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You are running a 3-day workshop geared towards writers who are trying to publish a book. One of the people who registers for your workshop emails you to let you know that they require American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation for the event. In your reply email, you let the person know that it is not your company’s policy to pay for interpreters at these kinds of events but that you will waive the entrance fee for a guest if they choose to bring someone to interpret for them. The registrant replies saying that you should accommodate them because they have a disability, and they cannot participate if they do not have an ASL interpreter. You tell them that it is too financially expensive to provide interpreters at these events and if you provide accommodation for them, you will have to provide it to everyone. When they ask you if you know how much an ASL interpreter costs, you say you have no idea but that it is common sense that providing accommodation to anyone who asks for it is a financial burden for a business.

  • No, you are not meeting your responsibilities as a service provider under the Code. As a service provider you are responsible for providing accommodations for people with disabilities so that they can access your service. You are required to provide this accommodation unless you can show undue hardship. It is not enough to refuse to accommodate people with disabilities because it poses an additional cost. You must be able to show that this cost poses an undue hardship. To show that paying for an accommodation in this case would be an undue hardship, you would have to research the costs of providing an ASL interpreter for the 3-day workshop and then prove that this cost is unaffordable for your business. Service providers are required to do this work to ensure they do not discriminate against people using their services.

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