27 And Counting, But Are We?: Reflecting on Uncertainties Around the ADA

Original Post: Apr 30, 2018
Updated: Aug 17, 2023
Written by: George Stern
Reading Time: 3 minutes

This July 26th will mark 28 years since the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act; That is to say, 28 years since Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, liberals and conservatives united to acknowledge that:

(1) physical or mental disabilities (should) in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;

(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;

(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;

(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;

(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;

(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;

(7) the Nation’s proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and

(8) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity.

Their accord didn’t stop at mere acknowledgement, but extended into a resolute purpose:

(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;

(2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;

(3) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities; and

(4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.

As we approach this anniversary, however, it appears that the current custodians of our government have soured on the mandate. They question the necessity and scope of standards, eschew the central role of government in supporting said standards, and seem more inclined to revoke than invoke the “sweep of Congressional authority.” To wit, the Department of Justice’s move at the end of last year to withdraw guidance on a wide swath of disability rights areas, from employment, to community living, to accessible medical equipment.

What has changed, America? Why does Reagan’s shining city on a hill seem so intent on dimming its light and dousing its unique promise now?