title: Community mental health center readiness to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the state of CMHC readiness for compliance with the provisions of Section 504 of the rehabilitation Act of 1973, and as amended. Data reported are responses to a mailed survey to 80% of the CMHCs nationally; 26% of the CMHCs in the sample responded. The survey was done six months prior to the time in which full compliance was required by regulation. The findings were (a) only 14% of all respondent CMHCs completed the compliance steps required by Section 504; (b) site accessibility and program accessibility generally were better for mobility impaired than for hearing or vision impaired consumers; (c) 87% of respondent CMHCs had no equipment for telephone access by deaf persons, but 35.4% reported clinical personnel with sign language ability; and (d) for those few (N = 24) CMHCs who reported being threatened by DHEW with sanctions for non-compliance, positive steps towards compliance were in most instances twice as likely as for the majority of CMHCs that were not so threatened.
mesh_terms: D001107:Architectural Accessibility; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States