anything else, when we use the word in everyday language, it sort of builds up its own meanings and interpretation. 10:40:00 And, of course, from law to law, words can have different meanings as well. 10:40:25 We have here on this slide the meaning of disability under the ADA, which was taken from an older law, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and it''s a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, a record of that such impairment or regarded as having such impairment. 10:40:28 I''ll briefly describe each part of that. 10:40:32 It''s with a they call a three-prong definition, three parts. 10:40:39 The first is you have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. 10:40:49 So if you have a condition that impacts you in a way that restricts some of your life activities. 10:40:59 So, for example, let''s say you may have carpal tunnel syndrome in your wrists and perhaps it''s severe enough where you''re not able to type at a keyboard. 10:41:19 Or perhaps you have a disability like depression, where when you are, have active depression, it effects your ability to think or effects your ability to participate in some life activities. 10:41:24 Those are sort of the easier examples of disability, things that people have. 10:41:31 A record of an impairment talks to a history of a disability that may not be effecting you now. 10:41:36 So, for example, let''s say someone is a breast cancer survivor. 10:41:38 They''ve under gone treatment. 10:41:47 It''s in remission, and they''re doing well, but perhaps they need to get follow-up treatments. 10:42:00 That person has a record of a disability, even though the breast cancer isn''t effecting them at the moment or may not be impacting their ability to do different things at the moment, they do have a history of that. 10:42:15 So if you''re talking about an employment situation, that person might be able to make some accommodation requestsf needed, related to the treatment for their breast cancer and their maintenance and so forth 10:42:24 The last part being regarded as, means that someone is treated as if they have a disability, even though they don''t. 10:42:29 So someone has what they call disparate, disparate treatment. 10:42:52 So one quick example to explain this here is that someone let''s say has a facial disfigment, and they work at a store and they''re told by a manager, well, we can''t have you work the front counter because people won''t want to check out with you because of your disfigment and this is actually based on a case that happened back in the 1990s. 10:43:01 That would be treating someone as if they had a condition that limited their life activities, but they really don''t have one. 10:43:07 So that would be someone being regarded as having a disability, although they didn''t. 10:43:15 The last thing to note here is that people do need to be qualified and that cuts across the law. 10:43:33 So someone who has a disability in employment does have to be a qualified individual, have the requisite skills, background, knowledge, training required for a position, or if you''re looking at Title II, for example, someone needs to be qualified. 10:43:56 So if a program that a county offers is limited to people who just live in that county, let''s say there''s a Burlington County program, using my own county as an example, someone who lives in Passaic can''t say, can apply for a program, say they have a disability and that''s why they''re not being served by the program. 10:44:03 No, someone who wants to participate thin program has to live in Burlington County. 10:44:06 So someone does have to be qualified as an individual. 10:44:20 So it''s meant to make sure that people are qualified in addition to having a disability or one of the other parts of the definition 10:44:31 That was a lot, and so I put a slide here to take a pause and to see if people had questions about what I''ve talked about so far. 10:44:57 So we''re about, we still have a good ways to go, but I wanted to take a pause here to see if anyone had questions, and I will wait a minute to see if anyone types anything in, and if not, we''ll continue on. 10:45:01 It seems like everyone''s good. 10:45:07 So I will continue on. 10:45:09 So we had the passage of the ADA. 10:45:12 I mentioned that it was amended in 2008. 10:45:33 That was because the definition that you just saw on the prior slide had begun, or two slides back, had begun to be interpreted in a very narrow sense where people with disabilities who brought discrimination issues, the cases were getting hung up on whether the person had a disability and not whether discrimination took place. 10:45:54 And so the Amendments Act of 2008 sought specifically to address that and to make sure it was understood that the definition of disability was meant to be interpreted in a very broad large sense. 10:45:57 So that is something to note. 10:46:08 Over time, even with that happening and a need for the Amendments Act, a lot was accomplished by the ADA and some we highlighted earlier. 10:46:10 Certainly, there''s a lot more community access. 10:46:12 We see lot more curb cuts. 10:46:34 It''s now more unusual -- not "unusual" aware that there are less curb cuts done incorrectly, but in most cases we do see curb cuts and especially when there''s any new construction or sidewalks. 10:46:45 We also see a lot more flat entrances to buildings, with no stairs. 10:46:52 Someone may have mentioned a while back, Larry, elevator access as well. 10:46:55 Transportation has become a way again. 10:47:01 It''s still more with people with disabilities, more accessible. 10:47:07 Buses are now more required to have lifts. 10:47:14 Train and bus platforms have accessibility standards that they should follow. 10:47:17 Any new construction must follow. 10:47:27 Again, there''s a lot of old construction which makes barriers still for people with disabilities, but there has been a lot of improvement. 10:47:34 I mentioned, too, back when we were talking about before the ADA, institutionalization. 10:47:52 We have as a result of the ADA the Olmsted decision, and for those of you who are not familiar with the Olmsted division, it was a case brought to the Supreme Court about the right of individuals with intellectual disabilities to live in the community. 10:48:09 And as a result of the decision, we have now a lot of change that has come down in terms of the push to allow for community-based living for people with different types of disabilities. 10:48:20 There are some, as a result of the law, there were 3 requirements that sort of came about to facilitate that. 10:48:33 One where the persons, professionals that they worked with believe that community living was appropriate and the person themselves agreed to it. 10:48:47 And also that the individual who had the disability could receive accommodations in the community, and be able to access what they need to have those community supports. 