If you have a disability and need help participating in a court proceeding or jury service, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires every state and local court to arrange reasonable accommodations in court and jury service at no cost to you. That obligation covers parties, witnesses, jurors, and spectators, and it applies to everything from the courtroom itself to the documents the clerk hands you. Contact the courthouse’s ADA coordinator as early as possible, describe what you need, and put the request in writing.
Who Is Covered
The ADA’s definition of disability is deliberately broad. You qualify if you have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, if you have a documented history of one, or if you are regarded as having one.1ADA.gov. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended Major life activities include seeing, hearing, walking, speaking, breathing, learning, concentrating, and communicating. Courts are not supposed to set a high bar on this question.
Title II’s protections reach anyone who interacts with the court: litigants on either side, witnesses, prospective and seated jurors, and members of the public attending hearings. Federal regulations extend coverage to “companions” as well, meaning a family member or friend accompanying a person with a disability who also needs effective communication to support that person’s participation.2eCFR. 28 CFR 35.160 – General Coverage runs across every stage of a case: pretrial conferences, hearings, trials, sentencing, post-judgment motions, grand jury proceedings, court-ordered mediation, and interactions with the clerk’s office.3eCFR. 28 CFR 35.130 – General Prohibitions Against Discrimination
You also need to be a “qualified individual,” meaning you meet the basic eligibility for the service at issue.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12131 – Definitions In practice this rarely comes up. If you got a jury summons, you’re eligible for jury service. If you’re a party or witness in a case, you’re a participant in a court program.
What Courts Must Provide
Most requests involve communication. Courts must furnish auxiliary aids and services when needed to give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate.2eCFR. 28 CFR 35.160 – General Common examples include:
- A qualified sign language interpreter for testimony, deliberations, and sidebar conversations.
- Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART), which displays spoken words as text on a screen in real time.
- Assistive listening systems with headsets. Courtrooms are required to have these under the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, even where no other audio amplification is in place.5ADA.gov. 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design
- Court documents in large print, Braille, or electronic formats that work with screen-reading software.
- Readers or magnification devices for specific proceedings.
Beyond communication aids, courts make procedural and policy modifications. Those include adjusting a trial schedule to allow for medical treatment or rest breaks, moving proceedings to an accessible courtroom, permitting a service animal, and allowing a support person to sit nearby during testimony.
You Get to Say What You Need
Courts don’t get to pick the cheapest option and stop there. Federal regulations require the court to give “primary consideration” to the specific aid or service you request.2eCFR. 28 CFR 35.160 – General The appropriate accommodation depends on your usual communication method and on the length and complexity of the proceeding. A brief scheduling conference might work with written notes. A multi-day trial with expert testimony almost certainly calls for a live interpreter or CART provider. If the court wants to substitute something different, it needs a legitimate reason, not just cost.
What Courts Don’t Have to Provide
Personal devices and personal-care assistance fall outside the court’s duty. Courts are not required to furnish wheelchairs, prescription eyeglasses, hearing aids, help with eating or dressing, or readers for personal study unrelated to the proceeding.6eCFR. 28 CFR 35.135 – Personal Devices and Services The line runs between items you need for daily life regardless of the setting and aids the court must supply to make its own proceedings accessible. The court won’t buy you a hearing aid, but it must give you an assistive listening system or interpreter so you can follow testimony.
How to Request an Accommodation
Every court system with 50 or more employees must designate at least one ADA coordinator to handle accommodation requests and complaints, and must make that person’s name, office address, and phone number publicly available.7eCFR. 28 CFR 35.107 – Designation of Responsible Employee and Adoption of Grievance Procedures Start there. Most court websites list the coordinator on an accessibility or ADA services page.
Your request should include:
- The case name and number, so the coordinator can connect the request to a specific matter.
- The exact date, time, and courtroom of your hearing or jury service.
- A clear description of how your disability affects your ability to participate.
- The specific aid or service you believe will work best.
