The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989

By Brian Riley

New Horizons (Newsletter of the UCLA Office for Students with Disabilities)

Vol. 2, No. 3, Winter-Spring 1989, p. 5.; PDF version

Legislators, after extensive contact with the disabled community, are now putting the finishing touches on the final draft of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) of 1989. Representative Tony Coelho (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) are working together on the drafting of the ADA and are planning on introducing identical bills in the House and Senate in early May.

A previous version of the ADA was introduced in 1988 by Rep. Coelho and former Senator Weicker (HR 4498 and S 2345), but the 1988 session ended with the bill still in committee. Congressman Coelho's staff reports that the intent and purpose of the '88 version is being retained in ADA '89. Basically, the act is designed to extend civil rights to persons with disabilities in the private sector. Specifically, persons with disabilities will have legislated rights in the areas of employment, transportation, public accommodations, communication, and state and local services. Because of the successful passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1988, which strengthens the original 1968 Fair Housing Act and adds "persons with disabilities" to the list of minorities protected from discrimination in housing, it was not necessary to retain the housing provisions that were included in ADA '88.

ADA is a civil rights act and as such does not establish affirmative action programs. Disabled individuals will have legal recourse and may bring suit against individuals or agencies (e.g. to have back wages awarded, have their employment reinstated, have the court order the installation of ramps, etc.). The method of legal recourse will be similar to the provisions made in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, in the case of the desegregation of public facilities, permits the United States Attorney General to initiate civil proceedings in the appropriate US district court against the responsible parties when the individual aggrieved is determined to be unable to bring the suit forth and the complaint is determined to be meritorious.

[Note: The 1989 bill was not the bill that finally passed into law.]