FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1994 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 DALLAS HOTEL AGREES WITH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO BECOME ACCESSIBLE TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Business people and vacationers with disabilities will have full access to the facilities in the Dallas Hyatt Regency Hotel under an agreement reached with the Justice Department. The agreement, signed today by Judge Jorge Solis in U.S. District Court in Dallas, resolves a complaint filed with the Justice Department by several children and adults who attended a conference of the Spina Bifida Association of America at the landmark hotel in June 1992. The complainants claimed that the hotel's owners, the Woodbine Development Corporation, and its operators, the Hyatt Corporation, failed to make their facility accessible to individuals with disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). "We hope other hotels understand the significance of the ADA in the lives of real people," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. "We are committed to enforcing the law and hope that hotels and other businesses will voluntarily take steps to make their facilities accessible." Under the agreement the hotel will: make 28 guest rooms and suites accessible to people with disabilities; refurbish the hotel's exercise room and health club, and build ramps providing access to the hotel's hot tub and swimming pool; and, modify drinking fountains and three sets of restrooms on the first three floors of the hotel. The hotel also has agreed to offer 24 people with disabilities who attended the 1992 conference either a return trip to the hotel with their families or $1,500 in damages. Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by public accommodations such as hotels. It requires that businesses remove barriers in buildings when it is "readily achievable" to do so. Readily achievable is defined as without much difficulty or expense. # # # 94-678