Customer Accessibility Policy

Purpose and Scope

Your Business welcomes customers, clients, patients and visitors with disabilities. This policy explains how Your Business makes its goods, services and facilities accessible, as required by Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the U.S. Department of Justice regulations at 28 CFR Part 36.

This policy applies to all Your Business locations open to the public, including:

• Retail stores and showrooms
• Restaurants, cafés and bars
• Hotels, motels and other lodging

The policy applies to all employees, managers and contractors who serve the public on behalf of Your Business. Your Business will serve people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs and will not charge them extra for any measure this policy requires.

State law also allows service animals in training to accompany their trainers in places open to the public. Your Business follows that rule.

General Commitments

Your Business follows these rules:

• Your Business will not use rules or requirements that screen out people with disabilities unless the rule is truly necessary to provide the service. For example, where photo ID is needed, staff will accept a state ID card, not only a driver's license.
• Safety rules will be based on actual risks, not on speculation, stereotypes or generalizations about people with disabilities.
• Your Business will not charge a customer with a disability, or any group of customers with disabilities, extra to cover the cost of auxiliary aids, barrier removal or policy changes this policy requires.
• Staff will speak directly to the customer, not only to a companion, and will not ask about the nature or extent of anyone's disability.
• Staff will keep accessible features, such as ramps, accessible parking, routes, restrooms and elevators, clear and in working order. Isolated or temporary interruptions for maintenance or repairs will be fixed promptly.

Service Animals

Your Business allows service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where customers are allowed to go. Under 28 CFR 36.104:

Service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual's disability. Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. The crime deterrent effects of an animal's presence and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition.

Staff will follow these rules:

• When it is not obvious what the dog does, staff may ask only two questions: (1) Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? (2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
• Staff will not ask about the person's disability, ask for medical documentation or a certificate, ask for an ID card or vest, or ask the dog to demonstrate its task.
• The dog must be under the handler's control, using a harness, leash or tether unless the handler's disability prevents it or it would interfere with the dog's work, in which case voice, signal or other control is used.
• Staff may ask that the dog be removed only if it is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it, or if it is not housebroken. Allergies or fear of dogs are not reasons to exclude a service animal; staff will find a way to serve both people, such as seating them apart.
• If a dog is properly excluded, staff will offer the person the chance to get the goods or services without the dog on the premises.
• Your Business is not responsible for caring for or supervising a service animal.
• Your Business will not charge a pet fee or deposit for a service animal, but may charge for damage the animal causes if it normally charges customers for damage they cause.
• Staff will also make reasonable changes to allow a miniature horse that has been individually trained to do work or tasks, after considering its size and weight, the handler's control, whether it is housebroken and whether it compromises legitimate safety requirements.