The Americans with Disabilities Act is Only the First Step Essay

The Americans with Disabilities Act provides civil rights to those who are disabled. The ADA guarantees equal opportunity to those individuals who are disabled in the work force and with the state and local government. The ADA will ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against when it comes to hiring, firing and advancements. The employer must provide certain accommodations for those with disabilities, but only if it does not cause them undue hardship.

On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This Act is also known as Public Law 108-446. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the law that secures special education services for children with disabilities from the time they are born until they graduate from high school. The law was re-authorized by Congress in 2004. This re-authorization has driven a series of changes in the way special education services are executed. These changes are continuing today and they affect special education and related services across the United States.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most significant laws in American History. Before the ADA was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simply because he or she was disabled. With no other reason other than the person's physical disability, they were turned away or released from a job. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The act guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA not only opened the door for

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination based upon their disability (Bennett-Alexander, 2001). The protection extends to discrimination in a broad range of activities, including public services, public accommodations and employment. The ADA's ban against disability discrimination applies to both private and public employers in the United States.

The ideology behind the ADA is inclusion. As stated in its preamble, individuals with disabilities are equal to every other human being, in regard to laws and civil rights. They should be allowed the same opportunities as the rest of the population to participate in all aspects of life (Introduction to ADA, 2014). Dana Lee Baker stated in her book on neurodiversity and public policy that terming a difference or an impairment as a disability is subjective and based on cultural views of how it relates to an individual’s function in society. For instance, being left-handed was once viewed as a threat to the health of the individual. Today being employed is a major function of the western culture; however, during some historical times, having to seek paid employment was seen as an impairment. Since functionality is the primary gauge for a disability, the farther a person is from the standard level of function, the greater the need is to protect the person’s civil rights in order for them to share membership in a society that views them as dysfunctional. The view of functionality changes over time and the ADA of 1990 had the task of bridging the changing definitions (Baker, 2011). Rosemary Chapin stated that the goal of the policy is not to emphasize the shortfalls of the individual, rather to view the disability “as the gap between a person’s capabilities and the environment’s demands” (Chapin, 1995, para. 23).

Usability is a critical portion of web design that one must be ever mindful of when constructing websites. Whether creating a personal web space or building multiple pages for a large corporation, it is the burden of the designer to guarantee people can access that content. According to the United Nations, disabled people compose roughly 10 percent of the world’s population (United Nations, 2010). Many regulations and standards have been set forth to provide disabled people with the same opportunities to access content available on the World Wide Web, as it is most of the World’s population.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that forbids the discrimination against individuals with disabilities in jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are in the general public. This law makes sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities. (What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? (2017, March 21)

“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Before starting this class and especially the research paper, I knew very little about the ADA. During the period of research and writing the paper I hope to obtain a better grasp on the ADA in general. But I also hope to learn some things that my current place of employment can improve our standards when it comes to those with disabilities. The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by then President George H. W. Bush. It prohibits discrimination based on disability and only disability. It is fairly similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

People with disabilities have become an integral part of the workforce. The ADA forbids discrimination against people with disabilities when recruiting, hiring, training, and compensating employees (Sotoa & Kleiner, 2013). The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental and establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services (activities (Stryker, R. (2013). Employers are not allowed to ask employees if they have a disability. The employers are not allowed to ask employees with disabilities to undergo a medical exam before an offer of employment unless all applicants are required to take the same exam (Kaye, Jans, & Jones,

As stated by the founding fathers of America “All men are created equal.” Black, white, brown, short, tall, smart, and dumb, all are created equally. Therefore every person deserves fair judgement. Unfortunately, it is a profound fact that not everyone is born normal and capable of task typical for a common person, who is free from disability. In my opinion, the quote “All men are created equal” serves to promote a friendly environment that helps encourage equality among people and aids to recognize the similarities rather than the differences that separates men. Even so, with this hope, the disabled community still struggles for equality. According to Legal Rights by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), “Almost 10 percent of all

In 1990, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, making those with disabilities equal to those without in the eyes of the law. Now, almost 30 years later hospitality/retail industries want to turn responsibility back on individuals. The ADA Education and Reform Act rewards business that fail to comply with the ADA and allows business to wait to remove barriers that impeded disabled Americans until after they are notified of their failure. With this legislation, the disability community would be the only protected class, under civil rights law, that would rely on education rather than enforcement.

According to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a reasonable accommodation is assistance or changes to a position or workplace that will enable an employee to do his or her job despite having a disability. Under ADA, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees with disabilities unless doing so would pose an undue hardship to the employer or business. Qualified employers are those who hold the necessary degree, skill and experience for the job and who can perform its essential functions with or without an accommodation.

5. Perhaps one of the most important protections for employees is the requirement that employers provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees. Reasonable accommodations empower us to think creatively about how a job is performed. Sometimes just by thinking outside of the box and by engaging in the interactive process, employees and employers alike are able to identify solutions to keep an employee in the workforce. From adaptive equipment to modified schedules to restructured job duties to auxiliary aids and services, the list of possible accommodations that enable an employee with a disability to perform the essential functions of a job is endless.

Over the years, the workplace has experienced several instances of discrimination. In attempt to stop the discrimination, Title VII was passed. Although Title VII helped employers in terms of race, color, gender, religion and national origin, those who had disabilities continued to face the frustration of disability barriers in the workplace, given disability was not one of the listed protected classes. Employers abstained from hiring the disabled in fear of them not being able to perform at the same level as the other employees or the attitudes of such employees towards the disabled workers. Of course, there was some legal protection against discrimination: The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, but this law only applied to employees