Purpose Of American With Disabilities Act

Purpose of American with Disabilities Act

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA is a comprehensive civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It presents similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the 1964 Civil Rights Act which made discrimination based on sex, race, religion, national origin, and other characteristics unlawful. As defined, "disability" is a physical or mental impairment that significantly limits a major life activity. How a particular condition is determined as a disability, is made on a case to case basis. Some specific conditions are excluded as disabilities such as transsexuality and substance abusers.

The purpose of the American with Disabilities Act is to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations, transportation, employment, commercial facilities, State and local government, and telecommunications. The Act also applies to the US Congress.

To be protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person must have a disability or have a relationship or connection with an individual with disability, which means that the individual must have a mental or physical impairment that considerably limits one or more major life activities, or an individual who has a record or history of such impairment, or one who is perceived by others as having such impairment.

The purpose of American with Disabilities Act on Public Accommodations is to necessitate public accommodations such as retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and hotels to comply with the basic nondiscrimination requirements that make illegal exclusion, unequal treatment, and segregation. They must also act in accordance with specific requirements related to architectural standards for new and altered buildings; reasonable modifications to procedures, practices, and policies; effective communications with persons with vision, hearing, or speech disabilities; and other requirements.

The purpose of American with Disabilities Act on Transportation that covers public transportation services such as public rail transit and city buses, is to require public transportation authorities against discrimination of people with disabilities in the provision of their service.

The purpose of American with Disabilities Act on Employment requires employers with fifteen or more employees to offer qualified individuals with disabilities an equal chance to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others.

The purpose of American with Disabilities Act on State and Local Government Activities which covers all the activities of State and local government regardless of the receipt of federal funding or government entity's size, and requires that they give the people with disabilities an equal chance to benefit from all their programs, activities, and services such as public education, health care, voting, town meetings, and others.

The purpose of American with Disabilities Act on Telecommunications deal with telephone and television access for people with speech and hearing disabilities, requiring common carriers or telephone companies to establish and intrastate Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. TRS enables callers with speech and hearing disabilities to communicate with each other through third party communication.

The American with Disabilities Act has drawn disabled persons into the mainstream of public life and has welcomed them into full participation in the community and society so that they do not live isolated dependent lives.