Real Safety AI Foundation / Research

Disability, Accessibility, and Civil Rights

The Recording Restriction: Memory Disabilities, the Surcharge Doctrine, and Public Accommodation Access

Publisher: Real Safety AI Foundation

Working paper. Not peer reviewed.

Written
May 2026
Version
v1
Pages
19
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Abstract

A growing class of premium-priced public accommodations, including the Halloween haunted-house events run by Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Hersheypark, prohibits guests from recording any photograph or video inside the haunted houses them- selves. The stated rationale is the protection of live performance and the experience of other guests. For most guests, the prohibition is an inconvenience. For guests with docu- mented memory disabilities, including traumatic brain injury, early-stage dementia, and certain forms of episodic memory impairment associated with autism spectrum disorder, the prohibition operates as a categorical denial of access to the memory of a premium- priced experience that the venue has marketed as singular and unrepeatable. This Ar- ticle advances three claims. First, recording is an auxiliary aid and a reasonable mod- ification within the meaning of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and a categorical recording ban applied without an individualized inquiry violates 42 U.S.C.

Keywords

  • Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Title III
  • reasonable modification
  • fundamental alteration
  • memory disability
  • episodic memory
  • PGA Tour v. Martin
  • auxiliary aids
  • assistive technology
  • live performance
  • copyright fixation
  • fair use
  • surcharge doctrine
  • theme parks

Plain language slides

First slide of the plain language summary of The Recording Restriction: Memory Disabilities, the Surcharge Doctrine, and Public Accommodation AccessOpen the 14-slide summary (PDF)

Suggested citation

Gilly, Travis. "The Recording Restriction: Memory Disabilities, the Surcharge Doctrine, and Public Accommodation Access." Real Safety AI Foundation Working Paper, May 2026. https://realsafetyai.org/research/ruty26/

Other versions

This paper is also posted on SSRN.

SSRN version

References (28)

This paper cites its sources in footnotes. Each authority is listed once, where it is first cited, with its footnote number.

  1. Footnote 1.Joseph Matt, Guide to Halloween Horror Nights 2026 at Universal Orlando, TouringPlans (updated Apr. 2026), https://touringplans.com/blog/guide-to-halloween-horror-nights-at-universal-orlando/ (visited May 2026) (“Photography of any kind is prohibited in haunted houses… Team Members are positioned inside the house to facilitate guest flow and provide assistance.”).
  2. Footnote 1.Halloween Horror Nights Guide, Universal Orlando (guest-relations comment), https://blog.discoveruniversal.com/events/guide-to-halloween-horror-nights/ (visited May 2026).
  3. Footnote 2.Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 327, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq.
  4. Footnote 2.ADA Amendments Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-325, 122 Stat. 3553.
  5. Footnote 4.Do Not Show Up to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Without Knowing These Rules First, Inside the Magic (2026), https://insidethemagic.net/2026/05/do-not-show-up-to-halloween-horror-nights-at-universal-without-knowing-these-rules-first-el1/.
  6. Footnote 6.Code of Conduct & Policies, Knott’s Berry Farm, https://www.sixflags.com/knotts/code-of-conduct (visited May 2026).
  7. Footnote 7.Robert Niles, Have Knott’s New Policies Made for a Better Scary Farm?, Theme Park Insider (Sept. 24, 2022), https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202209/9153/.
  8. Footnote 8.Hersheypark Halloween: What is the filming policy for Dark Nights?, Hersheypark, https://www.hersheypark.com/plan-your-visit/faqs/315 (visited May 2026).
  9. Footnote 9.42 U.S.C. § 12102(1)(A).
  10. Footnote 11.American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text rev. 2022) (DSM-5-TR), at the relevant entries for major and mild neurocognitive disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and dissociative amnesia.
  11. Footnote 12.42 U.S.C. § 12102(4)(E)(i).
  12. Footnote 13.527 U.S. 471 (1999), superseded by statute, ADA Amendments Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-325, 122 Stat. 3553, as recognized in e.g., Summers v. Altarum Inst., Corp., 740 F.3d 325 (4th Cir. 2014).
  13. Footnote 14.ADA Amendments Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-325, § 2(b)(2)–(5), 122 Stat. 3553, 3554 (findings rejecting Sutton and Toyota Motor Mfg., Ky., Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002)).
  14. Footnote 16.42 U.S.C. § 12182(a).
  15. Footnote 17.28 C.F.R. § 36.201(a).
  16. Footnote 18.42 U.S.C. § 12181(7)(C), (I).
  17. Footnote 19.PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661, 680 (2001).
  18. Footnote 20.42 U.S.C. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(ii).
  19. Footnote 21.28 C.F.R. § 36.302(a).
  20. Footnote 25.42 U.S.C. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(iii)
  21. Footnote 25.28 C.F.R. § 36.303.
  22. Footnote 26.28 C.F.R. § 36.303(b)(1)–(3).
  23. Footnote 28.17 U.S.C. § 102(a) (“Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression….”).
  24. Footnote 29.17 U.S.C. § 107.
  25. Footnote 30.Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 578–79 (1994) (transformative use under the first fair use factor).
  26. Footnote 31.28 C.F.R. § 36.301(c).
  27. Footnote 32.29 U.S.C. § 794.
  28. Footnote 33.Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C., 596 U.S. 212, 215 (2022).

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