George Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; standing left to right Reverend Harold Wilkie, Sandra Parrino of the National Council on Disability; seated left to right, Evan Kemp, Chairman of the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission, George Bush, Justin Dart, Chairman of the 's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities. Washington DC, USA, 26 July 1990. (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images).
While the stigmatization and marginalization of the
56 million Americans
who live with disabilities still lingers, many of them are capable of leading self-affirming lives defined by their personhood rather than by their disabilities with the help of the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA, which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on June 26, 1990, was the country's first comprehensive civil rights law addressing the needs of people with disabilities. In a response to
widespread and systemic prejudice
against people with physical and mental impairments, it prohibited workplace discrimination and guaranteed access to public places and transportation.
Before the law was passed,
large numbers of disabled children were excluded from public schools or denied adequate accommodations, treatment facilities were low in quality and the public transportation infrastructure was inaccessible to the disabled
. Discrimination was so severe that throughout the 20th century,
federally-funded coerced sterilization programs
took place in 32 states to limit the spread of "undesirable" genes.
Some of the worst
eugenics
programs took place in North Carolina, Virginia and California. However, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was confined to a wheelchair due to a case of polio, was an advocate for the rehabilitation and rights of people with disabilities. His presidency helped dispel the popular view that people with disabilities were unable to contribute to society.
In addition,
disabled World War II veterans put increased pressure
on the government to provide them with rehabilitation and vocational training. Their advocacy made the rights of the disabled more visible to citizens concerned about the long-term well being of young men who had sacrificed to serve the country during the war.
During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, disabled Americans were excluded from the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion and national origin, but disabled people were offered no such protection. As a result, beginning in the 1980s, lobbyists and activists for the disabled
began to campaign
for the consolidation of various laws into one broad civil rights statute.
The ADA was the end result, and it prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability in regards to employment, services provided by the government, public places, transportation, and telecommunication services.
The implementation of the ADA has manifested in infrastructural improvements such as curb cuts and ramps for those in wheelchairs and plentiful and easily accessible handicapped parking spaces. In addition,
places of employment are required
to provide accommodations to disabled workers if they ask for them. For example, a deaf job candidate might require an American Sign Language interpreter for a job interview or an employee with diabetes might need regular breaks to check their blood sugar.
And while the ADA placed immediate legislative demands to ensure equal access and equal treatment to disabled people, it could not realistically change longstanding attitudes with the stroke of a pen. Disabled Americans are still subject to stereotypical portrayals of disabled people in the media, unaffordable health care,
lagging employment
, bias and stigmatization. Over
25 years
after the passage of the ADA, formidable discrepancies remain part of the lives of disabled Americans.
For further reading:
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Disability advocates were arrested
outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office during a protest of the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Some of the protesters who did not immediately cooperate were removed from the premises without their wheelchairs.
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A disabled woman is calling for a wider
disability pride movement
and for us all to change discourse about disability for the better. It was the first essay in a
The New York Times
series
about life with disabilities.
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Millions of disabled people depend on Medicaid for various services, and
life without it
might not be an option.
