Americans with Disabilities
Act Notice of Rights
Act Notice of Rights
The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is committed to ensuring equal access to and full participation in the administrative hearings process, services and activities for qualified individuals with disabilities including, but not limited to, attorneys, litigants, witnesses, and public observers of hearing proceedings.
- What is the American with Disabilities Act?
- How can OAH assist someone with a disability?
- How do I request accommodation?
- Accommodation Request Determination
- ADA Grievance Procedure
- Denied by an ALJ?
- Denied by the ADA Coordinator?
- Need Further Assistance?
- What is the American with Disabilities Act?
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was enacted to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. Under Title II of the ADA, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of programs, services, or activities of a public entity. This prohibition applies to the OAH as a provider of public programs, services, and activities. Pursuant to the ADA, people with qualified disabilities have an equal opportunity to access, use, and fully participate in administrative hearing processes, services, and activities and not be discriminated against because of their qualified disability.
A qualifying disability includes a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of an individual. Examples of disabilities include:
- Communication impairments
- Mobility impairments
- Speech and hearing impairments
- Vision impairments
- Learning or cognitive impairments
- How can OAH assist someone with a disability?
Whenever reasonable, our policies, practices, or procedures must be modified to make hearing processes, services, and activities readily accessible to and useable by people with disabilities. This includes removing architectural barriers by altering existing facilities where feasible or relocating services to an ADA-accessible site. ADA accommodations may also include removing communication barriers by providing auxiliary aids and services that would allow a person with a qualifying disability to effectively represent a client, be a party in an administrative hearing, testify as a witness, observe a hearing or trial, or otherwise participate in all programs, services and activities. In providing reasonable accommodations, the OAH gives primary consideration to the accommodations requested by the person with a qualifying disability when reasonable and practicable. To ensure effective communications with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, we readily provide sign language and oral interpreters, TTYs, or other appropriate auxiliary aids and services free of charge. The OAH may also provide information in Braille and Large Print for people with visual disabilities as a reasonable accommodation.
back to top - How do I request accommodation?
ADA accommodation requests should be submitted to the ADA Coordinator as soon as possible. Reasonable notice must be given for the OAH to consider an accommodation request without causing undue disruption to the hearing process. If the request concerns a particular proceeding, the request should be made as soon as possible, preferably as soon as the person needing accommodation receives notice of the proceedings, to allow appropriate consideration of and arrangement for the accommodation request.
The form to request an accommodation can be found here.
When completing the request for an accommodation form it is important to complete the form in its entirety and provide specific information about your needs. You may attach supporting documentation to assist the OAH in understanding your needs.
Requests can be emailed to OAH.ADARequests@maryland.gov; mailed to the Office of Administrative Hearings, 11101 Gilroy Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21031, Attn: ADA Coordinator; or hand delivered Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm.
We may need more information. Many accommodations can be made based on the information provided in your request. Sometimes, however, we may need to know more about your disability to help us understand what a reasonable accommodation might be. If so, you may be asked to provide additional information. To the extent possible, your accommodation request and any information you provide will remain confidential.
Important Note Important Note:
An OAH ADA Coordinator cannot grant, as an ADA accommodation, a request that involves a judicial balancing of the rights of the parties or interferes with the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)’s inherent power to manage the hearing and its proceedings. Examples of such requests may include, but are not limited to, requests for extensions of time or adjournments; changes in the time of day a case will be heard; permission to participate by phone or video; the presence or absence of other persons in the courtroom; and modifications in the way testimony is to be given. These types of accommodation requests must be decided by the ALJ presiding over the case.
If all or some part of the request that you make to an OAH ADA Coordinator involves an accommodation that only an ALJ has the authority to grant or deny, the OAH ADA Coordinator will refer the request (or that part of it) to the ALJ presiding over your case.