10:48:55 But it was a huge change and really a step forward for a good number of people with disabilities 10:49:10 Something that we didn''t talk about before but is important to note how the ADA, a lot of the rights of those people who have HIV or AIDS come from the ADA. 10:49:43 That''s where a lot of the Civil Rights protection lives for people with that condition and part of many settlements with the Supreme Court decisions as well, the right for people with HIV/AIDS to have access to health care, to be able to see a dentist or doctor and not be told they can''t be served because there''s too much of a risk or too great a risk. 10:49:52 Certainly in employment as well. 10:50:16 Some other areas for accomplishments for the law, I mentioned in employment how the ADA prohibits disability inquiries, opposes or prevents inquiries into disability when someone is independent hiring process. 10:50:20 This has given some more opportunity for people with disabilities. 10:50:24 There is still certainly an employment gap. 10:50:47 However, the gap has improved since the passage of the ADA, and we have greater participation in the workforce, in part because of the ADA''s protection for people with disabilities around employment and particularly around disability inquiries where that has helped to change some attitudes regarding disability. 10:51:04 We''ve also seen impact certainly in creating the relay system, which I talked about earlier, and, of course, now there still is TTY, but now of course we have video remote interpreters, which a number of places use as an accommodation. 10:51:07 We have video relay services. 10:51:26 There are a lot more ways for individuals who have the hearing and speech-related disabilities to communicate over landline telephones and to provide more effective and equal communication. 10:51:29 In education, we''ve seen a lot of change as well. 10:51:57 Primarily when people think about education and disability rights and disability law for the K through 12 level, a lot of times they think of the IDE A, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the ADA applies also. 10:52:01 The ADA isn''t a law that provides funding. 10:52:13 So it''s not one in school systems that comes up so much in the K through 12 system, but it is there protecting rights. 10:52:35 As a matter of fact, here in New Jersey, a couple of years ago there was a case that was brought through the Department of Justice by a Delran student who had a service animal and the school district there was not allowing her to bring her service animal on a field trip. 10:52:40 The long and the short was, the issue wasn''t so much about funding. 10:52:51 It was about a rights and access issue, where the ADA came into play, and they were able to redress it through an AD A settlement agreement. 10:53:39 But, of course, in colleges and universities, the ADA has had a big impact as well, and there in colleges and universities, you also have Section 5004, of course from the Rehabilitation Act, which is very prominent, but you also have the ADA and the idea of providing accommodations or auxiliary aides and services, to participate in class to have accessible housing. Those are all things where the ADA has made a large impact and again where we see a lot more participation of people with disabilii 10:53:44 in the university setting and a lot of that is due to the ADA. 10:53:47 Finally, another area is communication. 10:53:50 That has really been impacted a lot. 10:54:19 We talked a little bit earlier about media, and certainly that''s one form of communication where we see a lot more people with disabilities and we see a lot more characters and individuals across media, whether in movie or television or online shows have a presence, have a visible role independent media that we see. 10:54:41 We also see sign language interpreters at a lot of large events, at Presidential debates, often for press conferences of public officials, you now see a sign language interpreter signing what the official is saying. 10:54:56 And on the local level, we see improvement in communication access in terms of businesses and other entities recognizing that they may need to provide sign language interpreters as a form of accommodation. 10:55:06 A lot of times medical providers have had some issue, struggle with this, but it has improved a lot. 10:55:22 And so there is a lot more knowledge out there, the need to provide effective communication in medical services, and certainly in other places as well has a lot more accommodations. 10:55:41 And, of course, in this webinar we have closed captions, which is a form of accommodation to try to make sure that everyone, even without requesting an accommodation, can participate and understand what is being communicated verbally in the webinar. 10:55:56 The idea of closed captions also ties into the last point that I wanted to touch on now and that I''ll come back to a little bit later; that is, digital accessibility. 10:56:01 Our world is of course changing a lot of different ways. 10:56:13 Some from COVID-19 and Coronavirus, but also even before that and for the last number of years in terms of how we interact with the community. 10:56:23 It''s not just about accessing buildings and buses and trains, not just being able to get into businesses. 10:56:31 Certainly, those are essential, but now there''s a new factor to consider, the virtual environment. 10:56:35 More and more of what we do has moved online. 10:56:41 Of course, with COVID-19, for example, this event, of course is digital. 10:56:43 But so much else is. 10:56:50 Making appointments, shopping, communicating with other people. 10:56:53 Entertainment, a lot of it is virtual. 10:56:58 And so the ADA has had an impact on that, as I''ll talk to. 10:57:09 It''s a little complicated, but it has made a difference in terms of the accessibility of the digital world 10:57:25 So these were some of the biggest impacts that I thought of when I was putting these together, but I wanted to see if people had other impacts that they saw in terms of the ADA that they wanted to mention. 10:57:31 And certainly I''m welcome to hear if anyone has anything to add. 10:57:39 I wanted to give you time to share your thoughts. 10:57:49 >> MS. ALEXANDER: So, Joe, you''re inviting folks to put in chat what they think has been the biggest impact of the ADA, correct? 10:57:53 >> MR. ZESSKI: Correct and let me expand on that, too. 10:57:58 Yes, the biggest impact, but obviously there''s still work to be done. 10:58:02 And so the ADA has made a huge impact. 10:58:18 Here someone my screen reader, my ears, I did hear someone said job interview, I believe and applications certainly has made a difference there in terms of what people put, what employers put on job applications as questions. 10:58:33 And certainly in terms of how interviews are done and the expectation of privacy as well as potential reasonable accommodation on the interview, is certainly one major impact. 10:58:37 And also if people want to share where they think work really needs to be done. 10:58:40 As I mentioned, the ADA doesn''t cover everything. 10:58:46 The ADA doesn''t cover federal-related items. 10:58:50 So a Federal government is covered under different law. 10:58:57 It doesn''t cover housing, which, of course, is a lot of issues around housing. 10:59:01 That is, for the most part, not covered by the ADA. 10:59:05 But I hear and maybe -- 10:59:07 >> MS. ALEXANDER: We''re seeing -- 10:59:08 >> MR. ZESSKI: Thank you. 10:59:10 >> MS. ALEXANDER: This is Karen. 