# 143


III-4.5100

DJ 202-PL-650                           September 7, 1994







Ms. Linda Hoke
Assistant Director
Council for Disability Rights Legal Center
208 South LaSalle, Suite 1330
Chicago, Illinois  60604

Dear Ms. Hoke:

     I am writing to respond to your letter requesting a policy
statement from the Department of Justice on the issue of whether
carrying of a person with a mobility impairment by a place of
public accommodation is a permitted alternative to readily
achievable barrier removal under title III of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA).

     The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide
technical assistance to entities that are subject to the Act. 
This letter provides informal guidance to assist you and others
in understanding the rights and responsibilities of covered
individuals or entities under the Act.  However, this technical
assistance does not constitute a determination by the Department
of Justice of a particular individual's or entity's rights or
responsibilities under the ADA and does not constitute a binding
determination by the Department of Justice.
     
     Title III clearly states that if barrier removal is readily
achievable, then a public accommodation must remove the barrier. 
Where barrier removal is not readily achievable, readily
achievable alternatives must be considered.  Carrying an
individual with mobility impairments is permitted as an
alternative to barrier removal only in manifestly exceptional
cases where carrying is the only means by which accessibility may
be achieved, if carrying is provided in a reliable manner, and
only if all personnel who are permitted to participate in
carrying an individual with a disability are formally instructed
on the safest and least humiliating means of carrying.  Carrying
is not permitted as an alternative to structural modifications
such as installation of a ramp or a chairlift in any situation
where such measures would be readily achievable.

     I hope that this letter provides the information you
requested. 


                            Sincerely,



                         John L. Wodatch
                             Chief
                      Public Access Section