Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The **Americans with Disabilities Act** (**the ADA**) is a law that was passed by the United States Congress in 1990. President George H. W. Bush signed the ADA, making it an official United States law, on July 26, 1990. Later, President George W. Bush amended (changed) the ADA and signed those changes into law. The changes started on January 1, 2009.

The ADA is a detailed civil rights law whose goal is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. Before the ADA, people with disabilities did not have many legal protections. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This law made it illegal to discriminate against people because of their race, religion, gender, national origin (home country), and many other things. But people with disabilities were not included or protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ADA gave the Civil Rights Act's protections - and some others - to people with disabilities.

## Who Is Protected Under the ADA?
The ADA protects people with disabilities. The ADA says that a disability is a physical or mental problem that makes it very difficult to do at least one "major life activity." Major life activities are things like walking, breathing, learning, reading, communicating, seeing, hearing, thinking, and other very important tasks.

The ADA does not include a complete list of all possible disabilities, but it does give some examples. As long as they make it very difficult to do at least one major life activity, examples of disabilities protected under the ADA include:
* Problems with sexual behavior, like pedophilia, exhibitionism, and voyeurism
* Kleptomania
* Pyromania
* Being homosexual (gay) or bisexual
* Being pregnant

## Sections of the ADA
The ADA has five sections, which are called *titles*. Each title protects against a different kind of discrimination. The titles are numbered in Roman numerals: I (one), II (two), III (three), IV (four), and V (five).

### Title I: Employment
Title I of the ADA protects against discrimination in employment (work).

#### What Employers are Covered by the ADA?
Not every employer has to follow the ADA's rules. Employers that are covered by the ADA, and have to follow the ADA's rules, are called "covered entities."

Employers that have to follow the ADA's rules include: 
* Employers (including religious organizations) with 15 or more workers
* Employment agencies (places which help people find jobs)
* Labor organizations (unions)

#### What Do Employers Have to Do?
Title I says that employers who are covered by the ADA cannot discriminate against a person with a disability, as long as that person is qualified (able) to do their job. Title I does *not* say that people with disabilities have to be hired for jobs that they are not qualified for. An "accommodation" is a change in the way things are usually done. It is a change that a worker needs because of a disability, to help them do their job. If a worker with a disability needs reasonable accommodations to do their job, that does not mean they are not qualified to do their job. As long as the worker is able to do their job with the help of accommodations, they are qualified to do the job.

Some accommodations are very simple, like letting a worker have a glass of water at their desk so they can take medicines. Examples of other accommodations are: 
* Letting a worker have special equipment that helps them do their job (like a special phone for a person who has trouble hearing)
* Changing the worker's schedule (for example, so they can go to doctor's appointments)
* Changing the way that work jobs are explained or chosen

However, the accommodation must be "reasonable." An accommodation is not reasonable if it would be very difficult or very expensive. If an accommodation is not reasonable, the employer does not have to give it.

#### Complaints
If a person with a disability thinks their employer has discriminated against them, they can make a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The complaint has to be made within 180 days of when the discrimination happened. If the EEOC thinks discrimination has happened, they will send a letter that tells the person with the disability that they have the right to sue (file a lawsuit against) their employer. The person with the disability may then file a lawsuit in federal court.

### Title II: State and Local Government Activities - and Public Transportation
Title II protects against discrimination in all activities of state and local governments.

, must be allowed to go to public schools. This boy is ready for his first day of school]]
#### What Do State and Local Governments Have to Do?
##### Government Activities
State and local governments have to give people with disabilities the same chances as people without disabilities to use all of their programs and services. If people with disabilities need reasonable accommodations to be able to participate in these programs, the state or local government has to make them.

