Skates / roller skates
The 2007 FTA BART record should be described as analyzing roller skates as a mobility aid in an environment-specific transit setting. It should not be described as resolving every setting or every safety question.
Mobility aids outside default categories
Non-traditional mobility aids
A device can support disability access even when it does not look like a conventional cane, walker, wheelchair, or scooter.
Concept
The non-traditional mobility aid concept asks whether a person uses the device because of a mobility disability, what function it serves, whether it can be physically accommodated, and whether it creates an actual direct safety threat in the specific environment.
Powered devices
DOJ's OPDMD rules use powered device language for other power-driven mobility devices, including examples such as Segways and golf carts. OPDMD is not identical to skates, but it reflects the broader principle that people with disabilities may use devices that do not fit traditional categories.
ADA Requirements: Wheelchairs, Mobility Aids, and Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices
Review principles
Do not assume recreation
Appearance should not substitute for functional review.
Separate powered from non-powered
OPDMD is powered-device doctrine; skates are better discussed as a separate non-traditional mobility aid example analyzed by FTA.
Use actual risk
Public entities and transportation providers should consider physical accommodation and direct safety threat, not categorical assumptions.