Press Release
July 2, 2013
For Immediate Release
July 26 marks the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. The ADA extends to individuals who have disabilities the right to equal access and opportunity in the areas of employment, transportation, public services, and telecommunications. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa initially sponsored the ADA in Congress, and President George H. W. Bush signed it into law on July 26, 1990. Implementation began in 1992, and in 2009 Congress passed some important updates and clarifications to the original law.
Job applicants with disabilities can now expect the same consideration as applicants without disabilities as long as they are “otherwise qualified,” meaning they meet education and experience requirements and can perform all of the essential functions of a job with or without “reasonable accommodations.” Those are modifications made to a job or job site that remove access barriers, such as building a wheelchair ramp at a job site.
When it comes to getting to work, or just around town, people who have disabilities can, under ADA, expect equal access to public transportation. Buses and trains have been redesigned to allow for mobility device access, and drivers and automated systems now announce stops and offer other similar features to make navigation accessible.
If the destination is a public place, individuals with disabilities can now expect to be able to access independently buildings and the products and services they contain. Extra wide doorways, ramps, Braille markings on doors and elevators, and restrooms with assistive structure are all tangible benefits of the ADA.
For those who have communication access needs such as hearing or speech impairments, the ADA significantly expands the scope of telecommunications technology to include the ready availability of teletypewriters (TTYs), telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) and other relay networks to facilitate communication.
The overall purpose of the ADA is to level the proverbial playing field so that people who have disabilities can gain access to basic aspects of life that people without disabilities gain easily: employment, transportation, commerce, and communication. For more information about the ADA, please visit www.ada.gov or contact the Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living, www.bvcil.org.