Opinion ID: 200517
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The ADA: An Overview.

Text: 16 The ADA did not emerge in a vacuum. Congress found that society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, thus creating a serious and pervasive social problem. 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a)(2). Such individuals continually encounter[ed] various forms of discrimination, id. § 12101(a)(5), and, as a group, occup[ied] an inferior status in our society, id. § 12101(a)(6). Mindful of these inequities, Congress enacted the ADA to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities, id. § 12101(b)(4), hoping to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals, id. § 12101(a)(8). 17 Title III of the ADA targets discrimination by privately operated places of public accommodation (including supermarkets and other types of retail shops). It sends a bluntly worded message to those establishments that fall within its purview: you may not discriminate against an individual in the full and equal access to goods and services on the basis of a disability. 18 The case before us involves Title III. The law's general prohibition stipulates that: 19 No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation. 20 Id. § 12182(a). For purposes of section 12182(a), discrimination includes: 21 [A] failure to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures, when such modifications are necessary to afford such goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to individuals with disabilities, unless the entity can demonstrate that making such modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of such goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations.... 22 Id. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(ii). The remedies contained in Title III are made available to: 23 [A]ny person who is being subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of [Title III] .... Nothing in this section shall require a person with a disability to engage in a futile gesture if such person has actual notice that a person or organization covered by this subchapter does not intend to comply with its provisions. 24 Id. § 12188(a)(1). 25 Dudley invokes these sections, claiming that Hannaford's policies precluded him, because of his disability, from full and equal access to the store's merchandise. 26