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Summary The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive civil rights law for persons with disabilities in both employment and the provision of goods and services. The ADA states that its purpose is to provide a "clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities." The ADA states that a public entity must reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures to avoid discrimination against people with disabilities. This report will assist the City of San Leandro in identifying programmatic and physical barriers to accessibility and in developing barrier removal solutions that will facilitate the opportunity of access to all individuals. The City of San Leandro prepared and adopted Transition and Self Evaluation Plans in 1995. This 2011 plan updates the existing 1995 plans by describing the process by which programs and facilities were evaluated; presents the findings of that evaluation; and provides recommendations for accessibility improvements. This section provides an overview of the requirements for developing the ADA Self Evaluation & Transition Plan and outlines the plan development process itself. Legislative Mandate The development of a Self Evaluation & Transition Plan is a requirement of the federal regulations implementing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires that all organizations receiving federal funds make their programs available without discrimination toward people with disabilities. The Act, which has become known as the "civil rights act" of persons with disabilities, states that: No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States shall, solely by reason of handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. (Section 504) Subsequent to the enactment of the Rehabilitation Act, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. Title II of the ADA covers programs, activities, and services of public entities. The Department of Justice's Title II regulation adopts the general prohibitions of discrimination established under Section 504 and incorporates specific prohibitions of discrimination for the ADA. Title II provides protections to individuals with disabilities that are at least equal to those provided by the nondiscrimination provisions of Title V of the Rehabilitation Act. Specifically, the City may not, either directly or through contractual arrangements, do any of the following: ■ Deny persons with disabilities the opportunity to participate as members of advisory Page 2