Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee has been at the forefront of enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability rights laws to ensure access to people with disabilities.

The ADA and other federal and state laws guarantee people with disabilities the right to fully participate in mainstream life. This means that state and local governments, businesses and employers cannot intentionally or unintentionally exclude people with disabilities from their programs, services, activities, benefits, goods, or physical places or facilities, or provide disabled people with a separate or unequal service that is not as effective as that provided to others.

For example:

• City government has to make sure that people who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices can get onto and use the city’s sidewalks without risk of being toppled out of their assistive devices and into the street because the city’s sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks are damaged, uplifted, or otherwise unsafe to travel on.
• A state or local government has to make sure that people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility devices can use all features of a newly built or altered public park, including its parking lot, pathways, restrooms, picnic areas, and playgrounds.
• A bank has to make sure that at least one of its ATMs talks through an earphone jack so that blind customers can use it independently and securely and the bank has to provide bank statements in Braille, large print and audio so that blind customers can privately review their account information.
• A hospital or medical clinic has to make sure that its patient rooms, restrooms, and exam equipment are accessible to people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility devices; that its printed materials, websites, and mobile apps are accessible to blind and visually impaired patients; and that it has interpreter and captioning services for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing. A hotel has to make sure that its designated accessible rooms have lowered beds that a customer who uses a wheelchair can transfer onto without assistance.
• A retailer has to make sure that its products are displayed on shelves that are far enough apart that people who use wheelchairs or scooters can browse the merchandise aisles, and that its point of sale machines, websites and mobile apps can be independently used by blind and low vision customers.

Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee enforces disability rights laws to ensure that people with disabilities have access in all of these areas and others.

“I worked with DHKL on a successful negotiation to make video medical appointments accessible for deaf and hard of hearing patients. DHKL’s dedication, expertise, and belief in equity have made such a meaningful impact on my life (and so many others). They haven’t just represented me—they’ve stood with me, fought for change, and actually altered systematic injustice. I’ll always be grateful for the hard work and heart they brought to this journey. I’ll never forget how seen and supported they made me feel throughout this entire process.  I’m incredibly grateful to have had a team who cared as much”

– Leah Bornstein