The ADA (Americans with Disability Act)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
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(March, 2013)
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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (P.L. 101-336) could be regarded as the most comprehensive civil rights legislation ever to have been adopted by any nation in the world. This law was signed by the US president, George W. Bush, on July 26, 1990. According to Rhoads the amendment made significant changes to the ADA’s definition of "disability" that broadens the scope of coverage under both the ADA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. It is a therefore a requirement for all public and private, state or local agencies private companies offering services, transportation, and utilities to comply with amended law. The Act broadened the civil rights that protected people with all kinds of disabilities in the following areas; employment, public transportation and local government services, public accommodation, telecommunication and miscellaneous (Rhoads, 2010).
Blanck and Braddock argue that the law has brought a lot of advantages both to the individuals in question and the society in general. The barriers to employment, transportation, public accommodations, public services, and telecommunications have been done away with. These barriers imposed astounding economic and social costs on American society and the individuals with disability and above all undermined the well-intentioned efforts to educate, rehabilitate, and employ individuals with disabilities. The amended law meant the society to benefit from the skills and talents of individuals with disabilities. The purchasing power of the individuals in question has been boosted hence giving them an opportunity to enjoy like the others. This is because the Act gives the people with disabilities the civil rights protection similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The law guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications (Blanck & Braddock, 1998).
On the other hand, Rhoads points out that the Act is likely to increase the number of Americans who would be regarded as disabled which will increase the scope of protection. This increase would sometimes not be good for business because there will be tremendous increase in the number of law suits that will proceed beyond the stage of threshold (that is, whether the plaintiff-employee is “disabled”) to the merits stage (that is, whether the plaintiff-employee was discriminated against because of his/her disability). However, this Act was enacted with great support from the business community and labor and consumer protection groups. They were moved by the vision to see a community were every one was regarded as important and given the same equal opportunity as others regardless of his/her disability (Rhoads, 2010). This vision has been realized, Americ...