10:59:15 We''re seeing visibility as people in professional and personal lives. 10:59:25 We''re also seeing increase in the awareness of the need to be inclusive or inclusion of people with disabilities. 10:59:26 >> MR. ZESSKI: Absolutely. 10:59:28 >> MS. ALEXANDER: And we have a question. 10:59:33 Could you review the IDE A for K through 12 again? 10:59:35 Just a brief overview would be great. 10:59:36 >> MR. ZESSKI: Sure. 10:59:49 The difference between the ADA and IDEA, is one major difference is funding. 11:00:09 The IDEA covers free and appropriate public education in schools K through 12 and with that the schools are required to provide aides and services to provide equal level in terms of opportunity of education. 11:00:36 And attached to the IDEA is funding to help pay for that. So, for example, let''s say we have a student who is in middle school and they have an i.e.P, which also comes under the IDEA. 11:00:39 Let''s say they have an aide for their classes. 11:00:51 They have an issue with their hands and are not able to write and take notes so they use a combination of technology and aide to do their work in class. 11:01:13 Paying for that position for an aide would come in part from IDEA funds, or paying for a piece of technology that a student needs in school to participate so let''s say someone needs an adaptive way to interact with a computer for school. 11:01:18 That technically would come under IDEA. 11:01:23 In contrast, the ADA doesn''t have any funds attached to it. 11:01:27 So there''s no Federal money available through the ADA. 11:01:53 But what is done by the ADA is that it says that students with disabilities have an equal right and that schools should provide the auxiliary aides and services but doesn''t provide the funding. 11:01:56 So that''s a very, very brief sketch. 11:02:06 I heard someone just add in, I was able to catch, yes, we have a lot more inclusion, but there''s definitely a long road ahead. 11:02:08 Definitely agree with that. 11:02:18 Ah, and the last person who said making sure that people with hidden disabilities are included in the ADA protections, that''s important. 11:02:24 I think there is still -- let me say it this way. 11:02:30 I think there''s a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about disabilities of all types. 11:02:33 I, myself, am someone who is blind. 11:02:35 I use a screen reader. 11:02:44 I have encountered in my professional and personal life my own sort of stereotypes that I''ve come across, which they''re more obvious. 11:03:07 My disability is more evident, but when you have someone who has, let''s say, a neurological condition that you can''t see how it impacts them, I think there still is a lot of stereotypes around that, in employment or in other areas of accessing public places. 11:03:12 Certainly there''s a lot of stereotypes around psychiatric disabilities unfor the faitly, still. 11:03:29 The ADA has made some improvement in that, and the recognition of different types of disabilities and that there is a need to accommodation them in employment and as well as sometimes in accessing public places. 11:03:36 But there''s still I think more road to go certainly in that area, too. 11:03:45 So that is an excellent point to highlight 11:03:49 All right. Well, that being said, I''ll -- 11:03:59 >> MS. FIORE: So, Joe, there was a question put in the Q and A section. 11:04:01 So I''ll just give you that one. 11:04:11 How might people who use breathing equipment or equipment with their mouth comply with wearing a mask in public? 11:04:18 >> MR. ZESSKI: That''s a question we''re about to talk to. 11:04:21 We''re about to go into the section of COVID-19. 11:04:25 Wearing facial coverings, masks, is a big, big part of that. 11:04:26 You''ll see that in the conversation. 11:04:29 So I''ll pause on answering that for now. 11:04:31 But I think we will get to it. 11:04:50 Whoever typed that in, if after the COVID-19 slides you don''t feel we covered it enough or your question wasn''t answered, do put it in again and we''ll circle back to it, but I think we''ll be addressing that in just a bit. 11:05:05 All right. That being said, we will pause and I will begin moving ahead 11:05:17 So with the Northeast ADA, I mention that we provide technical assistance, we do that through phone, e-mail and through the northeast ADA website. 11:05:49 And there are areas that we definitely hear more about than others and I''m going it talk about some of the areas that we get questions in most frequently or sometimes with the COVID-19 situation, things that have come up recently in the last several months that aren''t maybe historical questions that we''ve had but are certainly issues that we''ve seen really take a rise in the last several months 11:05:54 So there are three areas that I wanted to talk about here. 11:06:04 One is related to COVID-19 both in terms of the employment side of it and in terms of accessing public places. 11:06:12 Because there''s a lot of impact in terms of masks, wearing masks. 11:06:22 In terms of worrying about one''s health, underlying health conditions. 11:06:27 In terms of someone''s ability to safely interact in an VEENLT. 11:06:32 Those are all concerns that we''ve heard a lot about recently. 11:06:43 And historically, the Northeast ADA has gotten a large number of questions around reasonable accommodation and employment. 11:07:01 It''s probably actually along with facility access the most common topic that in the 9 years that I''ve been a part of the Northeast ADA. 11:07:20 Another area commonly is questions about service animals, the rights of people with service animals, and service animals accessing public places, issues that people have with individuals who have service animals or perhaps individuals who claim a dog is a service animal. 11:07:23 So I wanted to talk about that with you. 11:07:48 And, as I mentioned, I also wanted to talk about digital accessibility, because it is such an important part of our life today, that really has made a large impact on the ADA and the questions that we''ve gotten. 11:08:06 So let''s begin with COVID 18 and employment, and there''s a couple things to keep in mind here. 11:08:17 The agency that enforced ADA, equal employment opportunity commission, EEOC, has issued some guidance around COVID-19. 11:08:25 You can find it online, if you go to the EEOC website what they''ve issued about it. 11:08:33 They''ve also hosted a webinar back when the pandemic first began back in March. 11:08:35 So they do have some notable information out there. 11:08:42 A lot of it is about how to apply the ADA in a pandemic situation. 11:08:47 And obviously COVID-19 fit that description. 11:09:03 First, it''s important to note that the actual virus itself, having the virus itself, having the Coronavirus, as of now it''s not recognized as a disability. 11:09:08 And you may be wondering, if you have it why is it not considered a disability? 11:09:15 It really impacts your major life activities. 11:09:16 It does. 11:09:27 And certainly, the EEOC, I''m not sure what their particular understanding or reasoning is, it may be because of how the virus can certainly effect people in so many different ways. 11:09:33 How for some people, and the majority of people there aren''t severe symptoms. 