NCD Responds to ADA Restoration Critics

Friday, February 15, 2008

The following document was prepared by the National Council on Disability in response to recent arguments made in opposition to the ADA Restoration Act legislation currently under consideration in Congress. It responds to statements that NCD considers to be inaccurate representations of the impact of this proposed legislation, and does so by utilizing facts that are based on three years of NCD's extensive research on the need for this restoration of the definition of disability in the ADA.

~Mike Collins
Executive Director
National Council on Disability

National Council on Disability
Response to Arguments Opposing ADA Restoration

The National Council on Disability (NCD) recommended, and remains in strong support of, the restoration of the definition of disability in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Congressional intent of this landmark civil rights legislation was to prevent discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all aspects of society, including employment. Instead, because of a number of Supreme Court decisions, many people with disabilities have experienced discrimination and have been denied ADA protections. Much of society has lost sight of the ADA's overall purpose to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability.

NCD prepared this fact sheet in response to many recent misinterpretations and false claims about the ADA Restoration Act. In response to such claims, NCD offers the following:

1. Opponents Argue:
   The Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act definition of disability would make it easier for many individuals -- including those with actual disabilities as well as those regarded as having a disability -- to invoke ADA protections, and it would do so by dramatically expanding the class of persons who could claim ADA coverage. Because most individuals who brought a claim would be covered, it is likely that the majority of cases would turn on whether the alleged discrimination occurred.

   NCD Response:
   ADA cases should turn on whether discrimination occurred. The ADA was concerned with addressing discrimination, not with differentiating one group of people as having disabilities and others as not having disabilities. It was intended to focus more on the attitudes and actions of those accused of discrimination than on the precise physical or mental characteristics of the persons allegedly discriminated against. ADA protection is a civil right -- not special benefits that must be reserved for a select few.

   The ADA Restoration Act would protect anyone discriminated against on the basis of disability. This parallels Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that protect all Americans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin.

2. Opponents Argue:
   By deleting references to "substantial limitations," and "major life activities," the ADA Restoration Act would protect "individuals with virtually any kind of impairment, no matter how minor or temporary, such as the common flu, a cut finger, or a sprained ankle.”

   NCD Response:
   The ADA Restoration Act would only protect...

...Read the rest of the fact sheet.