[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR900.705]

[Page 510]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
          CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (Continued)
 
PART 900--INTERGOVERNMENTAL PERSONNEL ACT PROGRAMS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart G--Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Federally 
         Assisted Programs of the Office of Personnel Management
 
Sec. 900.705  Program accessibility.

    (a) No qualified handicapped person shall, because a recipient's 
facilities are inaccessible to or unusable by handicapped persons, be 
denied the benefits of, be excluded from participation in or otherwise 
be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity to which 
this subpart applies.
    (b) A recipient shall operate each program or activity so that the 
program or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible 
to and usable by handicapped persons. This paragraph does not 
necessarily require a recipient to make each of its existing facilities 
or every part of an existing facility accessible to and usable by 
handicapped persons. Where structural changes are necessary to make 
programs or activities in existing facilities accessible, such changes 
shall be made as soon as practicable, but in no event later than three 
years after the effective date of the regulation.
    (c) A recipient may comply with the requirements of paragraph (b) of 
this section through such means as redesign of equipment, reassignment 
of services to accessible buildings, assignment of aides to 
beneficiaries, home visits, alteration of facilities or any other 
methods that result in making its program or activity accessible to 
handicapped persons. A recipient is not required to make structural 
changes in existing facilities where other methods are effective in 
achieving compliance with this section.
    (d) New facilities shall be designed and constructed to be readily 
accessible to and usable by handicapped persons. Alterations to existing 
facilities shall, to the maximum extent feasible, be designed and 
constructed to be readily accessible to and usable by handicapped 
persons.
    (e) In the event that structural changes to facilities are necessary 
to meet the requirements of this section, a recipient shall develop 
within 12 months of the effective date of this subpart a transition plan 
setting forth the steps necessary to complete such changes. The plan 
shall be developed with the assistance of interested persons, including 
handicapped persons or organizations representing handicapped persons.
    (f)(1) Effective as of August 23, 1990. Design, construction, or 
alteration of buildings in conformance with sections 3-8 of the Uniform 
Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) (appendix A to 41 CFR subpart 
101-19.6) shall be deemed to comply with the requirements of this 
section with respect to those buildings. Departures from particular 
technical and scoping requirements of UFAS by the use of other methods 
are permitted where substantially equivalent or greater access to and 
usability of the building is provided.
    (2) For purposes of this section, section 4.1.6(1)(g) of UFAS shall 
be interpreted to exempt from the requirements of UFAS only mechanical 
rooms and other spaces that, because of their intended use, will not 
require accessibility to the public or beneficiaries or result in the 
employment or residence therein of persons with physical handicaps.
    (3) This section does not require recipients to make building 
alterations that have little likelihood of being accomplished without 
removing or altering a load-bearing structural member.

[45 FR 75569, Nov. 14, 1980, as amended at 55 FR 29999, July 28, 1990]