§ 1624.5 - Accessibility of legal services.

§ 1624.5 Accessibility of legal services.

(a) No qualified person with a disability shall, because a legal services program's facilities are inaccessible to or unusable by persons with disabilities, be denied the benefits of, be excluded from participation in, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination by any legal services program.

(b) A legal services program shall conduct its programs and activities so that, when viewed in their entirety, they are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. This paragraph does not necessarily require a legal services program to make each of its existing facilities or every part of an existing facility accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, or require a legal services program to make structural changes in existing facilities when other methods are effective in achieving compliance. In choosing among available methods for meeting the requirements of this paragraph, a legal services program shall give priority to those methods that offer legal services to persons with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate.

(c) A legal services program shall, to the maximum extent feasible, ensure that new facilities that it rents or purchases are accessible to persons with disabilities. Prior to entering into any lease or contract for the purchase of a building, a legal services program shall submit a statement to LSC certifying that the facilities covered by the lease or contract will be accessible to persons with disabilities, or if the facilities will not be accessible, a detailed description of the efforts the program made to obtain accessible space, the reasons why the inaccessible facility was nevertheless selected, and the specific steps that will be taken by the legal services program to ensure that its services are accessible to persons with disabilities who would otherwise use that facility. After a statement certifying facility accessibility has been submitted, additional statements need not be resubmitted with respect to the same facility, unless substantial changes have been made in the facility that affect its accessibility.

(d) A legal services program shall ensure that new facilities designed or constructed for it are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. Alterations to existing facilities shall, to the maximum extent feasible, be designed and constructed to make the altered facilities readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.