A Meaningful Opportunity to Participate

A Handbook for Georgia Court Officials on Courtroom Accessibility
for Individuals with Disabilities

Introduction

Disability is a natural part of life. There are over 1.4 million Georgians with some kind of disability. Some Georgians acquire disabilities at birth, such as cerebral palsy, while others acquire them later in life, such as a spinal cord injury. Some people have obvious disabilities, such as blindness, while others experience disabilities coined as "hidden," such as diabetes, deafness, HIV infection and epilepsy. Some individuals undergoing cancer treatment experience disability on a temporary basis, while others have permanently disabling conditions that may be progressive in nature. As a result of disabilities, many Georgians are significantly restricted in their ability to hear, see, think, breathe, walk or conduct many other life activities.

Citizens with disabilities play an important role in all Georgia's communities and families. At any given time, these citizens may come into contact with our court system. Citizens with disabilities may serve as jurors, may appear as parties or witnesses in a trial, or may choose to attend a hearing as observers. More and more frequently, people with disabilities will be serving as lawyers, clerks, court reporters, and judges in the Georgia court system.

While some individuals with disabilities are able to take part in various court processes and activities without difficulty, for many others their disabilities combined with environmental obstacles impose significant barriers to an equal opportunity to participate. Therefore, Georgia courts have an affirmative obligation to identify and remove barriers for people with disabilities so they can access court programs and services, including judicial proceedings, jury service, and courthouse meetings.

Common barriers to access include:

• Lack of awareness or unintended insensitivity to disability-related concerns

• Lack of effective auxiliary aids and services for individuals with communication disabilities

• Inaccessible court facilities for individuals with mobility impairments

• Inflexible court policies, practices and procedures

Our Challenge

Disability presents two related, yet distinct, challenges for Georgia courts. The first challenge involves developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to address general accessibility concerns for Georgians with disabilities, including but not limited to removing architectural barriers in courthouses, installing assistive listening systems in courtrooms, providing materials in alternative formats and making court websites accessible for people who use assistive technology. These actions improve access to the courts for many people.

The second challenge involves interacting with people with disabilities as individuals, and not just as members of a group. No two people with disabilities are alike; each individual has unique skills, aptitudes, and capacities. Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary to provide an individualized accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter for a person who is deaf, to ensure an equal opportunity to be heard in the administration of justice. Moreover, an accommodation that works well for one individual with a disability may not work as well for someone else with a similar disability. Thus, courts must evaluate on a case-by-case basis each request for a reasonable accommodation by a person with a disability.

Our Approach

This handbook is designed to accomplish two tasks: (1) to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the rights of people with disabilities in clear, easy-to-understand language; and (2) to build the capacity of judges, bailiffs, clerks, and other courthouse personnel to effectively identify and remove the barriers to full participation that individuals with disabilities encounter in Georgia courtrooms.

To address these challenges, this handbook follows the framework established in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

On May 17, 2004, in Tennessee v. Lane, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a State is not immune from an ADA lawsuit brought regarding the accessibility of a county courthouse. The Court determined that Congress had the Constitutional authority to pass the ADA to enforce the "due process and equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to combat unfair discrimination in the administration of justice. The Supreme Court's decision in Lane reaffirms the ongoing responsibility of Georgia courts to accommodate individuals with disabilities under Title II of the ADA. The Lane decision does not impose any new accessibility requirements on courts. Instead, Lane reinforces the need for courts to have greater awareness and understanding about the current requirements of the ADA.

The ADA only sets minimum standards for accessibility and accommodations. Given the scope of the challenges that courts face in addressing disability-related issues, courts must recognize and remember that the ADA was designed to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. When courts are asked to take steps to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to court programs, services, and activities, it is important to view such requests in the context of the civil rights of an individual with a disability, instead of seeing ADA compliance as an unwanted mandate.

This handbook is not intended as a complete ADA compliance manual; it is a resource for Georgia courts. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) maintains an ADA technical assistance manual for Title II entities at: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/taman2.html. Also, Appendix E contains additional reference information for judges and court administrators on federal and state law applicable to courts.

The Benefits

The benefits of providing disability-related accommodations greatly outweigh the associated costs. These benefits include:

• Ensuring due process, equal protection, and civil rights of individuals with disabilities;

• Empowering Georgia's citizens with disabilities to fully participate in the judicial system by exercising the rights and responsibilities expected of all citizens, such as jury service;

• Increasing the capacity of Georgia's courts to respond to accommodation requests and the specific needs of individuals with disabilities; and

• Enhancing the usability and accessibility of Georgia's courts for a broad range of people with and without disabilities.

© Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness in the Courts, December 2004

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