Essay on American Disabilities Act

Introduction
In 1990 the United States Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. This act, frequently referred to as the ADA, was intended to protect disabled Americans from discrimination and to remove the social and architectural barriers that prevent the disabled from participating in mainstream society. In the past eight years, the ADA has faced criticism based on complaints that the accommodations it requires businesses and local governments to make are too expensive and difficult. The accommodations required by the ADA do not unfairly burden businesses or local governments and they are an important part of creating equal opportunities for the disabled. Even though the ADA does require businesses to make accommodations using their own financial resources, most of these accommodations are easy and inexpensive. The ADA requires reasonable accommodations that do not cause undue hardship on the part of businesses (Baldwin, William, 2000).

To obtain the protections provided by the ADA, a person must either have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, have a record of such impairment, or be regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities include walking, speaking, breathing, seeing, hearing, learning, working, caring for oneself, and performing tasks that involve use of the hands. Several federal government agencies, namely the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), enforce different provisions of the ADA (Baldwin, William, 2000).

Employment
Title I of the ADA prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions with 15 or more employees from discriminating against otherwise-qualified people with disabilities (The ADA also applies to the legislative branch of the federal government, including Congress and legislative agencies; other branches of the federal government prohibit discrimination of people with disabilities through the Rehabilitation Act of 1973).............

ESSAY ON THE AMERICAS