Everything on this page comes straight from the federal government, the U.S. Department of Justice (ADA.gov) and the U.S. Access Board. These are official definitions and free, public documents. None of it is my interpretation. Every item links to its source so you can read it yourself.
Need to file an ADA complaint about a Georgia institution?
If the institution itself does not give you an accessible way to complain, and in my experience some did not, these official offices accept ADA complaints directly. Both are free.
- State of Georgia ADA Coordinator’s Office, for access issues involving Georgia state and local government.
- U.S. Department of Justice, File an ADA Complaint, the federal route for disability discrimination by state and local government.
How the federal complaint route works
ADA.gov says the type of problem determines where to file a complaint. Employment complaints go to the EEOC. Air-travel complaints go to the Department of Transportation. Housing complaints may go to HUD or the Department of Justice.
For other disability discrimination involving a state or local government, or a business that serves the public, the Department of Justice accepts an online report or a mailed complaint form. ADA.gov says its initial review may take up to three months.
An institution’s grievance procedure is one way to raise an access problem. A federal complaint is a separate route. The official materials below explain ADA compliance duties and filing options.
Source: File a Complaint, ADA.gov
What the ADA is
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law passed in 1990. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination.
The law covers employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation and telecommunications. It also applies to Congress.
Source: A Guide to Disability Rights Laws, U.S. Department of Justice
Who the ADA protects
The Department of Justice says the ADA protects a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. It also protects a person with a record of such an impairment or a person others perceive as having one.
Major life activities include breathing, walking, reading, thinking, seeing, hearing and working.
Sources: A Guide to Disability Rights Laws and ADA Update: A Primer for State and Local Governments
Title II, state and local governments
Title II applies to state and local governments. It also applies to their departments, agencies, special-purpose districts and other public entities.
Those entities may not discriminate against qualified people with disabilities in their programs, services or activities. The rule reaches services ranging from adoption to zoning.
Sources: Title II Primer and Title II Regulations, 28 CFR Part 35
Effective communication
Under Title II, the ADA requires state and local governments to communicate as effectively with people with disabilities as with others, and to make reasonable modifications when necessary to accommodate people with disabilities.
Free official publications
Every document below is published by the U.S. government and free to read or download. Each is credited to its agency.
- A Guide to Disability Rights Laws, U.S. Department of Justice
- ADA Update: A Primer for State and Local Governments, U.S. Department of Justice (web, PDF)
- ADA Requirements: Effective Communication, U.S. Department of Justice
- Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA, U.S. Department of Justice
- Title II Regulations, 28 CFR Part 35, U.S. Department of Justice (overview, PDF supplement)
- 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, U.S. Department of Justice
- A Guide to the ADA Standards, U.S. Access Board
The government’s own ADA help line
The U.S. Department of Justice runs a free ADA Information Line.
800-514-0301 (voice)
1-833-610-1264 (TTY)
Open Monday to Friday. Source: ADA.gov.
Terms used on this site are defined, with their legal sources, in the Glossary.
Filing an ADA Complaint About a Bar or Licensing Body
The rest of this page maps the government’s own ADA materials. This section is narrower. It is for the person whose access problem is with the body that regulates lawyers, or with a professional licensing board, because that situation has a wrinkle the general materials do not address.
The wrinkle
Most ADA complaint routes assume you know whether the institution is covered. With a state bar, that can be the thing in dispute.
I asked the State Bar of Georgia in writing whether ADA Title II applied to it and asked for a one word answer. Over eight weeks the Bar granted accommodations, wrote that it is “not a public entity,” approved an accommodation request, and then wrote that it is “not subject to Title II.” The full sequence, dated, is here.
Here is what matters practically: you do not have to resolve that question before you file. Both free routes below accept a complaint and make their own determination. Waiting for the institution to tell you whether it is covered means waiting on the party with the least reason to answer.
Route one. Your state ADA coordinator’s office
In Georgia this is the State ADA Coordinator’s Office. The State ADA Coordinator is Stacey Peace and the office is at 270 Washington Street SW in Atlanta. Official information is at ada.georgia.gov.
On April 30, 2026 I sent that office a sixty-four page ADA technical assistance package about the State Bar of Georgia’s attorney grievance process. The office confirmed it was the first program-access complaint of its kind on file against the Bar.
It did not question whether I really needed help. It treated the matter as a recognizable ADA access concern, contacted the State Bar directly, and offered assistance and model materials. Within hours of that contact on May 6, the Bar designated a contact, began sending individual written acknowledgments for the first time, and partially granted two of the six accommodations I had asked for.
The limit, stated plainly. This office has no enforcement power. It engaged, it helped, and it moved a large institution within hours. It cannot make anyone act. Knowing that going in would have changed how I sequenced everything, so I am telling you now.
The full record of that engagement
Route two. The U.S. Department of Justice
The Department of Justice accepts an online report or a mailed complaint form for disability discrimination by state and local government. ADA.gov says its initial review may take up to three months.
An institution’s own grievance procedure is one way to raise an access problem. A federal complaint is a separate route. They run in parallel. Nothing about filing one requires you to abandon the other.
What to put in it
Keep it to the process, not the merits of your underlying complaint. The access issue is a separate matter and mixing them lets an institution answer one and call it both.
- The program you were trying to use, named exactly as the institution names it.
- What you asked for, on what date, and to whom.
- What you got back, quoted, with dates.
- What is still unanswered, with the date you first asked.
- Whether the institution publishes an ADA coordinator and a grievance procedure, and where you looked.
That last item does real work. Whether a route is published is a fact anyone can check, and it does not depend on anyone believing your account of a phone call.
Before you file, do the ten minute check
Open the institution’s website. Search for “ADA,” “accessibility,” and “accommodation.” Then open the complaint form itself and read the fine print.
I did this with the State Bar of Georgia. Its 2011 English grievance form named an ADA Coordinator and gave two phone numbers. That form is still hosted on one of the Bar’s own section websites. The Spanish form carries the same notice today. The current English form does not.
Screenshot what you find, with the date. Public pages change, and the fact that one changed can matter more than what it currently says.
What other state bars publish . What an ADA coordinator is supposed to do . Requesting an accommodation in a bar grievance