6.9 C. Stores, Businesses and Recreation

• Library: Disability Law and Practice, Vol. 3 (NY) 2017

C. Stores, Businesses and Recreation

Everyday use of retail stores, professional offices, entertainment facilities and other businesses by deaf customers presents a broad range of communication issues. The ADA has begun to bring the need for accessibility to the attention of small business managers and corporate executives. Following are some examples of the law’s impact on the daily lives of deaf people.

In the settlement of an ADA suit brought by a single deaf customer, Burger King restaurants agreed to develop and install visual ordering systems and train staff to serve deaf individuals.⁵⁴ At the other end of the caloric spectrum, Weight Watchers settled the ADA claim of a deaf customer by agreeing to provide interpreters and install TTYs.⁵⁵ A federal lawsuit brought under the ADA against a movie chain was settled⁵⁶ with the defendants agreeing to install assistive listening devices⁵⁷ in each of their 17 theaters in the Washington, D.C., area. That said, one commentator recently observed that “for almost twenty years, due to an over-rigid regulatory interpretation of ambiguous legislative history, judicial skepticism toward the ADA, and undefined critical terms that essentially require extensive litigation against a well-funded industry, adversaries have combined to make accessible movies exceptional rather than routine.⁵⁸ Theaters offering live stage shows should offer interpreted performances, and many do.⁵⁹

If phone use is a significant factor in a public accommodation...