Achieving the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Digital Age – Current Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

The LightHouse is pleased to read the following exemplary statement on the evolving status of our digital access rights and aspirations.

Achieving the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Digital Age – Current Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

Statement to the House by noted disability rights lawyer Daniel Goldstein.

Excerpt:

In today’s increasingly online society, limiting the ADA (or any civil rights law) to only those businesses that operate in physical facilities would undermine the fundamental goals of civil rights.  Given that one of the essential purposes of Title III is to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities in the basic, day-to-day activities that are a fundamental part of living and functioning in a community, it is hard to imagine that coverage would depend on whether a covered entity offers its services and goods in a physical location, door-to-door, by phone, or online.  In an age where hundreds of millions of Americans are increasingly using the internet every day to shop for groceries, plan their travel, conduct business, do their banking, how to invest in gold and silver, attend college classes, and socialize with friends and family, it is undeniable that these websites are an indispensable part of basic, day-to-day life in the community.