Americans with Disabilities Act

On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—a signature piece of legislation from Bush's single term as president. The ADA was, in effect, a civil rights bill that extended protection from discrimination to people with “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities.” The law prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability in the same way that earlier civil rights legislation prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, or national origin.

In many respects, the ADA was the subject of controversy. Although few people would suggest that society should simply shunt aside people with disabilities, many business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill because, in their view, it would impose intolerable costs on small business. Companies such as Greyhound Bus Lines argued that the cost of complying with the ADA would make bus transportation unaffordable for many people who depend on it. Some church groups opposed the bill, again largely because of cost factors. Some observers claim that employment of people with disabilities actually declined after passage of the act because businesses quietly avoided hiring them—and thus circumvented the cost of making accommodations for them. Despite the controversy and the amount of litigation the act has occasioned, the ADA has opened doors to millions of people who previously had remained trapped by their disability.