Italicized text was added to the original Title II Technical Assistance
Manual through supplements issued in 1993 and 1994.
The ADA provides for equality of opportunity, but does not guarantee equality of results. The foundation of many of the specific requirements in the Department's regulations is the principle that individuals with disabilities must be provided an equally effective opportunity to participate in or benefit from a public entity's aids, benefits, and services.
ILLUSTRATION 1: A deaf individual does not receive an equal opportunity to benefit from attending a city council meeting if he or she does not have access to what is said.
ILLUSTRATION 2: An individual who uses a wheelchair will not have an equal opportunity to participate in a program if applications must be filed in a second-floor office of a building without an elevator, because he or she would not be able to reach the office.
ILLUSTRATION 3: Use of printed information alone is not "equally effective" for individuals with vision impairments who cannot read written material.
On the other hand, as long as persons with disabilities are afforded an equally effective opportunity to participate in or benefit from a public entity's aids, benefits, and services, the ADA's guarantee of equal opportunity is not violated.
ILLUSTRATION 4: A person who uses a wheelchair seeks to run for a State elective office. State law requires the candidate to collect petition signatures in order to qualify for placement on the primary election ballot. Going door-to-door to collect signatures is difficult or, in many cases, impossible for the candidate because of the general inaccessibility of private homes. The law, however, provides over five months to collect the signatures and allows them to be collected by persons other than the candidate both through the mail and at any site where registered voters congregate. With these features, the law affords an equally effective opportunity for the individual who uses a wheelchair to seek placement on the ballot and to participate in the primary election process.
Also, the ADA generally does not require a State or local government entity to provide additional services for individuals with disabilities that are not provided for individuals without disabilities.
ILLUSTRATION 5: The ADA does not require a city government to provide snow removal service for the private driveways of residents with disabilities, if the city does not provide such service for residents without disabilities.
Finally, the ADA permits a public entity to offer benefits to individuals with disabilities, or a particular class of individuals with disabilities, that it does not offer to individuals without disabilities. This allows State and local governments to provide special benefits, beyond those required by the ADA, that are limited to individuals with disabilities or a particular class of individuals with disabilities, without thereby incurring additional obligations to persons without disabilities or to other classes of individuals with disabilities.
ILLUSTRATION 6: The ADA does not
require a State government to continue providing medical support
payments to dependent children with schizophrenia, if other dependent
children without disabilities are also ineligible for continued
coverage. This is true even if the State chooses to provide continued
coverage to a particular class of children with disabilities (e.g.,
those with physical impairments, or those who have mental retardation).
Specific requirements for physical access to programs and
communications are discussed in detail below, but the general principle
underlying these obligations is the mandate for an equal opportunity to
participate in and benefit from a public entity's services, programs,
and activities.
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