NCJ Number
144062
Date Published
1992
Length
87 pages
Annotation
This manual presents specific actions as well as community and funding resources to ensure the accessibility of courts and court programs for litigants, jurors, victims, witnesses, attorneys, social services personnel, employees, volunteers, and members of the public with physical, sensory, communications, or cognitive disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Abstract
The guide includes actions that are architectural, technological, and programmatic and demonstrates inventive means of overcoming barriers. The list of action steps forms a catalog of possible modifications to address functional limitations in court, but is not intended to be a compliance checklist for the law. It is intended for use with checklists available from other organizations. The text also describes the range of disabilities and indexes each action step by kind of impairment. The manual encourages courts to work with the growing disability and aging networks, because court-community liaisons, task forces, and protocols will enhance a court's capacity to meet diverse needs and uncover hidden resources. In addition, creative financing, the sharing of accommodations, alternative low-cost or no-cost ideas, and appropriate use of volunteers are crucial concepts in keeping costs low. Lists of organizational resources, index to action steps, reader survey form, and 20 references