[nabs-l] Accessibility of apartment documents

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I'll be moving into my first big kid apartment (on my own with no
roommates) this August.  I met with one of the realty agents that
works for the apartment company today and really like what I saw in
the viewing.  It looks like it will be a pretty good living situation,
and although I've enjoyed having roommates I'm looking forward to
having a little more control over my space (No more randomly moving
things in the fridge, unexpected changes in the thermostat, etc).

I'm a little concerned about finding out what my accessibility-related
rights are.  This is new for me and I am doing research on my own, but
I thought turning here would also be useful.  I was a little
disheartened when I found the company didn't have an electronic way
for me to complete the apartment application.  The agent was nice
enough to fill out most of it with me and was amenable to having my
parents scan the completed copy as a PDF and email in their co-signer
portion since they're in a different city, but as far as me filling it
out in an accessible format she didn't seem to know of a way to make
it work without messing up the formatting of the application form.
I'm kind of feeling "whatever" about it at this point because the form
was pretty short and painless/not necessarily worth a huge fuss over
accessibility, but I am more concerned with making sure I get an
accessible copy of the contract/lease so I can reference it if
necessary while I am in the property.  I understand that having
independent access to this kind of documentation is very important,
and want to make sure I start working with the company in advance if
necessary.

My questions are: If the company doesn't already have an electronic
copy of the lease how, exactly, would they be required to share it
with me in a format I can use?  What would be acceptable options to
tell them if they have no clue?  If they decide to send it somewhere
else to be brailled would that come out of their pocket or my own?

Of course, I recognize that they could/should have a scanner somewhere
in their offices, and therefore scanning the lease and making an
accessible copy wouldn't be too terribly hard.  However, I'm not sure
who's responsibility it would be and am a little skeptical of that
working out if they were unable to make the application available to
me in a format I can use.  I really don't mind the application, but I
honestly don't want to sit down with a reader and go through a 60-plus
page document if I can help it.  2 pages are one thing, ut from what I
understand leases are much longer.

Any tips or bits of knowledge anyone could pass on would be appreciated.

-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"