Revised ADA Requirements: Accessible Pools Means of Entry and Exit

Title II Program Accessibility

Individuals with disabilities cannot be excluded from or denied participation in State and local government programs, services, or activities because a facility is inaccessible or unusable. This means that all programs, services, and activities, when viewed in their entirety, must be accessible to individuals with disabilities unless doing so results in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program or in an undue financial and administrative burden. This requirement is known as "program accessibility."

Program accessibility applies to all pool-related programs, services, and activities (swimming programs). Program accessibility does not typically require that every pool be made accessible. However, if a public entity has only one existing pool, it must take steps to ensure that its swimming program at that pool is accessible.

A public entity determines which method it will use for meeting its program accessibility obligations. When structural changes are made to existing pools, including installation of a fixed pool lift, the changes must comply with the 2010 Standards. If a public entity chooses to acquire equipment (e.g., a portable lift) to provide program accessibility, the entity should select equipment that includes features required by the 2010 Standards, including independent operation by individuals with disabilities. Sharing accessible equipment between pools is not permitted, unless it would result in undue burdens to provide equipment at each one. Accessible pool features must be available whenever the facility is open to the public. When choosing to purchase equipment or to make structural changes, the public entity should factor in staff and financial resources required to maintain program accessibility. 

Over time, a public entity will need to reassess its compliance with program accessibility, and it may become necessary to acquire new accessible equipment or make structural modifications. For more information about program accessibility, see the title II regulations at Section 35.150.

To determine which pools must be made accessible, public entities should consider the following factors:

• How to provide swimming programs in the most integrated setting appropriate;
• The ways in which people participate in the programs (e.g., individually, in families, in youth groups);
• Locations where the programs are offered;
• What programs are offered at each pool and to which constituencies (e.g., family swims, children's swimming lessons, older adult exercise classes, high school swim meets);
• Which pools are accessible and to what extent; and
• Level of dispersion of the accessible locations and convenience to reach them (e.g., one pool in each quadrant of the town, all on accessible mass transit).