15 Years of ADA - Filled with Setbacks - and Victories

[Guest guest]

>15 Years of ADA - Filled with Setbacks - and Victories>>Guest Commentary by Mike Ervin>January 26, 2007>>Today, Jan. 26, is the 15th anniversary of the day the Americans>with Disabilities Act went into effect. Since then, a barrage of>legal challenges has rendered the ADA much weaker than envisioned.>>Title I, which prohibits employment discrimination, has especially>taken a hit over the years. Employers from both the public and>private sectors have frequently challenged the ADA's definition of>disability and have narrowed the scope of who qualifies for>protection under the law. It is now at the point where people with>such conditions as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and significant>vision loss have had their cases dismissed because judges>determined they don't qualify as disabilities.>>Employment discrimination suits

brought under the ADA are rarely>successful in courts. Every year since 1992, the American Bar>Association has surveyed Title I cases, and each year the survey>reveals that employers have prevailed in more than 90 percent of>the decisions.>>President Bush has helped undermine the law his father proudly>signed by appointing active opponents of the ADA to the federal>bench.>>In the infamous University of Alabama v. Garrett case in 2001,> Pryor, who was then attorney general of that state, hired> Sutton to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that state>governments should be immune from Title I lawsuits brought forth>by state employees. Sutton and Pryor won. Bush subsequently placed>both men on the federal bench.>>In spite of the setbacks, America is vastly more accessible than>it was 15 years ago. We have the ADA to thank for that. What

made>this law revolutionary was that it extended the obligation not to>discriminate to the private sector. As a result, sometimes the>mere threat of legal action has brought about positive change for>people with disabilities.>>One of the most monumental court victories brought about by the>ADA was the 1999 case of Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. The Supreme>Court ruled the state of Georgia violated the ADA by arbitrarily>warehousing two women with disabilities in a state institution>against their will. As a result, many states have rightly shifted>spending priorities away from institutionalization and into>community living programs.>>In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice reached an out-of-court>agreement with NPC International that will make nearly all the 800>Pizza Hut restaurants the company operates more uniformly>accessible to people with mobility

disabilities by the end of>2009.>>The ADA also requires all new buses, trains and stations to be>wheelchair accessible. As a result, public transit access has>improved dramatically in the last 15 years.>>These victories still make the ADA well worth celebrating.>>Mike Ervin is a disability-rights activist with ADAPT>(www.adapt.org). He wrote this commentary for Progressive>Media Project.>>Source: Progressive Media Project> 409 East Main Street> Madison, WI 53703> Email: pmproj@...> Website: http://www.progressive.org>>________________________________________________________________>>For more ADA in the News issues,

see:>http://www.aapd.com/News/adainthe/indexada.php>># # #>>MODERATOR, Anne Sommers, JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the>American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). To>contact Anne, please email her at JFAmoderator@.... To>respond to a JFA alert or to submit an article, please see>http://www.aapd.com/JFA/JFAcontent.html.>>