Court Program Accessibility - ADA and Washington State Information

Model Policies

Model Notice Under the Americans with Disabilities Act

The ADA requires ALL state and local governments, including courts, covered by title II, to provide public notice about the ADA, regardless of size. There are three main considerations for providing notice:

1. Who is the target audience for the ADA notice? 
2. What information shall the notice include?
3. Where and how should the notice be provided?

Model Job Description for an ADA Coordinator

All state and local government entities, including courts, with 50 or more employees, must have a designated ADA Coordinator. Having an ADA Coorinator benefits the courts and court users.  Having an ADA Coordinator makes it easy to identify someone to help court users with questions and concerns about possible accommodations. An effective ADA Coordinator helps cases flow smoothly with limited delay. For example, the ADA Coordinator is often the main contact when someone wishes to request an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, such as a sign language interpreter or documents in Braille. A knowledgeable ADA Coordinator will be able to efficiently assist people with disabilities with their questions. 

Model Grievance Procedure

All state and local governments, including courts, with 50 or more employees are required to adopt and publish grievance procedures providing for prompt and fair resolution of complaints of discrimination on the basis of disability.

Model Service Animal Policy

ADA requires ALL state and local governments, including courts, to modify policies to permit the use of a service animal by an individual with a disability, unless doing so would result in a fundamental alteration or jeopardize the safe operation of the entity.

Service animals include any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. Tasks typically performed by service animals include guiding people with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to the presence of intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or retrieving dropped items.