Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. 327 (July 26, 1990), codified at 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Disability is defined "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity." The determination of whether a particular condition is a disability is made on a case by case basis. Certain specific conditions are excluded as disabilities, such as current substance abusers and transsexuality.

Structure

The ADA consists of three introductory sections and five titles:

• Introductory Sections
  • Table of Contents
  • Findings and Purposes
  • Definitions

Main Section

Title I - Employment

The ADA states that covered entity shall not discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability. This applies to job application procedures, hiring, advancement or discharge of employees, worker's compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Covered entity can refer to an employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee, and is generally an employer engaged in interstate commerce and having 15 or more workers. Discrimination, among other things, may include limiting or classifying a job applicant or employee in an adverse way, denying employment opportunities to people who truly qualify, or not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of disabled employees, not advancing employees with disabilities in the business, and/or not providing needed accommodations in training. Employers can use medical entrance examinations for applicants, after making the job offer, only if all applicants (regardless of disability) must take it, and if it is treated as a confidential medical record. Qualified individuals do not include any employee or applicant who is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs.

Title II - Public Services (and public transportation)

Title II has two sections. One covers public agencies (local, county, state, etc., government and their units). That section generally requires the agencies to comply with Section 504.

The other section of Title II is specific to public transportation. It includes the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, along with all other commuter authorities.

Both sections state that no qualified individual with a disability shall be subjected to discrimination or excluded from the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity due to his or her disablity. A "public entity" can be any state or local government or any department or agency thereof. The lack of accessibility or certain services can be considered discrimination, regardless of who it actually affects. For example, a lack of wheelchair accessibility in passenger cars, or even the leasing of wheelchair inaccessible ones without a "good faith" attempt to lease wheelchair accessible ones is considered discrimination under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Title III - Public Accommodations (and Commercial Facilities)

Under Title III, no individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation. "Public accommodations" include most places of lodging (such as inns and hotels), recreation, transportation, education, and dining, along with stores, care providors, and places of public displays, among other things. The standard is one of "readily achievable," defined as easily and inexpensively done. There are exceptions to this title; many private clubs, religious organizations, and historical landmarks may not be bound by Title III. Nonetheless, as Frank Bowe predicted when he testified as the lead witness on Title III in the Senate hearings leading up to enactment, the fact that Title III calls for accessibility in, and alterations to, many thousands of stores, restaurants, hotels, etc., in many thousands of communities across the U.S. means that this Title probably has had more effect on the lives of more Americans with disabilities than any other ADA title.

Title IV - Telecommunications

Title IV of the ADA amended the landmark 1934 Communications Act by requiring that all 1,600-odd telecommunications companies in the U.S. take steps to ensure functionally equivalent services for consumers with disabilities, notably those who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with speech impairments. When Title IV took effect, in the early 1990s, it led to installation of public Teletypewriter (TTY) machines and other TDDs (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). Title IV also led to creation, in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, of what were then called dual-party relay services and now are known as Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS). Today, many TRS-mediated calls are made over the Internet by consumers who use broadband connections. Some are video relay service (VRS) calls, while others are text calls. In either variation, communication assistants translate between the signed/typed words of a consumer and the spoken words of others. In 2006, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), VRS calls averaged two million minutes a month. That statistic captures the tremendous impact of Title IV. It has made it not only possible, but very easy, for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and/or speech-impaired to call friends and co-workers, order a pizza, or make a doctor appointment.

Title V - Miscellaneous Provisions

Title V includes technical provisions. It discusses, for example, the fact that nothing in the ADA amends, overrides or cancels anything in Section 504.

Groups who worked to pass the ADA

The ADA is notable because many disparate groups came together for a common purpose. In addition, other civil rights groups outside the disability community helped. The late Justin Dart worked tirelessly, travelling to all 50 States, to bring these many groups together in common cause.

• AIDS Action Council
• AIDS National InterFaith Network
• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Foundation for the Blind
• Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT)
• Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Handicapped
• Association for Retarded Citizens
• Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
• Dole Foundation
• Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America
• Epilepsy Foundation of America
• Human Rights Campaign Fund
• Institution for Rehabilitation and Research
• Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
• Legal Action Center
• Mental Health Law Project
• National Association of the Deaf
• National Association of Developmental Disabilities Councils
• National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
• National Center for Law and the Deaf
• National Council of Independent Living
• National Council on Disability
• National Disability Action Center
• National Easter Seals Society
• National Organization Responding to AIDS
• Paralyzed Veterans of America
• President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities
• Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality
• Spina Bifida Association of America
• United Cerebral Palsy Association

Quote

On signing the measure, George H. W. Bush said,

"I know there may have been concerns that the ADA may be too vague or too costly, or may lead endlessly to litigation. But I want to reassure you right now that my administration and the United States Congress have carefully crafted this Act. We've all been determined to ensure that it gives flexibility, particularly in terms of the timetable of implementation; and we've been committed to containing the costs that may be incurred.... Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."

Criticism

The ADA is frequent target of criticism. For example, conservatives claim that lesser disabilities including clinical depression or minor neck or back pain (see neuropathy) are being accommodated when they should not be. Second, the ADA allegedly creates a class of "professional plaintiffs" who make a living out of collecting monetary damages from noncompliant businesses.

Even those who support the intent of the law worry that it might have unintended consequences. Among other arguments, they hypothesize that the Act creates additional legal risks for employers who then quietly avoid hiring people with disabilities to avoid this risk. And such researchers (e.g., DeLeire, 2000; Acemoglu & Angrist, 2001) claim to have documented a sharp drop in employment among the disabled after passage of the Act (see Schwochau & Blanck for counter arguments).

Others (see Schall, 1998) believe that the law has been ineffectual; presumably, even stronger legislation (or legislation that crafts a different reward structure) is needed to achieve the Act's intended goals.

Libertarians believe accommodation laws restrict the free market.