Disability Rights Nation May 16-31

From Ragged Edge's D. R. Nation department May/June, 1999

Office building charged for refusing to rent to crip group New on-line resource for acessible web sites ADA victory Stores agree to access Swifty Marts, a convenience store chain in the Southeast, agreed with the Justice Department in April to modify its 53 stores to accommodate customers with disabilities. The out-of-court settlement resolves allegations that Suwannee Swifty Convenience Stores, located in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by failing to provide refueling assistance or accessible parking and routes for disabled customers. ADA victory Office building charged with refusing to rent to crip group "Refusing to lease to organizations merely because they serve people with disabilities is a flagrant ADA violation and will not be tolerated, " said Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, in announcing a settlement arranged by the Justice Department between the The Endependence Center, an independent living based in Arlington, VA, and the Canadian-based TrizecHahn Corporation. When the Endependence Center tried to lease office space in TrizecHahn's Rosslyn, Virginia, building, the leasing agent refused to enter into any negotiations with the center and instead "simply refused to lease the space to the center solely because the center serves persons with disabilities, a direct violation of the ADA, " said the Justice Department. Help in making web sites accessible The Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education (AWARE) Center http://aware.hwg.org/ is a new online resource to show web designers how to make web sites that can be used by everyone. The site has an introduction to web accessibility, tips and techniques on improving access to sites and links to disability and universal access sites--including the must-read Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), whose Web Accessibility Initiative has created the definitive reference for ensuring all users can access information placed on the web. Back to table of contents