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Background

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (P.L. 101-336) was first proposed in a 1986 report from the National Council on Disability (NCD) titled Toward Independence. The original draft bill was published by NCD in its 1988 report On the Threshold of Independence and was introduced in Congress in April 1988. ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

Requirements

An estimated 49 million Americans with physical or mental impairments that substantially limit daily activities are protected under ADA. These activities include working, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or caring for oneself. People who have a record of such an impairment and those regarded as having an impairment are also protected. ADA has the following five titles:

Title I-Employment

Title Il-Public Services (including Public Transportation)

Title III-Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities

Title IV-Telecommunications

Title V-Miscellaneous Provisions

The following is a brief summary of some of the major requirements contained in the ADA statute. To determine all the requirements that a covered entity must satisfy, it is necessary to refer to the regulations, guidelines, and! or technical assistance materials that have been developed by the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (the Access Board). In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has developed regulations on the tax relief available for certain costs of complying with ADA, such as small business tax credits.

Title I-Employment

Title I of ADA prohibits discrimination in employment against people with disabilities. It generally forbids employers from excluding, limiting, segregating, or classifying employees or applicants in ways that negatively affect their opportunities or status because of disability. It requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee, unless such accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Reasonable accommodations include such actions as making worksites accessible, modifying existing equipment, providing new. devices, modifying work schedules, restructuring jobs, and providing readers or interpreters.

Title I also prohibits the use of employment tests and other selection criteria that screen out, or tend to screen out, persons with disabilities unless such tests or criteria are shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. It also bans the use of preemployment medical examinations or inquiries to determine if an applicant has a disability. It does, however, permit the use of medical examinations after a job offer has been made if the results are kept confidential, all persons offered employment in the same job category are required to take the examination, and the results are not used to discriminate. Employers are permitted, at any time, to inquire about the ability of a job applicant or employee to perform job-related functions.

Since July 26, 1994, the provisions of Title I have covered employers having 15 or more employees. The EEOC issued its regulations governing implementation to Title I on July 26, 1991.

Title II-Public Services

Title II of ADA requires that the services and programs of local and state governments and their departments, agencies, and instrumentalities must be equally available to persons with disabilities. The Attorney General issued Title II regulations on July 26, 1991.

In addition, Title II seeks to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to transportation. All new buses must be accessible. Transit authorities must provide supplementary paratransit services or other special transportation services for persons with disabilities who cannot use fixed-route bus services unless this would present an undue burden.

In the area of rail transportation, ADA requires that all new rail vehicles and all new rail stations be accessible. In addition, existing rail systems must have one accessible car per train within five years of enactment. Amtrak must make all its existing stations accessible as soon as practicable, but in any event not later than July 26, 2010. Key stations of subway systems and other commuter rail systems were generally required to be accessible as of July 26, 1993. The Secretary of Transportation issued regulations for public transportation services on September 6, 1991.

Title III-Public Accommodations

Public accommodations include a broad range of entities that affect commerce, including sales, rental, and service establishments; educational institutions; recreational facilities; and social service centers. ADA prohibits the use of eligibility criteria that screen out, or tend to screen out, persons with disabilities unless necessary for the delivery of goods and services. It also requires public accommodations to make reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures unless those modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the services provided by the public accommodation.

Title III also requires that public accommodations provide auxiliary aids necessary to enable persons who have visual, hearing, or sensory impairments to participate in the program, but only if their provision will not result in an undue burden on the business. The auxiliary aid requirement is flexible. A public accommodation may choose among various alternatives as long as the result is effective communication.

With respect to existing facilities of public accommodations, physical barriers must be removed when it is "readily achievable" to do so (i.e., when it can be accomplished easily and without much expense).

However, all new facilities and alterations to existing facilities in public accommodations, as well as in commercial facilities such as office buildings, must be accessible to people with disabilities (except that elevators generally are not required for facilities that are less than three stories high or have less than 3,000 square feet per story).

Regulations on public accommodations and commercial facilities from the Office of the Attorney General were issued on July 26, 1991. Title III also addresses transportation provided by private entities, and regulations on this component were issued by the Secretary of Transportation on September 6, 1991.

Title IV- Telecommunications

Title IV of ADA amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require that telephone companies provide telecommunication relay services. The relay services must permit speech- or hearing-impaired persons who use TTYs or other nonvoice terminal devices opportunities for communication that are equivalent to those provided to other customers. Title IV also requires that all federally funded public service announcements include closed captioning of the verbal content of the announcement. Regulations were issued by FCC on August 1, 1991.

Title V-Miscellaneous Provisions

This title addresses such issues as ADA's relationship to other laws, including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; requirements relating to the provision of insurance; regulations by the Access Board; abrogation of state immunity; inclusion of Congress and its instrumentalities; implementation of each title; promotion of alternative means of dispute resolution; and provision of technical assistance.

For additional ADA information, materials, or technical assistance, call 1-800-949-4232 (V/TTY).

National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004-1107
202-272-2004 Voice
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 Fax
http://www.ncd.gov