Courts may ask for professional verification from a healthcare provider to confirm the need for certain modifications, but they aren’t supposed to demand extensive medical records or a full diagnosis. Keep any documentation narrowly tailored to the request. Title II’s regulations do not include specific confidentiality provisions for medical documents the way employment law does, so there’s no reason to hand over your entire file.
Timing
Submit the request as early as possible. Most courts ask for at least 10 to 15 business days of lead time before the scheduled date, and services provided by outside contractors, like interpreters and CART providers, need even more notice. Converting complex legal documents into Braille or accessible electronic formats also takes time. Courts generally accept requests through online portals, email, phone, or physical mail to the clerk’s office. Whichever channel you use, keep a copy of the submission and any confirmation. If the court doesn’t respond within a reasonable time, follow up in writing. A paper trail matters if you later need to show that you asked in time and the court failed to act.
When a Court Can Legally Say No
A court has two recognized defenses for turning down a specific request: fundamental alteration and undue financial or administrative burden.8eCFR. 28 CFR 35.164 – Duties Both are harder to invoke than courts sometimes assume. The burden of proof sits with the court, not with you. The decision must be made by the head of the public entity or a designated official after considering all available resources, and it must be accompanied by a written explanation of why the accommodation qualifies as a fundamental alteration or undue burden.9eCFR. 28 CFR 35.150 – Existing Facilities A line-level clerk or a single judge cannot unilaterally deny a request on these grounds without that formal process.
Even when a specific accommodation is legitimately too burdensome, the court’s obligation doesn’t end. It must still provide an alternative that ensures access to the greatest extent possible.8eCFR. 28 CFR 35.164 – Duties If the court can’t get a CART provider for a particular hearing, for example, it may need to reschedule to a date when one is available rather than proceed with no communication accommodation at all.
If Your Request Is Denied
Ask for the denial in writing. Courts with 50 or more employees are required to maintain a formal grievance procedure for resolving ADA complaints, and that internal process is the first step.7eCFR. 28 CFR 35.107 – Designation of Responsible Employee and Adoption of Grievance Procedures Add any evidence or clarification that responds to the reasons the court gave. Many denials trace back to a coordinator who didn’t fully understand the limitation or the alternatives available.
If the internal grievance doesn’t resolve it, you have two federal options, and you can use them independently or at the same time.
File a Complaint With the Department of Justice
You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice online through the Civil Rights Division’s website or by mailing a paper complaint form.10ADA.gov. File a Complaint The complaint must be filed within 180 days of the alleged discrimination, though the filing agency may extend that deadline for good cause.11eCFR. 28 CFR 35.170 – Complaints If DOJ finds a violation and cannot negotiate voluntary compliance, it can refer the matter to the Attorney General for further action.
File a Lawsuit
You also have the right to sue in federal or state court under 42 U.S.C. ยง 12133, which incorporates the remedies available under the Rehabilitation Act.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12133 – Enforcement You do not have to exhaust the administrative complaint process first. Available remedies include injunctive relief ordering the court to provide accommodations and compensatory damages for opportunities lost because of the discrimination. Courts may also award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing party. Punitive damages are not available in Title II cases.
Jury Duty
Jury service is the one court interaction where the system summons you rather than the other way around. A disability does not automatically excuse you from serving, and courts cannot categorically exclude people with disabilities from jury pools. If you need an accommodation to serve, the court must provide it under the same standards that apply to any other proceeding.
Typical jury-service accommodations include sign language interpreters during voir dire and deliberations, assistive listening devices, large-print jury instructions, wheelchair-accessible jury boxes, and schedule modifications for medical needs. If a courtroom is too small for a mobility device, the court may need to relocate the trial to a larger room rather than dismiss the juror.13eCFR. 28 CFR Part 35 – Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services
If you receive a summons and need an accommodation, look for the instructions printed on the summons or posted on the court’s website and respond immediately. Don’t wait until you arrive at the courthouse. Some accommodations require advance arrangements that can’t be assembled on the day of service.