Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

For adults, the workplace replaces the school as the main setting in which a person interacts with others and society in general. Just as children with disabilities were formerly segregated in the school setting, historically people with disabilities were almost entirely excluded from job opportunities. Congress took the lead in prohibiting job discrimination against persons with disabilities with the passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which makes it illegal for agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to discriminate against persons with disabilities. After extensive publicity and lobbying by numerous advocacy groups for individuals with disabilities, the job-related rights of these people were greatly expanded with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.

There is, of course, a major difference between school and the workplace. Consequently, these laws have a different structure and a different enforcement mechanism from those that are used to enforce the laws relating to schools. All school systems must have in place a system to identify and provide services to students with disabilities. Public school administrators recognize that these students will be part of their schools’ student population, and therefore they must prepare to provide students with their rights under the law. Employers, on the other hand, are not required to establish a system to deal with applicants or employees with disabilities, but once a person with a disability appears at the door looking for a job, the employer must deal with the applicant as if the disability did not exist. In general terms, the laws relating to schools are composed of commands telling the school what it must do, while laws relating to the workplace are primarily composed of commands telling the employer what it may not do.

Part of the American with Disabilities Act incorporates concepts from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and specifically prohibits employment discrimination against qualified people with disabilities in federally funded programs. Specifically, the act states that “no otherwise qualified individual with handicaps in the United States… shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance…” Handicaps are fairly widely defined as any limits an individual has that impact his or her “major life activities”, which include caring for one’s self, or performing tasks such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing breathing, or learning.

The ADA extended this prohibition against discrimination in all private and public employers. The law states that “no employer shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring or discharge of employees, employee compensation, advancement, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.” In other words, the employer must appraise an individual with a disability who is applying for a job with the same criteria that would be used to appraise an individual without a disability. The employer is required to make reasonable accommodation for the person with a disability who is qualified for the job. This “reasonable accommodation” has been interpreted to mean removing job obstacles that would prevent the otherwise qualified person with a disability from working. Failing to make these accommodations is a violation of the law; however, the employer is not required to hire the person with a disability if doing so would impose “undue hardship” on the employer. The employer must define the undue hardship.

Another part of the ADA provides access to all public places by prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities. This means that all forms of public transportation, such as trains, city buses, and subways, should be accessible to those with disabilities. Architectural barriers such as stairs in buildings and narrow doorways must also be removed or bypassed to the maximum extent feasible, and all new buildings and facilities must be constructed without these physical limitations. This aspect of the ADA also applies to private companies providing transportation services, such as bus companies, airlines, and taxi companies.

Another important aspect of the ADA is its prohibition of all discrimination in public accommodations against people with disabilities, including restaurants, bars, theaters, stadiums, concert halls, hotels, inns, bakeries, grocery stores, gas stations, professional offices such as those of doctors and lawyers, bus and airport terminals, libraries, galleries, and physical exercising facilities, such as gyms and bowling alleys.

Another part of the ADA prohibits discrimination by life and health insurance companies, which are not permitted to deny coverage based on an individual’s or a family member’s disability. The practical effect of this provision is uncertain, however, because it continues to allow insurance companies to deny coverage if the denial is based on “sound actuarial principles” or “reasonable anticipated experience.” This means that an insurance company is not allowed to reject an applicant based on the disability; however, it may reject the applicant based on experience, which shows that a similar person utilizes more services than the average person applying for insurance. Because of this uncertainty, many individuals and families find it quite difficult to obtain life or health insurance unless it is in the context of a mandated group plan through employment. Some states are attempting to further tighten the prohibitions against discrimination by insurance companies with respect to people with disabilities.