Disability Awareness
Americans with Disabilities Act
Methods of Providing Program Accessibility
Direct
threat:
A direct threat is a significant risk to the health
and safety of others that cannot be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable
level by the public entity’s modification of its policies, practices,
procedures, or by the provision of auxiliary aids and services.
The public entity’s determination that a person poses a direct
threat to the health and safety of others may not be based on
generalizations or stereotypes about the effect of a particular
disability. For example, an
adult with infectious tuberculosis wishes to tutor elementary school
children in a volunteer mentor program operated by a local public school
board. Title II permits the
board to refuse to allow the individual to participate on the grounds that
the mentor’s condition would pose a direct threat to the health and
safety of the children. However, once the person with TB is no longer infectious,
he/she may be eligible for participation as the direct threat is no longer
exists.
In determining if a direct threat exists, it is important;
1. That the threat be real, and not speculative,
2. To look at the nature, duration, and severity of the risk,
3. To look at the probability that the potential injury will actually occur, and
4. Whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedures will mitigate or eliminate the risk.