What was the legal history leading up to the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Question

What lawsuits lead to the Act?

Answer 1

In the United States and elsewhere, efforts were made for many years to "rehabilitate" the disabled. By the 1970s, however, many physically and developmentally challenged Americans argued instead that society should remove barriers preventing them from participating more fully in civic life. They sought full access to public and private buildings through wheelchair ramps, automatic doors and similar improvements. More broadly, the emerging disability-rights movement sought guarantees of the same fundamental rights that their predecessor in the civil rights movement had fought for and won.

A number of federal laws gradually expanded those guarantees. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 barred discrimination "under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance," while the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 defined and guaranteed students with disabilities "a free appropriate public education."

The Americans with Disabilities Act extended these legal guarantees to private employment and access to public facilities. As adopted by Congress in 1990, it mirrors substantially the protections of the Civil Rights Act.

Title I bars employment discrimination against disabled individuals who can perform the essential functions of a job if given "reasonable accommodation" that does not create an "undue hardship" on the employer. The protection extends to job application procedures, hiring and firing, compensation, or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment.

Title II prohibits state and local governments from excluding an otherwise qualified disabled person from participating in or receiving the benefits of a public service, program or activity. Public bus transport is such a service, and the act thus spurred the widespread adoption of wheelchair-accessible bus lifts.

Title III requires places of "public accommodation" (a term defined with great specificity in the act; it includes hotels, restaurants, movie theaters and many other facilities) to assure that all new buildings and all modifications meet accessibility guidelines. It also mandates the removal of physical barriers from existing facilities when it is "readily achievable" to do so.

Title IV directs telephone companies to provide telephone relay services for speech- or hearing-impaired individuals.