For example, people with disabilities must be allowed, just the same as people without disabilities, to:
* Go to public schools
* Work for state or local governments
* Have health care that is just as good as what people without disabilities have
* Use social services (programs run by the state or local government for people who need help)
* Use the courts
* Vote - in a place that meets any special needs that people with disabilities might have (for example, all voting places have to be accessible to people in wheelchairs)

State and local governments also have to:
* The complaint might be sent to a mediation program. The person with a disability, someone from the state or local government, and a mediator will all meet together. The mediator's job is to help everyone come up with a solution that everyone can agree to
* The Department of Justice may bring a lawsuit against the state or local government

A person with a disability can also file their own lawsuit in a federal court, saying that the state or local government discriminated against them. The person does not need to complain to the Department of Justice first, or have the Department of Justice tell them they have the right to sue.

Title III also protects against discrimination by:
* Transportation services provided by private companies
* Commercial facilities (like office buildings, factories, and warehouses)
* Private companies that give tests and teach classes to people who want educational or job-related certification

There are two types of places that are exempt from Title III, and do not have to follow its rules. These are:
* Places controlled by religious organizations, including churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship
* Private clubs

#### What Do Public Accommodations Have to Do?
*All* public accommodations have to do these things:
* Adding elevators, wheelchair lifts, or wheelchair ramps to buildings that only have stairs
* Making doorways wide enough for wheelchairs to get through
* Adding special phones for people with hearing problems
* Putting Braille on elevator buttons for blind people

*Most* public accommodations (but not commercial facilities) have to do these things:
* Make sure people with disabilities can buy and do things in the same places people without disabilities can
* Get rid of rules that make it impossible for people with disabilities to buy and do things in public accommodations
* Make reasonable accommodations in rules and ways of doing things, to make sure that people with disabilities can buy and do things in public accommodations. (For example, a clothing store might have a rule that only one person is allowed to be in a dressing room at one time. Some people with disabilities need help getting dressed. The store would have to change their rule to say that two people are allowed in a dressing room if one of them needs help getting dressed because of a disability)
* Have special tools to communicate with people with disabilities (like a special phone for talking with people who are deaf or have trouble hearing)
* Make transportation accessible to people with disabilities (for example, private companies that provide transportation have to have at least some accessible vehicles, like wheelchair vans, or buses that can get closer to the ground so people in wheelchairs can get on without having to climb stairs)

Private companies that teach classes or give tests must make reasonable accommodations to make it possible for people with disabilities to take the classes or tests. Some examples of reasonable accommodations are:
* The complaint might be sent to a mediation program. The person with a disability, someone from the public accommodation, and a mediator will all meet together. The mediator's job is to help everyone come up with a solution that everyone can agree to
* The Department of Justice may bring a lawsuit against the public accommodation

If a person is unable to write, fax, or type a complaint because of a disability, the Department of Justice will make reasonable accommodations to help. The person can call the Department of Justice's ADA Information Line. The Information Line is answered by ADA Specialists. A person with a disability can explain their complaint, and the Specialist will write it down for them. If the person is deaf and uses American Sign Language, a Specialist can take their complaint by videophone (so they can see each other and sign back and forth to each other).
* Create relay services. A relay service is a way for a telephone operator to help a person with a speaking or hearing disability to call a regular phone. To do this, the person with the disability uses a keyboard or some other special tool
* Make their relay services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
* Not charge people with disabilities any more than they charge people without disabilities

. She uses Sign Language, which the operator translates out loud for the hearing person.]]
Relay services have changed a lot since 1990. At first, the most common relay services were teletypewriter (TTY) and Telecommunications for the Deaf (TDD) devices. These were like phones with typewriters attached. Two people with TDDs could type back and forth to each other. Or, if a person with a disability wanted to call a regular phone (like a pizza restaurant), they could type into the phone, an operator would read the message out loud to the pizza restaurant, listen to the restaurant's answer and type it back to the person with a disability.

### Title V: Miscellaneous
Title V includes various other extra rules. For example, it says:
* Nothing in the ADA changes or cancels anything in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 504 was the first law to give any civil rights to people with disabilities
* No one may be punished for using their ADA rights, or helping someone else use their ADA rights. (Punishing a person for this reason is called retaliation)

## References
## Other websites
* The ADA Information Line, run by the U.S. Department of Justice: Speak to an ADA Specialist who can help you understand what the ADA says and how it applies to a situation