Today is the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990. At the time, President Bush compared the ADA to the fall of the Berlin Wall and declared, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”
The
law’s intent is to give equal rights and opportunity to all people with
disabilities, seen and hidden. Disability
is defined
by the ADA as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.” The ADA lists some disabilities that are covered under the law, but does not specifically name every disability that can be eligible to qualify under the ADA.
by the ADA as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.” The ADA lists some disabilities that are covered under the law, but does not specifically name every disability that can be eligible to qualify under the ADA.
Among
the conditions considered to be disabilities are: deafness, blindness, intellectual
disabilities, mobility impairments, missing limbs, autism, cancer, diabetes,
post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV/AIDS, and epilepsy.
The
ADA consists of five (5) provisions, or Titles.
Each title addresses a particular area of concern to achieve equality.
The
Titles are:
I.
Employment
II.
State
and Local Government
III.
Public
Accommodations and Commercial Facilities
IV.
Telecommunications
V.
Miscellaneous
Title
I, the Employment provision, prohibits discrimination against people with
disabilities in any aspect of the employment process. This includes job applications, hiring
decisions, job training, promotions, and benefits, among other issues.
It
applies to employers who have 15 or more employees. Employers are forbidden from asking whether a
person has a disability. The only way
they can address disability is in relation to how an employee or potential
employee will perform a particular function of the job, given a
limitation. This is where “reasonable
accommodations” come into play. An
employer is required to provide alternative methods of accomplishing job
duties, such as acquiring special equipment or allowing for scheduling changes. It is up to the (prospective) employee to
demonstrate how he or she can accomplish job functions using any accommodations
that may be provided. On the other hand,
if the accommodations are judged to cause “undue hardship,” the employer is not
required to provide the accommodation.
There is an incentive for businesses to provide accommodations for
people with disabilities—that is, through tax credits. There are three to especially take note of:
1.
Small
Business Tax Credit: IRS Code Section 44, Disabled Access Credit
2.
Architectural/Transportation
Tax Deduction: IRS Code Section 190, Barrier Removal
3.
Work
Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)
Title
II deals with State and Local Governments.
It’s pretty straightforward: it requires
equal access to all programs and services provided by local and state
governments. This includes affordable
public housing and access to transportation.
Title
III covers Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities. People with disabilities cannot be
discriminated against in any place of “public accommodation.” That means places like hotels, recreation
centers, universities, bus stations, and restaurants, among others. All buildings that are constructed are
required to be “ADA-compliant.” This
means they need to follow the regulations outlined by the ADA Accessibility
Guidelines (found in the Code of Federal Regulations at C.F.R., Part 36,
Appendix A).
Regarding
existing buildings, they are required to remove all barriers that made them
inaccessible to people with disabilities (by building ramps, etc.). By now, this should be done.
There
is an exception to this rule. Private
clubs, religious organizations, and historic landmarks (sites on the National
Register of Historic Places) are exempt from the ADA. Personally, I don’t like the exception to the
first two on this list. The historic
landmarks I can kind of understand, but the other two are really excluding
people with disabilities from opportunities to join and become productive,
active members of those groups. I
suppose it is their loss.
Title
IV of the ADA is the easiest to understand and was the most straightforward to
implement. It dealt with equal access to
telecommunications.
The
ADA amended the Communications Act of 1934 by adding Section 47. It requires that telecommunications companies
provide services to people with disabilities.
As a result, they installed TDD/TTY for the deaf/hard of hearing and
those with speech impairments.
Title
V addresses random issues. One important
provision included is that people with disabilities who exercise their rights
under the ADA cannot be retaliated against or coerced into doing something
against their will. An example of this
may be that you cannot be fired from your job if you are appealing a decision
on why you didn’t get a promotion.
This
is just a basic review of the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities
Act. For more in depth details, check
out the websites I’ve listed.
We
have come a long way in making life more accessible to people with
disabilities. I think most of the
progress has been made in the physical sense, with building ramps for buildings
and curved sidewalks. In addition, the
telecommunications system was quickly updated.
However, the jobs, housing, education, and transportation systems are
not where they need to be. People with
disabilities are still left behind.
There is much work to do.
Information about
the Americans with Disabilities Act
Details
of Titles I and V
President
Bush’s speech on signing the Americans with Disabilities Act
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