Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements Policy #18: Program Accessibility and Civil Rights Requirements
This content is part of a public comment period. For more information, refer to Minnesota Board on Aging – State Plan on Aging.
Authority Reference | OAA, Sec. 306 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (governing regulations in 45 CFR Part 80) Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (governing regulations contained in 45 CFR Part 84) Minnesota Human Rights Act of 1989, MN Stat. 363A Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and amendments thereto |
Operating Category | Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements |
Policy
1. In accordance with Sec. 306 of the OAA and 45 CFR Part 1321, Subpart C, the MBA sets forth standards for AAA operations which are reflected in the Area Plan Assurances.
A. The MBA must ensure non-discrimination in its programs and services and specific outreach efforts to targeted populations. All Title III funds must be administered in compliance with the above referenced citations and amendments thereto. The MBA, AAAs and direct service grantees and contractors receiving federal funds must periodically review their policies and practices to determine whether discriminatory practices are occurring, and take corrective action when necessary, to assure compliance with the above statutes and regulations. Assurances must be signed in the Area Plan, and in grant and contract awards, verifying this.
2. It is the policy of the MBA to make services available to all older persons without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, disability, or sex. All programs receiving federal funding must include a non-discrimination notice, which includes all of the above protected categories on all written communications to the public, including brochures, bulletins, and posters.
A. AAAs must make available to employees, applicants, participants, beneficiaries, and all other interested persons information regarding this part in a manner necessary to apprise individuals of the protections against discrimination assured them by Section 504.
B. AAAs must notify the general public and persons with disabilities about the reasonable accommodations that are available.
3. AAAs shall take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with applicants, participants, members of the public, and companions with disabilities are as effective as communications with others. For purposes of this policy, “companion” means a family member, friend, or associate of an individual seeking access to a program or activity of an AAA, who, along with such individual, is an appropriate person with whom the AAA should communicate.
A. The AAA shall furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to afford qualified individuals with disabilities, including applicants, participants, beneficiaries, companions, and members of the public, an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of the AAA’s program or activity. The type of auxiliary aid or service necessary to ensure effective communication will vary in accordance with the method of communication used by the individual; the nature, length, and complexity of the communication involved; and the context in which the communication is taking place. In determining what types of auxiliary aids and services are necessary, the AAA shall give primary consideration to the requests of individuals with disabilities. In order to be effective, auxiliary aids and services must be provided in accessible formats, in a timely manner, and in such a way as to protect the privacy and independence of the individual with a disability.
B. An AAA shall not require an individual with a disability to bring another individual to interpret for him or her. An AAA shall not rely on an adult accompanying an individual with a disability to interpret or facilitate communication except in an emergency involving an imminent threat to the safety or welfare of an individual or the public where there is no interpreter available; or when the individual with a disability specifically requests that the accompanying adult interpret or facilitate communication, the accompanying adult agrees to provide such assistance, and reliance on that adult for such assistance is appropriate under the circumstances.
C. An AAA shall not rely on a minor child to interpret or facilitate communication, except in an emergency involving an imminent threat to the safety or welfare of an individual or the public when there is no interpreter available.
D. When the AAA chooses to provide qualified interpreters via video remote interpreting services (VRI), it shall ensure that it provides real-time, full-motion video and audio over a dedicated high-speed, wide-bandwidth video connection or wireless connection that delivers high quality video images that do not produce lags, choppy, blurry, or grainy images, or irregular pauses in communication; a sharply delineated image that is large enough to display the interpreter’s face, arms, hands, and fingers, and the participating individual’s face, arms, hands, and fingers, regardless of their body position; a clear, audible transmission of voices; and adequate training to users of the technology and other involved individuals so that they may quickly and efficiently set up and operate the VRI.
4. Where an AAA communicates by telephone with applicants and beneficiaries, text telephones (TTYs) or equally effective telecommunications systems shall be used to communicate with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing or have speech impairments. When an AAA uses an automated-attendant system, including, but not limited to, voice mail and messaging, or an interactive voice response system, for receiving and directing incoming telephone calls, that system must provide effective real-time communication with individuals using auxiliary aids and services, including TTYs and all forms of Federal Communications Commission (FCC)- approved telecommunications relay systems, including internet-based relay systems. An AAA shall respond to telephone calls from a telecommunications relay service established under title IV of the ADA in the same manner that it responds to other telephone calls.
