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Press Release

Justice Department Reaches Agreement with San Juan County, New Mexico, to Improve Accessibility

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with San Juan County, New Mexico, to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.  The agreement was reached under Project Civic Access (PCA), the department’s wide-ranging initiative to ensure that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  In July 2015, the department celebrated the 25th anniversary of the ADA and the department’s PCA initiative has now resulted in over 200 agreements with cities, town and counties.  Today’s agreement will enhance access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities in San Juan County.

The department’s PCA agreement with San Juan County requires the county to make physical modifications to county facilities to ensure that its parking, routes into buildings, entrances, public telephones, restrooms, service counters and drinking fountains are accessible to persons with disabilities.  San Juan County also agreed post, publish and distribute a notice on the provisions of the ADA and its applicability to the county’s programs, services and activities as well as provide information to interested persons with disabilities concerning the existence and location of the county’s accessible services, activities and programs.  Further, the county will also establish, implement, and post online a policy that the county’s web pages must be accessible and ensure that all of its new and modified pages are accessible.  Notably, this agreement also requires the county to ensure that the county’s official website and other web-based services conform to industry guidelines – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 – for making web content accessible.

“This summer we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the ADA and reflected on the great strides we all have made in making the country more accessible to persons with disabilities,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division.  “As we move into the next quarter century of civil rights for persons with disabilities, we know that there is still much to be done.  This agreement is one of many examples of the efforts the division is making with state and local government to ensure that their citizens with disabilities attain equal access to all of their programs, activities and services.”

For more information about the ADA, today’s agreement, the Project Civic Access initiative, individuals may access the ADA Web page at http://www.ada.gov/civicac.htm or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TTY).

Updated September 28, 2015

Press Release Number: 15-1184