Americans With Disabilities Act

Americans With Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. Barriers to employment, transportation, public accommodations, public services, and telecommunications have imposed staggering economic and social costs on American society.  The ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications.

Cry Wolf Quotes

This is going to be a lawyer’s paradise.

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Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), New York Times.

The ADA also mandates job accommodation financed by employers. Employers will be forced to restructure existing facilities, restructure jobs, hire readers, signers, and assistants in order to accommodate over 900 physical and mental impairments. This converts a civil rights measure into a mandated benefits program for the disabled. It is time we ask ourselves what `reasonable accommodation' means for American businesses. The real cost to the nation would be higher costs of production, fewer jobs, lower real wage rates, lower levels of output and income, and a weaker competitive position for the U.S. business in the world market place.

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Ron Marlenee (R-MT) speaking to the House of Representatives. The Americans With Disabilities Act.

Under the guise of civil rights for the disabled, the Senate had passed a disaster for U.S. business.

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National Review.

Rather than merely prohibiting discrimination against the disabled, the bill compels employers to make significant expenditures and extensive physical alterations to their facilities to accommodate an unlimited variety job applicants.

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Gordon J. Humphrey (R-NH), The New York Times.

Evidence

Backgrounders & Briefs

Good Rules: Ten Stories Of Successful Regulation

Demos looks at ten laws and rules that we take for granted.

Resources

The American Association of People with Disabilities organizes and advocates for the disability community across the nation.