5. An AAA shall ensure that interested persons, including persons with impaired vision or hearing, can obtain information as to the existence and location of accessible services, activities, and facilities. An AAA shall provide signage at all inaccessible entrances to each of its facilities, directing users to an accessible entrance or to a location at which they can obtain information about accessible facilities. The international symbol for accessibility shall be used at each accessible entrance of a facility.
This may include a cooperative communications agreement with a Regional Service Center and/or local resource agencies that can assist in obtaining sign language interpreters, Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf (TDDs), and other auxiliary aids.
6. AAAs shall ensure that the following are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities:
A. Web content, which means the information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent, including code or markup that defines the content’s structure, presentation, and interactions. Examples of web content include text, images, sounds, videos, controls, animations, and conventional electronic documents that an AAA provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements; and
B. Mobile apps that an AAA provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements.
C. Beginning May 11, 2026, an AAA with fifteen or more employees shall ensure that the web content and mobile apps that the recipient provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, comply with Level A and Level AA success criteria and conformance requirements specified in WCAG 2.1, unless the recipient can demonstrate that compliance with this section would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens. (2)
D. Beginning May 10, 2027, an AAA with fewer than fifteen employees shall ensure that the web content and mobile apps that the recipient provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, comply with Level A and Level AA success criteria and conformance requirements specified in WCAG 2.1, unless the recipient can demonstrate that compliance with this section would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens.
E. Information related to WCAG 2.1 may be obtained from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (‘‘WAI’’), 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600, Wakefield, MA 01880; phone: (339) 273–2711; email: contact@w3.org; website: www.w3.org/TR/2018/RECWCAG21-20180605/ and https:// perma.cc/UB8A-GG2F.
F. These specific requirements under this Policy #4 A – D for web and mobile app accessibility do not apply to the following:
G. An AAA may use conforming alternate versions of web content, as defined by WCAG 2.1, to comply only where it is not possible to make web content directly accessible due to technical or legal limitations. Information on WCAG 2.1 may be obtained from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (‘‘WAI’’), 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600, Wakefield, MA 01880; phone: (339) 273–2711; email: contact@w3.org; website: https://www.w3.org/ and https://perma.cc/UB8A-GG2F.
H. Nothing in this policy prevents the use of designs, methods, or techniques as alternatives to those prescribed, provided that the alternative designs, methods, or techniques result in substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability of the web content or mobile app.
I. Where an AAA can demonstrate that compliance with the requirements of this policy would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens, compliance is required to the extent that it does not result in a fundamental alteration or undue financial and administrative burdens. In those circumstances where personnel of the AAA believe that the proposed action would fundamentally alter the program or activity or would result in undue financial and administrative burdens, the AAA has the burden of proving that compliance would result in such alteration or burdens. The decision that compliance would result in such alteration or burdens must be made by the head of the AAA or their designee after considering all resources available for use in the funding and operation of the program or activity, and must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for reaching that conclusion. If an action would result in such an alteration or such burdens, the AAA shall take any other action that would not result in such an alteration or such burdens but would nevertheless ensure that individuals with disabilities receive the benefits or services provided by the AAA to the maximum extent possible.
J. An AAA that is not in full compliance with these requirements will be deemed to have met these requirements in the limited circumstance in which the recipient can demonstrate that the noncompliance has such a minimal impact on access that it would not affect the ability of individuals with disabilities to use the AAA’s web content or mobile app to do any of the following in a manner that provides substantially equivalent timeliness, privacy, independence, and ease of use:
7. No qualified individual with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity of an AAA provided through kiosks.
8. Except as otherwise provided in § 84.22, no qualified individual with a disability shall, because a recipient’s facilities are inaccessible to or unusable by individuals with disabilities, be excluded from participation in, or be denied the benefits of the programs or activities of a recipient, or be subjected to discrimination by any recipient.