11:09:44 And, of course, for those, though, who have underlying conditions often it is a very severe and can be life threatening. 11:09:56 So, again, it''s a matter of perspective, but as of now they are not, people with COVID-19 are not considered to have a disability. 11:10:32 That being said, the individuals who are in employment still have protections under the ADA, and an employer should understand that although COVID-19 itself may not having it may not be considered a disability, there are other factors to consider in terms of people with disabilities, who I mentioned, have underlying conditions which may make them much higher risk when they, if they contract COVID-19. 11:10:39 And the EEOC affirmed that the ADA still applies in multiple ways. 11:10:49 So, first, employers still need to provide reasonable accommodations. 11:11:04 So someone who may be at high risk because of a disability, let''s say someone has diabetes or someone has a condition that impacts their lung function. 11:11:19 Well, that individual may legitimately be at higher risk and may need to seek an accommodation, perhaps to work remotely, if possible. 11:11:26 And the fact that the individual has an underlying condition could be considered when looking at a reasonable accommodation request. 11:11:49 Or, let''s say we have a situation where someone uses a, something like a breathe tube or a SIP, to manipulate their computer or things in their environment, and an employer has a mandatory mask policy. 11:12:06 Well, the employer needs to look at and weigh providing this reasonable accommodation and whether or not this person would pose a direct threat to others. 11:12:12 And when they do that, they have to look at the credible evidence. 11:12:19 When you hear the word "direct threat" it''s meant to be based on evidentiary information. 11:12:22 So it has to be based on facts. 11:12:26 Not on, well, just because they have it, they''re going to be higher risk. 11:12:29 That''s not how the consideration process has to go. 11:12:41 An employer has to weigh the risk to individuals based on medical evidence and not based on speculation. 11:12:44 And this is also true for accessing public places. 11:12:47 But I''ll get more into that in just a moment 11:13:09 So an employer has to look at direct threat, and they have to consider whether or not someone has or needs a reasonable accommodation, and they have to be aware that they cannot discrimination based purely on the basis of someone having a disability. 11:13:46 So there are factors that every employer needs to look at and carefully consider when trying to decide what policies they''ll adopt ent workplace, how those will be carried out, how and who it would apply to and whether or not some individuals may need accommodations; whether it''s accommodations to be a part of the physical in-person workforce, or whether or not it could be considered to have a remote or telework situation, depending on their disability. 11:14:03 So there''s a lot of different factors to look at, and there''s not a straight one-size-fits-all answer to a lot of the employment questions we see. 11:14:16 Certainly, what could be helpful for an employer, what can be very useful is making policies that promote a clean environment. 11:14:37 Some may be even additional frequent cleaning where an individual with a disability may work could be a form of accommodation, even be above and beyond the other protocols. 11:14:39 [Coughing] pardon me. 11:14:40 Apologize. 11:14:42 Sorry for coughing in your ear 11:15:12 It could be that also, it really depends opt individual situation. The ADA itself doesn''t explicitly address something like a pandemic, but it is applied over the years in a consistent way, where you see these different things, that unless there''s truly an undue hardship, employers need to provide accommodation and you see these as well. 11:15:13 Let me pause. 11:15:20 I think a few people may have questions, particularly about employment, even before I get into going into public spaces what that is like. 11:15:32 Let me see if people have employment specific questions based on what we''ve had so far. 11:15:39 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Joe, you''re wondering if folks have employment-related questions that crossover between -- 11:15:43 >> MR. ZESSKI: COVID-19 specifically, yes. 11:16:03 >> MS. ALEXANDER Okay. Just checking. 11:16:18 >> MR. ZESSKI: One issue that may come up, which people mentioned here, may come across in their own work to support people with disabilities in employment, the issue around temperature taking. 11:16:21 People with disabilities aren''t exempt from that. 11:16:37 If an individual is part of the protocol for an office temperature taking is part of it, that is certainly something that an individual with disabilities can be subject to, as with other employees. 11:16:41 That''s a question that we have gotten as well as others 11:16:47 Well what I will do, let me go talk about -- 11:16:49 >> MS. FIORE: Joe, hi. 11:16:51 It''s Lisa. 11:17:02 I was the one that specifically asked you to address this topic, and I''ll put out a question that''s come across my desk, which is we have some individuals that we''re working with who are at risk. 11:17:03 They''ve been out of work. 11:17:12 You know, we''ve set up like a leave of absence for them. But they''re still not comfortable in returning to work. 11:17:23 And so, we want to make sure that we''re protecting their rights and their job and making sure that they''re still able to be able to return to work at some point 11:17:28 And depending on the type of job of what someone does, there are different options. 11:18:01 I think there''s a lot more possibilities for, depending, again, depending on the type of job that someone, does there certainly is a lot more room now to do remote work or telework as businesses in general, not just in terms of people with disabilities, have learned a lot in terms of being able to have a virtual office work environment. 11:18:44 And for people whose jobs are more direct involving the physical space they have, whether they''re meeting with people directly or need to be in a physical building because of what they do get back to the heart of -- let me go back to the previous slide -- get to the heart of making sure that a person with a disability has an equal opportunity to do the job functions, the essential parts of their job. 11:19:09 And the limit on reasonable accommodation is undue hardship; in other words, it''s something creates such a burden on an employer that it''s above and beyond being inconvenient or perhaps costing money, gets into impacting the very nature of how the employer operates and what they do. 11:19:18 An employer really needs to be creative and try to think of ways that they can safely have an environment. 11:19:24 And for the people, the employees with disabilities, they need to look. 11:19:35 Unfortunately, they need to look at the bottom line in terms of their own comfortability. 11:19:41 You know, what would eliminate or greatly reduce their own risk to coming into the workforce? 