Victor was looking for after school activities for his daughter Marisha and remembered having fun swimming as a child. He decided to take Marisha to the public swimming pool. Marisha was excited to swim with the other kids. She has autism and would need her personal flotation devices to participate.

As Victor inflated the items, the pool manager informed the father and daughter that Marisha would not be allowed to swim with the flotation devices due to the pool’s “no floaties” policy. Victor explained that Marisha needed floaties because of her disability, but the manager said the rule applied to everyone unless Marisha had a doctor’s note.

Upset about his daughter’s exclusion from the pool, Victor called his regional Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Center to see what his daughter’s rights were.

The ADA Specialist talked with Victor about asking for a reasonable modification for Marisha of the public pool’s policy under Title II of the ADA.  Without a reasonable modification, or a change to this pool’s policy, Marisha would not have been able to participate.

Victor brought this information back to the pool manager. The manager realized she had enough information about Marisha without the doctor’s note to make this simple change so Marisha could participate. Thanks to the ADA, Marisha entered the pool with a splash!