Assessing paratransit eligibility under the Americans With Disabilities Act in the rehabilitation setting.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the usefulness of a rehabilitation-based assessment program designed to determine the eligibility, according to Americans With Disabilities Act criteria, of applicants for paratransit bus services.

DESIGN: Retrospective summary statistics on 500 consecutive paratransit evaluations.

SETTING: Outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation center.

PARTICIPANTS: Applicants for a community paratransit bus service.

INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical assessment of each applicants functional physical and cognitive ability to ride a fixed-route or paratransit bus system.

RESULTS: Of the 500 applicants for specialized paratransit services, 38 (8%) were found to be ineligible, based on rehabilitation professionals evaluations of their physical and cognitive abilities.

CONCLUSIONS: Mass transit organizations must adjust to the rapidly growing demand for paratransit services. Rehabilitation-based assessment programs, because of the expertise they provide in assessing functional abilities, are uniquely qualified to provide objective determinations of paratransit eligibility.