Americans with Disabilities Act

What is the Americans with Disabilities Act and how might it apply to someone with a disability of one form or another?

If you're a US citizen and believe you may be in some way discriminated against by an employer or co-worker, this inromation may prove helpful.

Let's look at some of the things this Act covers and when it came into being.

President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. This act is relevant for all private and state-run businesses, employment agencies, and unions with more than fifteen employees.

This act is designed to ensure a person as long as they are qualified for the employment they are seeking cannot be turned away from the position due to a disability. The act goes as far as to protect those with disabilities from being refused a promotion or entry into a public access area due to a disability.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Committee defines disability as a person that has a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more of lives activities, has a record of the impairment, and is considered to have the impairment.

Many people realize this is a vague definition whereas those with minor disabilities could get out of performing such job performances and therefore could file a lawsuit. An example of this could be a person with a headache not wanting to work due to the noise in the room.

An employer might be afraid to fire a person due to the definition of a disability. If the employee were fired due to non-performance, would they will win in a courtroom? The answer is up to the judge.

Learning More

To be protected by the ADA, an individual must have a disability or physical limitation.

This is one that the ADA defines as being "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment." It should be noted that the ADA does not specifically name every one of the impairments that are covered under the general umbrella of employment law.

More information can be accessed from the official government website for the Act at ADA or by watching the video below:

Benefits of Employing a Person with Disabilities

By way of adding a little more to this subject, there are some wonderful benefits to be had by employing one or more people with disabilities in companies or work places where this is possible.

Of course, there are some types of work that would not prove suitable, such as those involving heavy physical work such as construction for example, but also there are many work situations that can be performed just as well by a person with disabilities as one without.

The main benefits are greater loyalty and a high level of work ethic, due to the person's natural thankfulness at being given the chance to show what hey can do in the work place and proving it by doing. Employers that already know this have one or more people with varying disabilities working for them and are enjoying a wonderful level of morale among their workers.

Additional Reading

You can read more related articles on various topics under that of employment in this section of the website.

For instance, you can read about what to do when learning about impending layoffs in your compamny and, should you be interested in a change of career, some information on passing the written police exam.