{"id":1614,"date":"2023-08-18T16:26:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T23:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dredf.org\/web-log\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2023-09-12T15:55:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T22:55:47","slug":"acheson-v-laufer-being-polite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/2023\/08\/18\/acheson-v-laufer-being-polite\/","title":{"rendered":"Being \u201cPolite\u201d Does Not Ensure Access"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 18, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Defendant hotelier in Acheson Hotels v. Laufer has opened a new bed and breakfast that \u2013 surprise \u2013 does not comply with the ADA.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On October 4, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Acheson Hotels LLC v. Laufer<\/em>, a case that will decide whether testers \u2013 disabled people who investigate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) \u2013 can sue businesses for discrimination when their rights under that law are violated.<\/p>\n

DREDF filed a brief in support of Deborah Laufer, the disabled person who discovered that the hotel run by Acheson Hotels was out of compliance with the ADA. You can read DREDF\u2019s brief here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hotel and its supporters argue that businesses are willing to comply with ADA requirements and do so voluntarily. All a disabled person has to do if they encounter an inadvertent barrier is ask that it be removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitely.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Acheson Hotels told the Supreme Court<\/a> that \u201ca simple phone call reminding a hotel owner of its obligations\u201d is better and more effective than a lawsuit. \u201cA polite phone call or email will frequently be more effective at persuading\u201d a business to comply with the law, Acheson said. Its supporters the Retail Litigation Center and National Retail Federation similarly told the Court<\/a> that businesses are \u201cwilling to make changes\u201d to comply with the ADA and access issues can be resolved with a \u201cquick\u201d or \u201csimple phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubbish.<\/p>\n

People with disabilities should not have to \u201cpolitely\u201d request that businesses comply with a law that has been in effect for over three decades. Further, voluntary compliance is a myth.<\/p>\n

If businesses truly \u201csupport\u201d the ADA and have \u201crobust accessibility programs\u201d (as claimed by the Chamber of Commerce<\/a>, in support of the hotel), then why is non-compliance with the ADA\u2019s requirements still so commonplace? The reality is that many businesses do not value disabled customers. The barriers and discriminatory policies that persist at businesses send a clear message to people with disabilities: You are not welcome. You do not belong.<\/p>\n

Being “polite” will not cure this deep-rooted bias and ableism.<\/p>\n

Recent actions by the owner of Acheson Hotels LLC confirm the myth of voluntary compliance. Deborah Laufer filed her lawsuit because the online reservation system for the Coast Village Inn \u2013 then owned by Acheson Hotels LLC[1]<\/a> – failed to provide required accessibility information. The owner of Acheson Hotels LLC, Julianna Acheson, has been fighting the case since 2020. Ms. Acheson does not dispute that the Coast Village Inn\u2019s online reservation system violated the ADA but is instead arguing that Ms. Laufer does not have the right to challenge the ADA violation because she had no immediate plan to visit the Inn.<\/p>\n

After three years of litigation, Ms. Acheson is certainly on notice and understands that the ADA requires hotels to include access information as part of their online reservation systems. Yet, nine months ago, Ms. Acheson became the owner and operator of another place of lodging \u2013 the 1802 House Bed & Breakfast Inn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And guess what?<\/p>\n

Ms. Acheson is again violating the ADA! The reservation system for the 1802 House Bed & Breakfast Inn contains no accessibility information whatsoever<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Is the disability community really supposed to believe that businesses want to comply with the ADA, and further, that they will voluntarily comply with the ADA upon request, when real-life experience tells us the opposite? If the expense and stress of a years\u2019 long lawsuit is not enough to encourage business owners like Ms. Acheson to voluntarily comply with the law, how is a polite ask going to do the job?<\/p>\n

Enforcement is necessary. Testing is essential.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Acheson Hotels LLC has since sold the Coast Village Inn to another party. The new owners have added required accessibility information to the Inn\u2019s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 18, 2023<\/strong>
\n\"Woman
\nBusinesses falsely claim that polite phone calls are better at ensuring access than lawsuits. Our real-life experiences, and recent actions by the defendant hotelier in the pending Supreme Court case of Acheson Hotels v. Laufer tell a different story. Voluntary compliance is a myth. Continue Reading Being \u201cPolite\u201d Does Not Ensure Access<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americans-with-disabilities-act"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MGYT-q2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1640,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.dredf.org\/web-log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}