11:20:14 I actually have somewhat of a situation like that in my -- someone close to me, who hasan underlying condition that impacts their lung function, and because of that, being in a very high-risk category, they don''t want to return to a physical office and they''ve been able to work out, the nature of their job, work remotely. 11:20:32 However, if you can''t do that you want to work with your employer about having as much protection for yourself as you can, extra cleaning perhaps in addition to the CLAENG that''s done, or perhaps having policy to limit exposure to different places in a building or facility to have strict policies. 11:20:45 We talk about social distancing, that also should and can be observed in the job setting, too where physical space is provided so that people are not too close to one another as much as possible. 11:20:56 You know, it''s a very hard decision for people who know they have conditions that put them ent high-risk category, if they contract COVID. 11:21:01 And it''s not, it''s not an easy answer. 11:21:26 And so I suggest for those people, reaching out to others to help you think about ways that you can request accommodations that can try to make you as safe as possible, if an employer forces you to come back or if you have to come back to the physical work environment for one reason or another. 11:21:29 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Joe, we have another question here related to COVID-19. 11:21:31 This is Karen. 11:21:32 >> MR. ZESSKI: Yes, Karen. 11:21:42 >> MS. ALEXANDER: One of the more common vocal ticks for Turrets syndrome is throat clearing. 11:21:52 How can this be addressed in light of the pandemic since coughing is seen as having COVID? 11:22:06 >> MR. ZESSKI: This is unfortunate, in a situation they have to communicate with their employer. 11:22:23 They may or may not have communicated their Turrets with their employer, and you may want to share that with your employer because it''s a matter of education. 11:22:33 I would say in that case, communicate with the appropriate people at an employer, whether it''s human resources, or if it''s a smaller organization, a supervisor. 11:22:36 And say, for the person to say, I do have this condition. 11:23:02 I want you to know privately that one of the effects of it is that I frequently have to clear my throat, and I want you to know that it doesn''t mean that I''m symptomatic, and the employer has a responsibility to protect the individual''s privacy, but also to make sure that the person isn''t discriminated against. 11:23:28 Now, I think education is probably the best solution in that situation, where someone needs to let the individual needs to let the employer know, this is how my disability impacts me, and I want you to be aware of it given this pandemic, A + B does not necessarily equal C. 11:23:34 And so I think this is an opportunity for education. 11:23:57 Just briefly in terms of public places, we covered a lot of this concept in with a we were just talking about, but, again, public places, whether State, local government, Title II, or businesses under Title III, they do have to allow for accommodations. 11:24:23 What we''ve seen in a lot of Northeast Centers, there was something started where there were these cards or pamphlets purporting, supposing to be from the Department of Justice that said, you know, this person has a disability, or, therefore, they don''t have to wear a mask in public. 11:24:27 That was something that was not ever issued by the Department of Justice. 11:24:35 In fact, they came out specifically to alert the public that this -- there was no such item from them. 11:24:48 What the ADA has to say in terms of public access is that if people can wear masks, they are required to wear them, that that''s the current regulation where you are. 11:24:57 However, public places do need to allow for accommodation if someone can''t wear a mask. 11:25:01 So, accommodation could be several things. 11:25:09 One, it could be perhaps to allow the person to enter, you know, to enter the premises. 11:25:13 However, it could also be making other arrangements. 11:25:33 Let''s say someone is going to a car dealership and they want to meet with a salesperson, talk about buying a car, but they can''t Weir a mask because of PTSD perhaps or because they have a breathing condition where it would be difficult for them to wear it. 11:26:03 Well, the car dealer as an alternative could arrange perhaps to meet with the individual at another time either later hours or early hours where they could more easily guarantee social distancing or yes, good point, as someone just added in, you could also see if other types of facial protection would be used, like a face shield, rather than a face mask. 11:26:09 That''s another option that a business could look at or consider 11:26:15 So it''s important to know that sort of a balanced approach is what''s needed. 11:26:35 Face masks can be required, even for people with disabilities, but if you can''t wear one because of a condition, then a public place should look at accommodations of how they can still provide their programs, activities, their goods, their services to you as a person with disability. 11:26:40 It just may have to be in a slightly different way. 11:26:56 Important to note, too, for example, for us here in New Jersey, we''ve seen guidance and you''ve seen executive orders that require face masks, the wearing of face masks at different times, at least in terms of the state. 11:27:06 I''m not sure about county level, there is always a provision for people who cannot tolerate wearing a mask. 11:27:31 So, again, even outside of the ADA, it''s recognized there are instances where people are not able to use a mask and that the ADA is supporting or is part of the reason why there are exceptions to the ruley there''s intended to be -- 11:27:38 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Joe, we''ve got another question coming up in chat. 11:27:51 How does one address the need of a personal care assistant on the job if the person'' employment is limiting the number of people ept work setting? 11:28:01 Help needed also limits the ability to social distance in public settings, which sort of singles the person out for not social distancing. 11:28:12 >> MR. ZESSKI: I''ll address the first one, it''s an issue of accommodation, where employers don''t have to provide PS APs, personal attendant services. 11:28:20 They do need to allow the accommodation for people who have one to have a PC A come to the work environment. 11:28:30 So in terms of an employer, yes, they have the right to limit the number of employees in a building. 11:28:37 But they do have to look at how to accommodate the PCA. 11:29:05 If someone needs it in order to function, they do have to permit a PCA to come to the worksite perhaps at specific times and that may often be the case where perhaps a PCA comes in at different points of the day as opposed to being there all day. 11:29:13 The employee should go to the employer to talk about this issue because it''s necessary for the employee to be able to function and they are able to do the jobs. 11:29:22 And the employer should want to keep the, you know, this person in the workforce. 