North Dakota Protection & Advocacy Project
News: January 29, 2008
ADA Restoration Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed by President George H.W. Bush in order to give people with disabilities a chance to be judged fairly. The Supreme Court and the lower courts have dramatically changed the meaning of "disability" under the ADA over the past eight years, since the Sutton v. United Airlines decision. Courts have ruled that people with epilepsy, diabetes, intellectual and developmental disabilities, muscular dystrophy, and cancer (among many others) are not "disabled" for purposes of the ADA. This is not what Congress intended when it passed the ADA in 1990.
The ADA Restoration Act of 2007 restores the original intent of the ADA by:
- amending the definition of "disability" so that individuals who Congress originally intended to protect from discrimination are covered under the ADA;
- preventing the courts from considering "mitigating measures" when deciding whether an individual qualifies for protection under the law;
- keeping the focus in employment cases on the reason for the adverse action. The appropriate question is whether someone can show that he or she was treated less favorably "on the basis of disability" and not whether an individual has revealed enough private, highly personal and potentially embarrassing facts to demonstrate how he or she is limited by an impairment; and
- reminding the courts that - as with any other civil rights law - the ADA must be interpreted fairly and as Congress intended.
For more information, go to the ADA Restoration Page website, sponsored by the national Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities.
