Law Commons^™

The Americans With Disabilities Act And The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, 110th Cong., July 15, 2008 (Statement Of Chai R. Feldblum, Geo. U. L. Center), Chai R. Feldblum

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

The Americans With Disabilities Act And The Reproductive Rights Of Hiv-Infected Women, Taunya Banks

Taunya Lovell Banks

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of “Fred”: Family Responsibilities Discrimination And Developments In The Law Of Stereotyping And Implicit Bias, Joan C. Williams, Stephanie Bornstein

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article integrates a discussion of current family responsibilities discrimination ("FRD") case law with a discussion of the single most important recent development in the field: the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ("EEOC") 2007 issuance of Enforcement Guidance on caregiver discrimination. The Guidance concretely informs the public about what constitutes unlawful discrimination against caregivers under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, the Guidance crystallizes two key holdings from case law in regard to Title VII disparate treatment claims brought by caregivers: (1) where plaintiffs have evidence of gender stereotyping, they can make out a prima facie case …

Survey Of The Federal Government On Supervisor Practices In Employment Of People With Disabilities, Susanne M. Bruyere, William Erickson, Richard L. Horne

Susanne Bruyère

In 1999, the Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities (PTFEAD) funded Cornell University to conduct a survey of federal sector HR and EEO representatives regarding their experience implementing the employment disability nondiscrimination requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990(ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. One of the recommendations from this research was to conduct a follow-up study of federal agency supervisors and managers about their experience in accommodation and employment of persons with disabilities in the federal sector, and in addition to inquire about their awareness of the series of Executive …

Disability, Equipment Barriers, And Women’S Health: Using The Ada To Provide Meaningful Access, Elizabeth Pendo

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Restoring The Ada And Beyond: Disability In The 21st Century, Robert L. Burgdorf

Journal Articles

Perhaps it was imprudent for me to agree, in response to the request of the symposium organizers, to address the future of disability law. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Neils Bohr supposedly once said that "[p]rediction is very difficult, especially about the future."' Columnist and author Jim Bishop wrote, "The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face." 2 Prognosticating is a very tricky and uncertain undertaking. I cannot pretend to have any particular gift for crystal ball gazing in disability matters. When I joined the …

Just Semantics: The Lost Readings Of The Ada, Jill C. Anderson

Jill C. Anderson

Just Semantics: The Lost Readings of the ADA

Jill C. Anderson

INTRODUCTION

I. THE NARROWED DISABILITY DEFINITION

II. DE DICTO-DE RE AMBIGUITY

III. HOW THE COURTS MISS AMBIGUITY

IV. RESOLVING AMBIGUITY

V. APPLICATIONS IN CASE LAW

VI. IMPLICATIONS FOR REFORM

CONCLUSION

Abstract

Disability rights advocates and commentators agree that the ADA has veered far off course from its mandate of protecting people with disabilities---actual or perceived---from discrimination. They likewise agree that the fault lies in the language of the statute itself and in the courts’ “literalist” reading of its definition of disability. As a result, many disability rights advocates have …

Abbott, Aids, And The Ada: Why A Per Se Disability Rule For Hiv/Aids Is Both Just And A Must, Scott Thompson

Publications

HIV/AIDS should be classified as a per se disability under the Americans with Disablities Act. Such a ruling is justified by the plain language of the act itself, legislative history, administrative regulations, and court precedent. Absent such a ruling, individuals with HIV must demonstrate that they have (1) an mental or physical impairment, (2) that substantially limits (3) a major life activity. While most courts to address the applicability of the ADA to individuals with HIV/AIDS have found that such individuals are disabled because HIV impairs the major life activity of reproduction, such an interpretation leaves open the possibility that …

When Disability Isn't "Just Right": The Entrenchment Of The Medical Model Of Disability And The Goldilocks Dilemma, Brad Areheart

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I analyze how federal courts' interpretations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have presented a Goldilocks dilemma for disabled individuals. In particular, I examine how a typical ADA plaintiff is found either not disabled enough to warrant the protections of the ADA or too disabled to be a qualified individual for the respective job. The result is that very few plaintiffs are disabled just right. Such a result is at odds with the original intent of the ADA.Concern over the ADA could hardly be more timely. In July of 2007, bipartisan legislation based on the National …

Baby, Look Inside Your Mirror: The Legal Profession's Willful And Sanist Blindness To Lawyers With Mental Disabilities, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The legal profession has notoriously ignored the reality that a significant number of its members exhibit signs of serious mental illness (and become addicted or habituated to drugs or alcohol at levels that are statistically significantly elevated from levels of the public at large). This is no longer news. What has not been explored is why so much of the bar has remained willfully ignorant of these realities, and why it refuses to confront the depths of this problem.

The roots of this puzzle are found in the social attitude of sanism, an irrational prejudice of the same quality and …

Introducing The New And Improved Americans With Disabilities Act: Assessing The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

This essay summarizes the changes to the Americans with Disabilities made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The Act represents the first substantive revision to the ADA since its inception and contains some dramatic changes. This essay summarizes those changes and makes some preliminary assessments as to how the new amendments are likely to alter the current interpretation of the ADA.

The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Chai R. Feldblum, Kevin Barry, Emily A. Benfer

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The goal of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was to create a civil rights law protecting people with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of their disabilities. Disability rights advocates in 1990 were victorious in their efforts to open doors for people with disabilities and to change the country's outlook and acceptance of people with disabilities. These advocates believed that the terms of the ADA, based as they were on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, combined with the legislative history of the ADA, would provide clear instructions to the courts that the ADA was intended to provide broad …

Settling The Matter: Does Title I Of The Ada Work?, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Analysis of cases decided under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which addresses employment discrimination, reveals that defendants have consistently prevailed in well over 90% of cases since the ADA's inception. This empirical evidence has led many commentators to conclude that the ADA's Title I has failed to improve workplace conditions for individuals with disabilities.

This article attempts to assess the efficacy of Title I through a different lens. It focuses on several data sets that have previously received little attention. It examines Equal Employment Opportunity Commission merit resolutions, lawsuit settlement statistics, and reports concerning reasonable accommodation …