11:29:43 If they can''t accommodate them by remote work, the employer does have an obligation to look at how can they manage or reduce any risk that there may be from having a personal care attendant come into the office environment, even if it goes above and beyond the number of individuals permitted in a building. 11:29:52 Again, the ADA is a place to create equal opportunity and that relies on individual analysis. 11:30:08 So just as an employer can''t have a 100 percent health return to work policy, they have to recognize that all policies need to have a level of flexibility and consideration. 11:30:25 So if someone does need a PCA, that they have, they obviously pay for themselves or they provide themselves, but they need that PCA in order to complete a full workday, the employer does have to look at how to accommodate that. 11:30:33 And, again, it''s probably wearing safety personal protection equipment, PPE. 11:30:52 It may be an issue of having specific times that the PCA comes in to assist the person rather than being there all the time, depending on the nature of the disability and what kind of support PCA my provide. 11:31:00 >> MS. ALEXANDER: What I''m hearing you say it''s about being staggered and flex I believe, but being in communication to be flex I believe. 11:31:11 >> MR. ZESSKI: Yes, exactly, and about an employer being really cautious about an inflex I believe policy. 11:31:16 Things need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. 11:31:20 >> MS. FIORE: We have a question in the Q/Asection. 11:31:26 So a person with high risk with regard to COVID, is it his decision to be in the workforce or the employer''s? 11:31:29 Is a reasonable accommodation required? 11:31:30 I would think so. 11:31:35 Which has more weight, the person''s opinion or the employer''s opinion? 11:31:45 >> MR. ZESSKI: Here''s what I''ll say about that. 11:31:51 In terms of this issue, there''s no guidance on who has the greater say. 11:32:02 Ultimately, as a general rule or a general principle of the ADA, ultimately the employer decides the reasonable accommodation. 11:32:11 It has to be effective, and, you know, meet the need of the accommodation request. 11:32:30 Where you have a situation like this with someone not wanting to come back to the workforce or the work environment because of a safety issue, the employer does need to look at that and can the person''s job be done remotely or continued remotely? 11:32:42 Is the person able to do their essential functions of their job from a remote setting? 11:32:51 Or does -- could the person request leave as a form of reasonable accommodation. 11:32:54 Let''s say their job cannot be done remotely. 11:33:04 Can the person request leave as a form of accommodation, that might be another option to explore. 11:33:16 Perhaps the person might feel uncomfortable after returning there''s been more sort of public immunity to the virus established, perhaps, but an employer does need to consider the person''s request. 11:33:30 But, unfortunately, in the most drilled-down format, it is the employer''s decision about what an accommodation is. 11:33:50 However, again, the employer does need to give legitimate consideration to those other types of accommodations I mentioned, whether telework, remote work or perhaps leave, if a person is requesting that, and they need someone physically to be in the environment. 11:34:01 >> MS. FIORE: So we did have a response also in the chat on this, that says, can an employer require a doctor''s note for high-risk individuals? 11:34:09 >> MR. ZESSKI: Yes, and that''s a part of the way part of the employer implementation process. 11:34:13 Perhaps the employer says, well, you do have high risk. 11:34:19 They can request medical documentation from the medical provider that you are in a high-risk category. 11:34:39 And actually the individual I mentioned earlier that I''m personally familiar with, exactly fits into that category, where she is someone with a neurological condition and, again, effecting lungs, goes to a clinic and she got that sort of documentation to work remotely. 11:34:43 Just to go back to I think it was Jesse''s question. 11:34:51 I apologize if I have your name wrong, a question about social distancing. 11:34:54 I don''t know this is so much an AD A issue. 11:34:56 I understand the concern and you''re right. 11:34:58 If someone needs support. 11:35:06 Generally, though, people are permitted to be with family members and obviously a caretaker is not a family member. 11:35:37 Depending on your perspective you may see it as someone ho is just an employee that is working for a person with a desability or perhaps another relationship, but either way, I think if the person indicates that, you know, this is my assistant PCA, I need them because of disability need, a business should and must respect that. 11:35:41 Getting to that concept I talked about earlier, association. 11:35:51 Someone associated with a person with a disability also should be accommodated. 11:35:59 So in terms of the stigma, unfortunately, that''s a larger issue outside of the ADA, where I don''t think there is a great solution. 11:36:15 We try to do education awareness about the need for people with disabilities being maybe different than perhaps some other individuals, but there''s no great solution to that I don''t think unfortunately. 11:36:28 All right. Let me -- I''ll move forward to the other topics, but we''re going to have more time at the end for additional Q and A. 11:36:36 I will move on just to finish our slides but then we''ll come back and leave plenty of time for questions 11:36:38 So what are service animals? 11:36:49 Again, I mentioned there''s a lot of confusion in the public about what a service animal is, where they''re allowed to go, what makes a service animal. 11:36:59 Basically, the ADA has a definition and this definition was slightly different than when the ADA was first passed. 11:37:07 This definition here is that it''s a dog individually trained to do a specific task for a person with a disability. 11:37:11 This applies under Title II and III. 11:37:16 So this applies in state and local government and businesses. 11:37:36 So in terms of a job being on the job, service animals don''t have a definition there and actually a service animal would be a form of reasonable accommodation to request, but it doesn''t have the same guaranteed protections, if you will, as you do in Titles II and III. 11:37:42 So a service animal basically needs to be allowed wherever the public is generally permitted to go. 11:37:44 Again, it is a dog. 11:37:50 It used to be that any kind of animal could be a service animal initially in the ADA. 11:37:58 So you had things, I think someone typed in way back earlier, you know, you''ve heard of people saying snakes and monkeys as service animals. 11:38:06 There was a time where that could be, actually, which raised a lot of issues for businesses, as you understand. 11:38:20 You think back, for those of you might remember, I think in 2017 or 2018 you had someone bring a peacock to Newark airport and tried to pass it off as a service animal. 