City of Fort Lauderdale - Accessibility
City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Venice of America
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Accessibility


The City of Fort Lauderdale is committed to serving the needs of all of its citizens and visitors, and our goal is to ensure access to information for a diverse audience. To that end, the City is incorporating into its website accessibilty design standards to meet Universal Design concepts supported by the W3C Guidelines and ADA Accessibilty Requirements.

ADA logo - Americans with Disabilities Act

ADA Coordinator

The City of Fort Lauderdale has established an ADA coordinator to facilitate assistance for disabled residents and visitors. The ADA coordinator is able to facilitate members of the public with the provision of auxiliary aids and services for City meetings, programs and events. The ADA coordinator also investigates and seeks to resolve any complaints regarding accessibility to City facilities or programs.

Matthew Cobb, AIC, AIS
Risk Management Coordinator
City of Fort Lauderdale
100 N Andrews Avenue, 3rd Floor
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
E-mail: MCobb@fortlauderdale.gov
Phone: 954-828-5190
Fax: 954-828-5439
TTY: 954-828-5520
Florida Relay (Voice): 800-955-8770
Florida Relay (TTY): 800-955-8771

ADA Accessibility in City Parks

See a detailed list of accessible City Park facilities and equipment.

ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan

ADA Transition Plan Updates

ADA Accommodations to City Events

Persons with disabilities may contact the City’s ADA coordinator to request reasonable accommodation and/or wheelchair and/or wheelchair companion seating to fully participate in any City event.

Americans with Disabilities Act Grievance Procedure

Purpose

This grievance procedure is established to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is not to be used by anyone who wishes to appeal the decision of a department in response to a request for workplace accommodation or modification of services, activities, programs or benefits while working for the City of Fort Lauderdale. This grievance procedure does not apply to complaints alleging discrimination in employment policies or practices; which should be filed with the City's Office of Professional Standards.

This grievance procedure is established for the public to provide a vehicle that will allow objective fact finding to occur, followed by a discussion of options, with mediation that attempts to find a mutually acceptable solution to an issue identified. The goal of this process is to preclude the need to grieve or appeal a request for accommodation in an other venue of government.

Procedure

1. The complainant and/or his/her designee should submit the grievance as soon as possible, but no later than 60 calendar days after the alleged occurrence to the City of Fort Lauderdale's ADA Coordinator.

2. The complaint should be in writing and contain the following information about the alleged discrimination: full name, address, phone number of the complainant; location of the occurrence, date, and description of the alleged discrimination. Additionally, we will the name of the department involved and any employee and/or witness involved in the occurrence. Upon request, alternative means of filing complaints, such as personal interviews or a tape recording of the complaint, will be made for person with disabilities.

3. Within 15 calendar days after receipt of the complaint, the City ADA coordinator, or designee, will meet with the complainant to discuss the complaint and possible resolutions.

4. With 15 calendar days after the meeting, the City ADA Coordinator will respond in writing. The response provides a final resolution of the complaint.

5. If the individual who has filed a grievance continues to have concerns after this process concludes, he or she is welcome to bring any unresolved concerns to the City Manager of the City of Fort Lauderdale.

6. All appeals received and responses given by the City ADA Coordinator will be kept by the City of Fort Lauderdale at least three years, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

ADA Grievance Form

Help Identify ADA Accessibility and Sidewalk Improvements

The City of Fort Lauderdale invites citizens to identify and request accessibility improvements for the disabled to public sidewalks and intersections located within the City's jurisdiction and control. The City will include such locations on a prioritized list of sidewalk and intersection locations that require improvements to meet American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. For more information, please contact:

Wayne Darby
Engineering Department
100 North Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
954-828-5619
wdarby@fortlauderdale.gov

Documents

Many documents on our web pages are in ASCII or HTML format, which are accessible to people who use screen reading software and to those with other vision or mobility impairments. Generally, we use Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to create pages and documents that are accessible to those users.

Our website also contains many Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files. We use this method when documents are not available in digital form, are too large or difficult to produce in HTML, or are publications where the format is critical to the usability of the document. Adobe Systems, Inc. is developing products designed to make PDF documents more accessible. Adobe`s accessibility web pages describe their efforts.

Get Acrobat Reader for PDF files

Adobe Acrobat Reader software is available for free from Adobe Systems, Inc. This software allows you to view, navigate and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To download, install and use Adobe Acrobat Reader:

  • Read the Adobe site instructions on downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Be sure to select the version of Adobe Acrobat Reader that is compatible with your system.
  • Follow the installation instructions completely. (After the download, you will need to install the file by running the executable (.exe file) from your operating system.)
  • Configure your browser options.
  • Upgrade your version of Adobe Acrobat Reader periodically to use the latest features.
  • Contact Adobe Systems, Inc. if you are having trouble installing or using their products.

Resources

For additional information and resources regarding accessibilty issues, please refer to the following resources: