Policy Chapters and Sections

Two Types of Accessibility

Chapter: 10 Section: 5.3
Effective Date: 2/15/2019
Expiration Date: Continuing
Published Date: 9/9/2020 11:33:16 AM
Status: Current
Version: 2

Tags: EO, Disability, Equal Employment Opportunity, Nondiscrimination, NDP, NDP

  1. DCEO recognizes and complies with the architectural and programmatic accessibly standards contained within Section 188. Architectural Accessibility includes the kinds of physical modifications that are most commonly thought of as access for persons with disabilities. Program accessibility requires that a program or activity be set up in advance to be accessible to qualified persons with disabilities.
  2. DCEO works with State and LWIA partners to ensure each workNet Center (One-Stop) or Affiliate site comply with the most stringent architectural accessibility guidelines included in the Illinois Accessibility Code. Approved reasonable accommodations are provided for people who have difficulty walking or maintaining balance, people who use wheelchairs, crutches, canes, walkers or have restrictive gaits. Surfaces must be hard surface and slip resistant. Parking lots, walkways, corridors, elevators, carpets, and entry doors must comply with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). Annual on-site monitoring of workNet Centers and their affiliated sites ensures architectural accessibility.
  3. Providing accessibility for people with disabilities does not mean that WIOA recipients can wait for persons with disabilities to show up at their doorstep and ask to participate in their programs and activities. Rather, it means that the recipient must both plan and act ahead of time. Recipients must plan for and take a wide range of actions, in advance, to be ready to provide effective services – long before the first person with a disability shows up. A recipient is not required to make every part of its facilities accessible. However, if a program is available in only one location, that site must be accessible, or the program must be available at an alternative and accessible site.
  4. DCEO ensures that workNet systems of service delivery contractors comply with programmatic-related provisions of Section 188 of WIOA, which prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. DCEO also prohibits disability-based discrimination by public entities that receive federal financial assistance. DCEO adopted the WIOA implementing regulations that involves the three-part definition used by Section 504 and the ADA to define “disability” as:
    1. A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such an individual;
    2. A record of such an impairment; or
    3. Being regarded as having such an impairment (i.e., person is considered as having a disability if that person has a history or record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limited one or more major life activity).
  5. A person who qualifies under any of the above listed criteria is deemed an individual with a disability for purposes of coverage under Section 188 of WIOA. The federal laws barring discrimination based on disability do contain several exceptions to the definition of “individual with a disability.” These exceptions deal with disorders or diseases that affect job performance and safety -- sexual behavior disorders, current illegal use of drugs, current alcohol abuse, or currently contagious disease or infection.
  6. DCEO recognizes the following examples of actions considered programmatically discriminatory under Section 188 of WIOA:
    1. When a qualified person with a disability applies to participate in a WIOA-funded activity and he/she is denied because of his/ her disability;
    2. When a person with a disability is not given an equal opportunity to get the same results or benefits from a program or activity that people without disabilities receive; and
    3. When a person or group with a disability is asked to pay any extra fees to cover the extra cost of accommodating their disability.
  7. EOMC opposes all actions considered discriminatory and unlawful. Even if an individual or entity had not intended to discriminate, the above actions are, by themselves, unlawful and prohibited.
  8. DCEO advocates for programmatic accessibility awareness by all workforce partners and encourages using taglines that “auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities in all of our Illinois workNet Centers” on all printed materials. Auxiliary aids and services are those qualified persons, tools, equipment, or services that effectively deliver materials to persons with disabilities. Recipients are required to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids or services when necessary. The recipient must provide an opportunity for individuals with disabilities to request the auxiliary aids and services of their choice.
  9. Recipients should give deference to the request of the person with a disability because:
    1. There is a wide range of disabilities;
    2. A person with a disability may or may not be aware of various auxiliary aids and services that are available;
    3. Personal circumstances affect one’s auxiliary aid or service choice;
    4. Effectively communicating with persons with disabilities also includes the following:
      1. Recipients should let interested individuals know of the existence and location of accessible facilities and services;
      2. When a facility is not accessible or does not provide accessible services, recipients should provide adequate signage at the primary entrance to direct users to where they can obtain information about accessible facilities and services; and
      3. Recipients must use the international symbol for accessibility at each primary entrance of an accessible facility
  10. Additional alternative forms of communication provided at the Illinois workNet Centers, include TTY/TDD (NextTalk Services), Braille, Dragon Speak, the Illinois Relay Center, and Interpreter services. These services are described below:
    1. NextTalk – Individuals with impaired hearing who have questions or require information about WIOA programs are advised to call the number listed on the poster link in the References tab.  This number is published on the “Equal Opportunity is the Law” poster that is distributed statewide to all Illinois workNet Centers.
    2. Illinois Relay Center - The Illinois Relay Service (IRC), also known as Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), is a free service provided twenty-four (24)-hours a day, seven days a week, providing a communication link between persons using a text telephone (TT) and persons using a standard voice telephone. Specially trained communications assistants relay conversations over the telephone between a person using a TT and a person using a standard voice telephone simultaneously. All calls through the IRC are strictly confidential, as employees may not discuss any information seen or heard as they assist with calls. Communication Assistants will relay entire conversations and there is no record of the call, other than billing data, after the conversation is completed.
    3. Interpreter Services - DCEO and workNet Centers contact the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission (IDHHC) through their website (see the link in the References tab) for assistance. The State WIOA EO Officer assists managers and staff in making referrals using Illinois’ Interpreter Registry as necessary.

Section 188 Reference Guide PROMISING PRACTICES IN ACHIEVING NONDISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

WIOA Section 188 - Administration, Nondiscrimination

775 ILCS 30 White Cane Law

USDOL Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 24-18, Updated Promising Practices in Achieving Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity: A Section 188 Disability Reference Guide (April 3, 2019)

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