9. With respect to use of existing facilities, AAAs shall operate each program or activity so that the program or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. This policy does not:
A. Necessarily require an AAA to make each of its existing facilities accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; or require an AAA to take any action that it can demonstrate would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens.
B. In those circumstances where an AAA’s personnel believe that the proposed action would fundamentally alter the program or activity or would result in undue financial and administrative burdens, the AAA has the burden of proving that compliance with this policy would result in such an alteration or burdens. The decision that compliance would result in such alteration or burdens must be made by the head of the AAA or their designee after considering all the AAA’s resources available for use in the funding and operation of the program or activity, and must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for reaching that conclusion. If an action would result in such an alteration or such burdens, the AAA shall take any other action that would not result in such an alteration or such burdens but would nevertheless ensure that individuals with disabilities receive the benefits or services provided by the AAA.
C. An AAA may comply with the requirements of this section through such means as redesign or acquisition of equipment, reassignment of services to accessible buildings, assignment of aides to beneficiaries, home visits, delivery of services at alternate accessible sites, alteration of existing facilities and construction of new facilities, use of accessible rolling stock or other conveyances, or any other methods that result in making its programs or activities readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. An AAA is not required to make structural changes in existing facilities where other methods are effective in achieving compliance with this section. An AAA, in making alterations to existing buildings, shall meet the accessibility requirements. In choosing among available methods for meeting the requirements of this section, an AAA shall give priority to those methods that offer programs and activities to qualified individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate.
D. Elements that have not been altered in existing facilities on or after July 8, 2024, and that comply with the corresponding technical and scoping specifications for those elements in the American National Standard Specification (ANSI) (ANSI A117.1–1961(R1971)) for facilities constructed between June 3, 1977, and January 18, 1991) or for those elements in the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), appendix A to 41 CFR part 101–19, subpart 101–19.6 (revised as of July 1, 2002), for those facilities constructed between January 18, 1991, and July 8, 2024, are not required to be modified to comply with the requirements set forth in the 2010 Standards.
10. With respect to new or altered facilities:
A. Each facility or part of a facility constructed by, on behalf of, or for the use of an AAA shall be designed and constructed in such manner that the facility or part of the facility is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if the construction was commenced after June 3, 1977.
B. Each facility or part of a facility altered by, on behalf of, or for the use of an AAA in a manner that affects or could affect the usability of the facility or part of the facility shall, to the maximum extent feasible, be altered in such manner that the altered portion of the facility is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if the alteration was commenced after June 3, 1977.
C. Federal rules establish different requirements for public and private entities related to accessibility of new or altered facilities. Public entities are any State or local government; any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government. Private entities are any person or entity other than a public entity.
Those requirements are further differentiated by the dates when new construction or alteration occurs. AAAs contemplating new construction or making alterations to facilities using any source of funding should consult the detailed requirements of § 84.23.
11. Administrative Requirements
AAAs with 15 or more employees must designate an individual to coordinate efforts to comply with the rule and must adopt grievance procedures that provide for a prompt and equitable resolution of complaints.
Procedures
1. AAAs should assess their electronic communications, including website and social media, and determine what actions will be needed to comply with these new standards.
2. Participants of meetings, training sessions, programs or other activities must be informed of the availability of reasonable accommodations by including the following language on bulletins, flyers, brochures and letters:
A. If you need a reasonable accommodation for a disability (e.g., wheelchair accessibility, interpreter, Braille or large print materials) such an accommodation can be made available upon advance request. Please contact (name of contact) at (voice phone and TDD or Relay Service number) as soon as possible.
3. In order to effectively communicate with individuals with visual impairments, all written communications for distribution to the public must contain the following statement indicating that alternative formats will be provided upon request:
A. Upon request, this information will be made available in an alternative format, such as Braille, large print or audiotape.
B. Notice of TDD numbers must be added to all written materials whenever a telephone number is listed, including on letterhead and bulletins. If the volume of calls you receive from people using TDDs is not great, you may use the Minnesota Relay Service and include the following statement in lieu of a TDD number:
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