• A Message from the Committee Chair:
  Carolyn Herbst
• "The Times They Are A-Changing"
• Cruise Ship Alert!
• Teaching about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Disability rights Movement
• A Message from
  UFT Liaison: Eugene Rubin
• Committee
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Cruise Ship Alert!
New Rules for Passenger Cruise Ships

The U.S. Department of Transportation is formulating new rules for cruise ship passengers with disabilities that will ensure that they are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and that they are not confronted with discrimination because of any disability.

Although access to public transportation has been covered by the ADA since 1990, rules affecting cruise ships were delayed for legal and safety reasons. The Supreme Court in 2005 changed all that in its decision in Spector, et al. v. Norwegian Cruise Lines, which definitively included foreign-flag cruise ships within the jurisdiction of the DOT. Almost every substantial cruise ship docking or landing at a U.S. port is foreign-flagged. The case stemmed from a lawsuit involving a passenger with disabilities on a Norwegian Cruise Line who claimed he was charged extra for a (handicapped) accessible cabin.

This story has been covered by Tom Stieghorst, of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, (“Access rules to apply at sea.” Jan. 27, 2007), and the National Disability Law Reporter (March 1, 2007).

The new rules would bar outright price discrimination based on disability and rejection of passengers because they make other passengers “uncomfortable.” Some flexibility is allowed where safety is “a genuine concern.”

Service animals would be allowed and there would be no arbitrary restrictions on the number of such animals on these ships. Advance notice for passengers with disabilities would not be required, as is the case now, unless traveling in a group of 10 or more.

Rules about travel with a personal or safety assistant would be enhanced. Requiring a passenger to travel with a personal assistant can be mandated for safety reasons. But if the passenger doesn’t request an attendant, the cruise line can’t charge extra if it requires one.

Some practices have already been eliminated by the cruise lines, such as requiring a waiver of potential medical liability for passengers with disabilities, according to Ted Thompson, a vice president at the International Council of Cruise Lines, a trade group.

The public was invited to comment on the new rules through April 23.

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Carolyn Herbst, Committee Chairperson • Abbe Nosoff, Editor/Writer • Eugene Rubin, UFT Committee Liaison