The Segway Lawsuit petitioning the courts to allow Segway access to Disney’s theme parks for disabled persons has just taken another twist. The New York Times covers some upcoming adjustments to the federal rules for providing access to public buildings based on the American’s With Disabilities act. Buried at the very end of the story was this nugget:
The rules confirm that people with disabilities can use traditional wheelchairs, power wheelchairs and electric scooters in any public areas open to pedestrians.
But shopping centers, amusement parks and other public places could impose reasonable restrictions on two-wheeled Segway vehicles, golf carts and “other power-driven mobility devices” used by those with disabilities.
That makes it sound like Segways will be an accepted mobility device by the ADA and you won’t be able to ban its use. Instead a reasonable restriction, such as a speed limit, would be imposed. This could make the lawsuit moot, since that’s all the plaintiffs are asking for anyway. (Read)
(Previously: Segway Lawsuit gets second chance.)
When I read the two statements, I thought it meant amusement parks could prevent the use of Segweys, not just make guests modify them. Am I just reading it wrong? As John interprets it shopping centers would be able to have golf carts running through them as long as they couldn’t go over a certain speed. My interpretation was this statement was separating “other power-driven mobility devices” from “traditional wheelchairs, power wheelchairs and electric scooters”. Am I wrong?
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