Abuses of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Abstract

In 1990, a bill was enacted into federal law with the purpose of protecting people with disability from discrimination. Essentially it dictates that “no covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment”. The employer must also “make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business”. The bill was aimed primarily at employers but also carries weight concerning public accommodations. All public buildings must reasonably accommodate handicapped individuals in respect to stairs, public transportation, entrances, water fountains, toilets, curbs, Automatic Teller Machines, parking and many, many other facilities. This does not even bring into account that there are thousands of other instances that have never been defined. In fact, the very definition of “disability” is extremely vague. On the surface the Americans with Disabilites Act does legitimately protect the general public from unfair discriminatory practices, but it opens another door in the long list of ways unethical people may take advantage of “the system”. In fact, many of the routes people follow to take advantage of the ADA can be equated to welfare fraud. Coupled with the fact that the United States is becoming a much more litigious society, the ADA is recognised by some as just another pathway to unearned income.

Citation

Bonin, H. and Kleiner, B.H. (1996), "Abuses of the Americans with Disabilities Act", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 15 No. 8, pp. 36-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb010677