"Imagine an African American's voting rights withheld until he or she proved 100 percent African American descent, or a woman having to sue her employer to get a women's restroom in the workplace. Outrageous as those scenarios seem, their like is commonplace in the lives of the disabled... because of widespread misinterpretation and misapplication of the Americans with Disabilities Act". - Booklist review of Make Them Go Away by Mary Johnson, 2003
Today and the Future
"The ADA has resulted in a surprisingly small number of lawsuits -- only about 650 nationwide in [the first] five years. That's tiny compared to the 6 million businesses; 666,000 public and private employers; and 80,000 units of state and local government that must comply."
- ADA Myths Versus Facts Publication
- ADA Myths Versus Facts Publication
However, these lawsuits have bruised the disability movement's strength.
"Legal forays against the law during the 1990s focused mainly on finding ways to use it to determine whether someone deserved to avail themselves of its protections. Were they 'disabled' as the ADA defined it?" - Make Them Go Away by Mary Johnson
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"While the activists and legislators who hammered out the ADA's language clearly intended it to be a civil rights law protecting all Americans, the courts... have interpreted the law as just another benefits law serving a small, narrowly defined group of people". - Douglas Lanthrop, current disability news writer
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"The scope of the act [has been narrowed] so drastically that only a small number of the estimated 54 million disabled Americans remain covered". - New Mobility Magazine, September 2003
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"The years since enactment of the ADA have restored in large measure the longer tradition of a splintered community with myriad—and sometimes competing—priorities..." - National Council on Disability
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However, the government is aware of the struggling disability movement, and has moved to advert a renewal of prejudice.
Sally Esposito, former Director of the Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities in New Haven, Connecticut, on the ADA's written reform*
* NOTE: When Esposito mentions "1988", she is referring to "2008". |
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
(Click to view) |
The 20th Anniversary of the ADA
- President Obama's Speech Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the ADA - The White House
Sally Esposito, former Director of the Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities in New Haven, Connecticut, on the importance of continual advocation for disability rights
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