Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the N.C. Department of Transportation must provide reasonable accommodations to citizens, employees and potential employees known to have disabilities.
A person with a disability, as defined by the Act, is anyone with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, anyone who has a history or record of such impairment or anyone who is perceived by others as having such impairment.
Citizens
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that all facilities in which citizens conduct business with NCDOT to be physically accessible. All programs and services– such as DMV services, public meetings or website access– must also be accessible, and NCDOT must provide reasonable accommodations when necessary.
Accessibility is demonstrated through sidewalk/entrance ramps, accessible counters and accessible restrooms. Reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to sign language interpreters, listening amplification systems and modified DMV testing procedures.
Employees & Job Applicants
To ensure equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities, NCDOT also provides for employees and job applicants reasonable accommodations based on the qualifying disability.
These accommodations vary but could involve physical access to work facilities and activities as well as educational opportunities or various workplace systems.
Self-Assessment & Transition Plan
NCDOT continuously conducts self-assessment of the accessibility of its activities, programs and services to ensure the Department is complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This involves a review of NCDOT buildings and facilities, telecommunication services, the websites and inventory of curb cuts and ramps.
In addition to a self-assessment, NCDOT updates its transition plan every five years to demonstrate how the Department plans to address any deficiencies discovered during the self-assessment process and how it plans to manage the transition plan moving forward.