Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - Title II Equal Access Information

In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), the County of Sonoma will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs, or activities.

Employment: The County of Sonoma does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its hiring or employment practices and complies with all regulations promulgated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Title I of the ADA.

Effective Communication: The County of Sonoma generally, upon request, provide appropriate aids and services leading to effective communication for qualified persons with disabilities so they can participate equally in [name of public entity’s] programs, services, and activities, including qualified sign language interpreters, documents in Braille, and other ways of making information and communications accessible to people who have speech, hearing, or vision impairments.

Modifications to Policies and Procedures: The County of Sonoma will make all reasonable modifications to policies and programs to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to enjoy all of its programs, services, and activities.

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity of the County of Sonoma, should contact the County Department they are seeking the program, service, or activity as soon as possible but no later than 72 hours before the scheduled event.

Please note; The ADA does not require the County of Sonoma to take any action that would fundamentally alter the nature of its programs or services, or impose an undue financial or administrative burden.

The County of Sonoma will not place a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the cost of providing auxiliary aids/services or reasonable modifications of policy, such as retrieving items from locations that are open to the public but are not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs.

Complaints that a program, service, or activity of the County of Sonoma is not accessible to persons with disabilities should be directed to: Neha Singh, ADA Coordinator, at 707-565-2331 or ada@sonoma-county.org

The application of the ADA to County Government is covered in Title II which requires that:

No qualified individual with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any public entity. ADA Regulation for Title II, Section 35.130 (a)

The County of Sonoma is committed to providing equal access to its buildings, programs, and services. The County’s Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan Update (SETP) (PDF: 5.3 MB) adopted in December 2009 details the County’s plan to comply with the ADA, and provides information on each County Department and a list of community resources.

The County has appointed an ADA Coordinator to help Departments provide accommodation and to resolve any potential public concerns about access to County programs and services.

The County encourages members of the public with complaints regarding access to a facility, program or service to attempt to informally resolve those complaints with the ADA Liaison for the individual department providing the facility, program or service.

In the event a complaint cannot be resolved informally, a grievance regarding access to County programs, services, or activities may be filed by completing the County of Sonoma ADA Title II Grievance Procedure Complaint Form (PDF: 69 kB).

Learn more about the ADA Grievance Procedure