Fifteen Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Much Progress, but Much at Risk
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 7/26/2005
Today, individuals and organizations from around the country are recognizing all who helped ensure the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed into law fifteen years ago on July 26, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush.The ADA is considered to be among the most significant of civil rights laws passed since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from which it draws heavily. It protects individuals with physical and mental disabilities against discrimination in areas such as employment, public accommodations, and transportation.
The ADA changed the landscape of America, increasing access for individuals with disabilities and making buses with chairlifts, ramps into hotels, and government buildings and wheelchair accessible restrooms commonplace.
Civil rights organizations and disability advocacy organizations are using the anniversary to call attention to the ways in which the ADA has been undercut and rolled back.
ADA Watch President Jim Ward said in a statement, "While this is a time to acknowledge the advances made by people with disabilities as a result of this historic civil rights law, it is essential that we examine what has not been accomplished, and what we are at risk of losing."
"Indeed, just last year, a study by a commission of the American Bar Association found that employers prevailed in more than 94 percent of the 327 ADA employment-related cases decided last year in federal courts. The study concluded that the legal standards within the law were being interpreted by the courts in ways that 'still create obstacles for plaintiffs to overcome,'" Ward said.
Calling attention to the Supreme Court's 1998 ruling that the law protected people living with HIV without symptoms from discrimination, Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said, "As we celebrate the importance of the ADA in helping turn the nation around...we must also work to ensure people have the medical treatment they need."
In a statement of solidarity galvanizing national organizations to build on the success of the ADA, the American Association of People with Disabilities said, "Although substantial progress has been made, we are reminded every day of the significant remnants of the 'shameful wall of exclusion' that continue to prevent this great country from realizing the full promise of the ADA."
