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ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act

What is the law?

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the civil rights guarantee for persons with disabilities in the United States. It provides protection from discrimination for individuals on the basis of disability. The ADA extends civil rights protections for people with disabilities to employment in the public and private sectors, transportation, public accommodations, services provided by state and local government, and telecommunication relay services. For more specific information, see the ADA Fact Sheet.

What is ADA's definition of a "person with a disability"?

A "person with a disability" is anyone with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. In addition to those people who have visible disabilities - persons who are blind, deaf, or use a wheelchair - the definition includes people with a whole range of invisible disabilities. These include psychological problems, learning disabilities, or some chronic health impairment such as epilepsy, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, cardiac problems, HIV/AIDS, and more. (Documentation of the disability may be required.) A person is considered to be a person with a disability if he/she has a disability, has a record of a disability, or is regarded as having a disability.

What is the impact of the law on post-secondary education?

The ADA upholds and extends the standards for compliance set forth in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to employment practices that impact on the treatment of students with disabilities. Employment issues for all institutions are covered under Title I. For all activities, public institutions are covered under Title II; private institutions are covered under Title III.

Because of the public attention given to the passage and implementation of the ADA, renewed attention is being focused on disability access to institutions of higher education. This focus includes the whole scope of the institution's activities, including facilities, programs, and employment.

Public institutions of higher education are responsible for having a clearly established grievance procedure for persons with disabilities who feel their rights have been violated under the ADA. Moreover, each institution is responsible for conducting a self-evaluation of its preparedness, as well as ongoing review of possible barriers in the following areas:

• There may be no exclusion on the basis of disability.
• There may be no discrimination through contract.
• Participation should be in the most integrated setting possible.
• There may be no discrimination through eligibility criteria.
• Reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures must be made as necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability.
• Modifications must be made to allow the presence/use of service animals.
• There may be no discrimination through association with a person with a disability.
• Surcharges to cover the costs of accommodations may not be imposed solely on persons with disabilities.
• Examinations and courses must be accessible.
• There may be no discrimination because of insurance constraints.
• There may be no harassment or retaliation against individuals who are accessing their rights under the law or against those who assist people with disabilities in accessing their rights.

Of particular importance in making appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities are the mandates for making modifications as needed in policies, practices, and procedures and for assuring accessibility of examinations and courses. As required under Section 504, this includes all aspects of academic and nonacademic activities including admissions and recruitment, admissions to programs, academic adjustments, housing, financial assistance, physical education and athletics, and counseling.

Additional ADA Information and Web Sites

HEATH Resource Center
American Council on Education
One Dupont Circle, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036-1193
202-939-9320 or 800-544-3284
(Both numbers are TT and Voice.)

The American Council on Education (ACE) is the country's major non-governmental voice for post-secondary education. The Council works to provide leadership on issues of broad consequence to post-secondary education, to represent the academy's interests and purposes before Congress and throughout the nation, and to coordinate action required to meet the higher education community's objectives.

AHEAD
Association on Higher Education and Disability
P.O. Box 21192
Columbus, OH 43221-0192
614-488-4972 (Voice/TT)

AHEAD is an international, multicultural organization of professionals committed to full participation in higher education for persons with disabilities. The Association is a vital resource, promoting excellence through education, communication, and training.

Information on the ADA is in part from the Disability Support Services of the Portland Community College web site.

Facts About Disability

Number of People With Disabilities

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are 43 million Americans with disabilities.

Although there are many ways of calculating numbers of people with disabilities, the President's Committee is pleased to bring you the latest data. The National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research published the following statistics for people with physical disabilities in The Scope of Physical Disability in America--Populations Served:

• People with hearing impairments: 22 million including 2 million who are deaf.
• People who are totally blind: 120,000
• People who are legally blind: 60,000
• People with epilepsy: 2 million (Note: four out of five people with epilepsy do not have seizures because they take medication.
• People who are partially or completely paralyzed: 1.2 million
• People who use wheelchairs: 1 million
• People with developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation: 9.2 million.
• People with speech impairments: 2.1 million.
• People with mental retardation: Between 2 and 2.5 million people. Nine out of ten people with mental retardation have mild mental retardation.
• According to the National Institute on Mental Health, there are five million people with mental illness.

Workforce Participation Data

In 1989, the Census Bureau reported the following facts in a report entitled Labor Force Status and Other Characteristics of Persons with a Work Disability: 1981-1988.

• 13.4 million people ages 16 to 64 report a work-related disability. That is 8.6% or about one in every twelve Americans with disabilities.
• 31.6% of people with disabilities work or actively seek work.
• 78.6% of Americans without disabilities work or actively seek work.
• Participation in the labor force of men with disabilities (working or actively seeking work) has dropped from 41.9% in 1981 to 35.7% in 1989. However, among women with disabilities, it has risen to 27.5% from 23.7%.
• One in three severely disabled adults is black or of Hispanic origin, compared to just over one in five in 1982.
• Adults with disabilities are almost four times as likely as are non-disabled adults to have less than a ninth grade education.
• According to a Harris Poll taken in 1986, two out of three people with disabilities are not working. And of those, two out of three want to work.

Employers Reactions to Workers with Disabilities

Over 900 managers were interviewed by the Harris Poll and they had this to say about people with disabilities who worked for them:

• Nineteen out of twenty managers give employees with disabilities a "good" or "excellent" rating on their job performance. They say employees with disabilities work as hard or harder than their employees who do not have disabilities.
• Thirty-nine percent of line managers rate employees with disabilities as better on attendance and punctuality than non-disabled employees, and 40% of them rate them the same.
• The average cost of hiring people with disabilities is the same as hiring a person without a disability, according to three-quarters of the employers surveyed.
• However, only 43% of EEO officers say that their companies have hired people with disabilities.
• Three out of every four managers say that people with disabilities often encounter discrimination from employers.

Cost of Accommodation

According to the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities:

• 3 1 % of accommodation reported to JAN cost nothing.
• 50% cost less than $50.00.
• 69% cost less than $500.00.
• 88% cost less than $1000.00.

This information comes from their databank of accommodations. The JAN toll free voice and TDD numbers are:

 

Outside West Virginia..... 1-800-526-7234
West Virginia............. 1-800-526-4698
Canada.................... 1-800-526-2262
ADA Information........... 1-800-ADA-WORK

Cost of Maintaining People with Disabilities Who are Excluded from the Workforce

The cost of maintaining people with disabilities who cannot find jobs is staggering. In FY 1970, total disability expenditures amounted to $19.3 billion dollars. 

By 1986, these expenditures had increased cumulatively by 779 percent to $169.4 billion. This includes Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, worker's compensation, welfare and greatly increased private transfer payments which reflect claims of individuals injured on the job. 

Other estimates are higher. In FY 1987, about $28.2 billion in benefits were paid out to non-working people with disabilities by Social Security alone.

For Additional General Information Write to:

President's Committee on Employment
of People with Disabilities
1331 F Street, NW, Washington, DC
20004-1107
Phone: 202-376-6200 (voice)
202-376-6205 (TDD)
202-376-6219 (FAX)

All public documents produced by the President's Committee on Employment of people with Disabilities are available in alternative format.