Program Access Under Disability Discrimination Law

State and local governments and all federal grantees must operate their programs. services. and activities are readily accessible to persons with disabilities when the program, service, or activity is viewed in its entirety. This Article submits that courts should adopt an expansive reading of this program access requirement, imposing an obligation on governments and grantees to offer something of benefit to everyone, no matter the nature of that someone’s disability. The text of the federal regulations, relevant caselaw, and persuasive analogies require this reading. Moreover, this energetic interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 regulations resolves some of the thornier problems of current disability discrimination law: limits on reasonable accommodation and the distinction between access and content for legally required accommodations. Applied to the recent case of A.H. ex rel. Holzmueller v. Illinois High School Association, the proper reading of the program access regulations requires the creation of a para-ambulatory long distance road race in the state high school competition