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Volume 4 Number 3
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT PASSES SENATE OVERWHELMINGLY
On September 7, 1989, the Senate by a vote of 76-8 approved the Americans with Disabilities Act (S. 933). The legislation has been characterized by its proponents as the most comprehensive civil rights measure since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and will provide disabled Americans with protection similar to that provided racial, ethnic and religious minorities through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Counsel to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, in testimony before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee said:
"The ADA which extends civil rights protection to 43 million Americans with disabilities is, indeed, an historic measure. On the 25th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, this legislation is long overdue. The ADA embodies the principles of non- discrimination and equal opportunity which our country embraced in 1964.
"Our society has viewed people with disabilities as inferior and has developed without consideration of their needs. Being disabled has meant far more than having a physical or mental impairment, it has meant being shut-in and shut-out. During the ADA hearings in the Senate, a black Viet Nam veteran testified about returning home in a wheelchair. He couldn't get to his apartment without his elderly grandmother carrying him. He couldn't go anywhere alone because of inaccessible streets and transportation. And he couldn't get a job because of stereotypes about his abilities, or more correctly presumptions of inabilities. He said that he learned that he was not welcome in the country he had fought for. This experience is unacceptable in a just society."
Senator Tom Harkin (D-LA), chief sponsor of the bill, said:
"This bill guarantees individuals with disabilities the right to be integrated into the economic and social mainstream of society. Enacting the ADA is the right thing to do for people with disabilities. It is also the right way to help strengthen our economy."
The National Federation of Independent Businesses has expressed strong opposition to the bill. An NFIB memorandum states: "The ADA bill imposes costly requirements on businesses and provides for unlimited damage awards even if the discrimination was unintentional. And the bill is so broadly worded that business owners will never know if they are in compliance with the law." The NFIB memorandum concludes [t]he purpose of civil rights legislation is to provide fairness. Unfortunately, the ADA bill provides access to the disabled at the expense of others. While much can and should be done to assist the disabled, fairness for all Americans should be the guiding principle. Appropriate modifications in the bill can lead to this result."
The bill was voted out of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee on August 2, 1989 by a vote of 16-0. Just prior to the committee vote, the Bush Administration and the Democratic and Republican Senate sponsors, after weeks of intense negotiations, worked out a compromise with respect to key provisions of the bill. The White House issued a statement that "[t]he President endorses this legislation as the vehicle to fulfill the challenge he offered in his February 9 address to the nation: 'Disabled Americans must become full partners in America's opportunity society.' "
Action in the House
The ADA bill is before four committees and hearings were held in each committee. The Committees are Education and Labor, Judiciary, Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Environment and Public Works. Supporters of the bill expect the House to pass the bill in the near future. Senator Kennedy, a chief sponsor of the bill said of the House: "They expect to move very rapidly.. It looks like very clear sailing."
Provisions of the Bill
This section borrows heavily from documents prepared by the staff of the Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped, chaired by Senator Harkin.
The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities: in employment, programs or activities of a State or a local government, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications.
The ADA's definition of "disability" is comparable to the definition used for purposes of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities by recipients of federal financial assistance). Disability with respect to an individual means "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment".
The definition includes persons with AIDS or MV: it does not cover individuals who are addicted to illegal drugs or alcohol. ADA retains employment protection for applicants and employees who have overcome drug or alcohol problems, including those who are participating successfully in treatment programs and are refraining from illegal drug use or alcohol abuse.
An amendment offered by Senator William L. Armstrong (R-CO) and reluctantly accepted by cosponsors of the legislation, who thought it was unnecessary, excludes from the definition of disability "homosexuality, bisexuality, transvestitism, pedophilia, transsexualism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, compulsive gambling, kleptomania or pyromania, gender identity disorders, current psychoactive substance use disorders, current psychoactive substance-induced organic mental disorders ... which are not the result of medical treatment, or other sexual behavior disorders."
  
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