Inclusion Daily Express -- Advocates Tell House Committee Of Need To Restore ADA's Intent

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Advocates Tell House Committee Of Need To Restore ADA's Intent
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 29, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC--Lawmakers in the House of Representatives heard testimony Tuesday on legislation designed to clarify and restore what Congress intended when it passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

The House Education and Labor Committee heard advocates argue that, while the ADA was designed to protect people with disabilities from discrimination, courts have since focused on the level of the person's disability. This has made it more difficult or impossible for many Americans to use the law to claim discrimination, particularly if the effects of their disabilities are "mitigated" or lessened by medication or assistive technologies.

If the ADA Restoration Act becomes law, the bipartisan legislation would shift the focus to the discrimination rather than the disability. Among other things, the legislation would change the language in the civil rights law so that it would prohibit discrimination "on the basis of a disability" instead of "against an individual with a disability" as it currently reads.

Andrew Imparato, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, testified: "In 1990, the ADA was heralded as an 'emancipation proclamation' for people with disabilities."

"Seventeen years later, on account of judicial activism, we are far from having a law that can be counted on to safeguard the fair treatment of people with disabilities in the workplace."

"The bill does not seek to expand the rights guaranteed under the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a cosponsor of the measure. "Instead, it seeks to clarify the law, restoring the scope of protection available under the ADA."

Some business groups are opposing the bill, arguing that it would make it so that businesses and employers would have to provide accommodations to nearly everyone -- including people with common colds.

Related:
"Workers with Disabilities Unprotected Against Employment Discrimination" (House Committee On Education and Labor)
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel012908.html

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