Category: Americans with Disabilities Act

US Students With Disabilities Afforded Equality

Writing in VOA*, Char Freedberg, writes about the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on higher education and the importance of reasonable accommodations.

To read the full article, visit “US Students With Disabilities Afforded Equality”

 

A related article is “Americans With Disabilities Act Turns 30”

 

Voice of America (VOA) is the largest U.S. international broadcaster, providing news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 280 million people. VOA produces content for digital, television, and radio platforms. It is easily accessed via your mobile phone and on social media. It is also distributed by satellite, cable, FM and MW, and is carried on a network of more than 2,500 affiliate stations.

Veteran’s Guide to Employment Rights Under the ADA Now Available

The Southeast ADA Center and its Kentucky Affiliate, MLM Associates, have created an employment rights guide for veterans with disabilities. The guide includes practical information to help veterans with disabilities understand their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA assures that all people have the same opportunities and rights.

The “Know Your Employment Rights Under the ADA A Guide for Veterans” guide  is now available as a PDF.  The guide discusses the following topics and more:

• the ADA’s definition of disability, which is broader than the military’s
• protecting veterans with disabilities from discrimination in their job search
• reasonable accommodations employers are required to make for veterans and other people with disabilities
• disclosing a disability to an employer or potential employer
• where to turn if a veteran feels his or her employment rights have been violated
• veteran employment initiatives and related websites

Another very helpful site for veterans is Understanding Your Employment Rights Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): A Guide for Veterans  from the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

The International Impact of the ADA

On July 26, without much fanfare, the  civil rights act, the Americans with Disabilities Act turned 21. The ADA  is significant because it is national civil rights legislation explicitly banning discrimination against people with disabilities in the public and private sectors. The ADA is revolutionary not only because of its provisions and purpose, but also because it was forged with the participation of disability organizations, bi-partisan champions from both houses of Congress, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the business community and  had widespread support from civil society. This was the first time such a cross-section of groups had collaborated on a common cause. The ADA has come to have a profound impact both at home and abroad.

The United States was the first country to enact national civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Since its enactment, the Act has been influential throughout the world influencing other countries to enact their own domestic non-discrimination legislation. Internationally, the ADA has been cited as one of the inspirations for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The CRPD, which incorporates the same principles of equality and non-discrimination found in the ADA, is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

According to a report, World Report on Disability, released in June, by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a billion people in the world today experience some form of disability. That a billion people experience some form of disability makes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities critically important.

There are eight guiding principles that underlie the CRPD

  1. Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons
  2. Non-discrimination
  3. Full and effective participation and inclusion in society
  4. Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity
  5. Equality of opportunity
  6. Accessibility
  7. Equality between men and women
  8. Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities

The Convention adopts a social model of disability, and defines disability as an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Nearly 150 countries and regional organizations have signed the CRPD, and 100 have ratified it, committing them to removing barriers so that people with disabilities may participate fully in their societies.