11:38:27 Again, what is truly a service an small a dog trained to do a specific task. 11:38:28 Why is that important? 11:38:38 Because a service animal has to do something for the person with a disability, above and beyond just providing general emotional support. 11:38:54 The regulations for this part of the ADR are written by the Department of Justice primarily and while they specifically note the importance and emotional value that animals can bring, it is not considered a task to provide emotional support. 11:39:01 That doesn''t mean that you can''t have a psychiatric -- excuse me, a psychiatric service animal. 11:39:02 You certainly can. 11:39:13 You may have a dog that''s trained to bring someone their medicine, if they''re having a psychiatric issue. 11:39:19 Someone like a dog might be trained to disrupt a panic attack for someone who may have PTSD. 11:39:24 There are all sorts of functions that dogs doa wide variety. 11:39:33 certainly, they''re a lot more come, but they always have to be under the control of the owner. 11:39:37 Typically, not always, if on a leisure or harness. 11:39:44 If the owner can use a leisure or harness, the animal should have one. 11:39:49 If someone has a disability, let''s say maybe they have spina bifida. 11:39:51 They don''t have use of their hands. 11:40:10 Because of their disability, then as long as they maintain voice or verbal control over the animal, that is okay. A service animal should not be randomly barking or running around away from its owner. 11:40:12 It is a working animal 11:40:15 Now, as I said, these are dogs. 11:40:24 However, there is one exception that''s permitted and that is for miniature horses. 11:40:29 That''s the one possible exception to a service animal being a dog. 11:40:33 And I don''t think we often see a lot of them. 11:40:55 They''re certainly much more rare, especially in our area of New Jersey, but certainly there are a few, and it''s important to recognize that miniature horses can be service animals and have the same rights to go into public places that dogs do 11:41:09 The other thing that often people ask about is both from an individual, from an owner/handler point of view and from a business/government point of view what can we ask about service animals? 11:41:13 Really there''s only two questions permitted by the Department of Justice. 11:41:23 Is this animal a service animal needed because of a disability skBR what task has it been trained to perform? 11:41:26 A business can''t ask for a dem skPRAGS of a task. 11:41:30 They can''t ask for a license or certification. 11:41:38 Important to note, there is no national Federal service animal database or registration. 11:41:40 There are companies that you can find. 11:41:42 You can go look on Amazon. 11:41:48 You can buy something that purports to be a service animal license or registration. 11:41:53 Those have no legal weight. 11:42:05 And while they may make some people feel more confident, they have no legal weight in a business or public place can''t ask for such documentation. 11:42:11 So, those are a few things about service animals I wanted to highlight. 11:42:47 Really quickly, I do want to talk about digital accessibility, because I mentioned so much more is happening online and virtually, while the ADA doesn''t have any explicit reference regulation to point to, it does require, and the Department of Justice in particular does require that places that have public websites make sure that they are accessible so that people with disabilities have equal level of access and are provided effective communication. 11:43:11 When I say there''s no standard, here''s what I mean by that, when you think about the built environment, we mentioned how now you see curb cuts and flatten trances, a lot of that is because there is an accessibility standard for physical access attached or enforced originally going back to the ADA. 11:43:16 There are standards called the 2010 ADA standards for accessible design. 11:43:24 They impact the built environment, and in order to be ADA compliant, a building, a structure has to meet those standards. 11:43:48 There''s not a similar regulation for digital accessibility, but that being said, in its guidance to state and local governments, the Department of Justice has made a small document about ensuring effective communication through digital access for state and local government agencies. 11:44:05 The Department of Justice also issued a letter I believe in 2018 to a representative from North Carolina and I''m blanking on this representative''s name. 11:44:08 It''s Ted and I can''t think of his last name. 11:44:15 That it holds that the ADA applies to the websites of businesses, and that those websites should be accessible. 11:44:45 So it''s a little bit of a sticky issue, where we have an expectation that a website is accessible, but we don''t necessarily have clear standards in that gap both legal precedent as well as some Department of Justice activities have filled that, and there''s something called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. 11:44:50 It''s an international Stan DAPD, been updated to 2.1. 11:45:01 This 2.0 standard has been the measuring stick through private lawsuits under the ADA as well as the Department of Justice enforcement activities. 11:45:25 And just to give you a quick sense of what this WCAG is, you see here on the slide, it basically sets up, designed to set up website and digital accessibility to focus around 4 key ideas; that something is perceiveable, that it''s operable, that it''s usable and that it''s robust. 11:45:30 The perceiveable is that people are able to see what''s being conveyed and understand it. 11:45:51 So if something is shown by just color, let''s say you have some important information being communicated by a graph and it''s purely done only by color, someone with either color blindness or with perhaps a general visual-related disability, wouldn''t necessarily be able to understand that information. 11:45:54 So that information needs to be provided somewhere else. 11:46:07 Or pictures on websites, and graphs, need all text so that someone using a screen reader, like myself, for example, would be able to know what information is. 11:46:34 And then the other principles are the same, for operable, someone who is is not able to use a mouse, say they use a SIP, maybe they''re using a keyboard, a tab, they need to be able to move through the website and make sure that it''s operable and that they can then use all the different parts of it. 11:46:38 The idea is that this standard is meant to be not just a onetime. 11:46:47 It''s meant to be flexible, bass as we all know digital things change so fast in terms of what websites are and can do. 11:47:05 If you think back ten years ago, maybe 15 years ago when you that dialup, for those of you who remember dialup, websites looked a lot different than what we have now because they could do a lot less back then in terms of the digital architecture and space. 11:47:18 But this standard, WCAG has been seen as sort of the default setting for accessibility in terms of creating digital access. 11:47:32 And while it''s not officially adopted by any standard under the ADA, it''s become sort of the standard through common usage 11:47:33 Just real quick. 