The Americans with Disabilities Act and How It Impacts Businesses

In all growing businesses, their clients are the highest priorities when it comes to services, benefits, activities, and programs in their facilities. Each client deserves the right to be treated in an equal holistic manner that is integrated under the management’s care. Most businesses improve their servitude to their clients by promoting customer satisfaction through the implementation of equality and fair treatment.

Clients are part of a businesses’ integral system. Since clients come in different shapes and sizes, the business owners should accommodate to their every possible need. The diversity among people with regards to their race, gender, religion, and disabilities, should not be a factor that will hinder them from receiving equal treatment inside a business’s premises.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that was enacted in 1990 and amended in 2008. This law was formulated primarily to protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination, making the businesses compliant in providing ease of access and services that would otherwise be difficult for people with disabilities to avail.

Businesses that did not previously provide ease of access to their establishment or services are liable, and will receive penalties, if they do not make the modifications mandated by the ADA law to their establishments.

The common modifications in a business establishment include:

·         Building ramps for people in wheelchairs

·         Allowing access for animals that are used by people with disabilities (such as seeing-eye dogs) where they used to be prohibited

·         Providing handicap parking signs

·         Adding signs to your establishment to make people with disabilities aware of where such parking spaces are located

For business owners, modifying the establishments may mean additional expenses to the budget that would seem as unnecessary when looking at their businesses’ finances. However, there are almost 200 million Americans with disabilities between the ages of 16-64 and over 23 million of them are employed. This means additional profit for any businesses.

People with disabilities are potential customers and like non-disabled clients, they should be the top most priorities as well. Therefore, these modifications can make the businesses feel more welcoming to those who are disabled and handicapped.

There are also advocacy groups or organizations that support people with disabilities. They can promote the businesses that have good accommodations for the disabled people, making these businesses’ reputation stellar to the community.

Businesses that gain a good reputation from their handicapped clients are assured of loyalty, which in return make their profit grow steadily. Having disabilities may limit an individual’s physical and mental capacity, but it must not limit them from engaging in the services, benefits, activities, and programs rendered by these businesses.