11:47:44 Again, you''ll see this on the slide deck that you''re going to be sent, the PDFof the slides that you''ll be able to access at the link. 11:47:46 It has my contact information. 11:47:58 I''m going to be here until 12 and a little bit past it actually for questions, but I wanted to let you know if you have this, you can always reach out to me with my direct contact info. 11:48:00 You could e-mail me, call me. 11:48:02 Again, everything we share is confidential. 11:48:10 So if you feel that you have a question you want to talk to me about that you don''t want to share N front of the group, I totally understand that. 11:48:16 Just feel free to reach out to me through here. 11:48:21 I want to leave this up as we go to question and answers, Karen. 11:48:29 This link here on the slide, I do ask people, if you have time to take, it''s about less than 5 minutes. 11:48:41 It''s a survey link about the training today in terms of the things that I''ve talked about and whether they were clear and whether I sort of met what you may have been looking for. 11:48:48 Hopefully so I hopefully touched on what had you. 11:48:57 This is for the Northeast ADA, if you could take the time to finish it I would appreciate it. 11:49:03 And Karen, maybe open it up to see if people have questions in the chat box. 11:49:15 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Sure, Joe, I would be happy to and I want to say on behalf of NN APSE and the Bloustein school, thank you for being with us today. 11:49:16 You covered a lot. 11:49:22 >> MR. ZESSKI: It was a lot. 11:49:27 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Physical changes how the world has changed at that level, talking about inclusion. 11:49:29 There''s so much more to do. 11:49:31 We''ve seen progress. 11:49:32 There''s more to do. 11:50:02 As technology changes they''ll be even more to do, but we can look back on these 30 years and see more opportunity in the world of employment, protections for people once they have jobs, accommodations to help them keep jobs, all tied back to the ADA, as well as physical access in terms of public transportation and public spaces, again, creating more opportunity for people with a range of disabilities and I think you also really touched on specifically for people with hearing impairments and impa 11:50:23 visual impairments, in terms of people crossing the street, participating in something like this today with closed capping, and really that ties back over this 30-year arc. 11:50:37 For those of us who remember the world before we can see that change and did you a good job of giving us a glimpse backward and a little bit of a glimpse forward in terms of where more work is still needed. 11:50:40 >> MR. ZESSKI: There is and it''s ongoing work too. 11:50:57 We had a couple of questions about hidden disabilities, and I mentioned the challenge with those is that, 1), there can still be a lot of misconceptions out there around them, particularly with psychiatric disabilities, but with other hidden disabilities, too. 11:51:04 And it''s also a matter of how individuals see themselves that''s an issue. 11:51:18 If, you know, one of the most, the largest populations for people with disabilities, as you might guess, is people who are in the older age bracket because people tend to acquire disabilities as we age. 11:51:23 People often, though, don''t think of it as a disability or having a right. 11:51:29 So someone may think of it as, oh, I have bad knees now. 11:51:31 They may have knee replacements, whatever. 11:51:35 And they just think, well, it''s part of getting old. 11:51:44 They pay not think of, per se, oh, does this mean anything in terms of access or my rights to access place because they don''t any of it as a disability. 11:51:54 And that, I think, is one issue that is changing somewhat, but I think that''s important to keep in mind. 11:52:29 And that for people who maybe are younger in the workforce have hidden disabilities, they face a different question where it''s about, and I''ve talked to people on our technical assistance line about this issue, it''s really a personal decision of disclosure versus do you want to Quote/Unquote pass this because you work at a place that may not be accommodating or well come to go someone with a disability and that''s a hard decision people have to weigh. 11:52:30 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Absolutely. 11:52:39 Joe, I just want to make sure everyone''s aware that the link to the survey has been put in chat so people can get that quickly. 11:53:11 And I would be remiss if I didn''t thank Tamaras Swedberg, for all of our planning with our webinar. I''ll turn it back to you, Joe for questions. 11:53:25 >> MR. ZESSKI: Obviously, I''ve talked about ADA providing equal opportunity and not necessarily the same result, but people with disabilities through the ADA have a much greater chance of that equal opportunity. 11:53:46 We''ve made progress in terms of the different issues of the ADA and it''s important to keep that perspective where we''ve been and where we are going as well. 11:53:48 >> MS. ALEXANDER: Terrific. 11:53:49 Thank you very much, Joe. 11:53:51 Thank you for your presentation and for your time. 11:53:57 Lisa, I want to turn it back to you for any final closing comments. 11:53:59 >> MS. FIORE: Thanks, Karen. 11:54:11 We are getting some thank you''s, in the chat box and I just wanted to also let everyone know to look for a link from NJAPSE for this presentation. 11:54:15 We are also doing a follow-up just program evaluation. 11:54:37 So a link is going to be sent to you from Survey Monkey to just give us some feedback and I wanted to give another plug for NJ APSE, is anyone is interested in being a member or learning more about that, my name and contact information was listed on the initial flyer when you registered. 11:54:57 So you can reach out to me and then I can put you in contact with our membership committee and some other folks, Margaret Gilbright our president and some other people from NJAPSE who can talk to you more about the membership for this organization. 11:55:12 We''re really out in the community getting individuals aware of people working with disabilities and this presentation is all about the ADA and the rights of individuals with disabilities and national APSE is also offering a national conference virtually. 11:55:24 So there''s a lot of great things going on across the country, and New Jersey is definitely in the mix of that and really working towards building the rights and the services geared towards individuals with disabilities. 11:55:29 So we thank you all for participating, and for being here today. 11:55:44 We hope that you gain some great knowledge from the presentation and thanks again, Joe, and definitely Tamara for all of your efforts in putting this program together. 11:55:44 Thank you. 11:55:46 >> MR. ZESSKI: Thank you. 11:55:51 As I said earlier, I will remain on for a few minutes if people have other questions and want to wait and chat. 11:55:54 I will stay around for a few more minutes after. 11:56:10 Otherwise, everyone else, have a very nice day