ADA Amendments Act Signed on Sept. 25, 2008

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted to work towards a common goal of “equality” for people with disabilities in all aspects of life.  Because of a number of Supreme Court rulings that have narrowed the way disability could be defined under the ADA, 18 years after it was originally passed, the ADA has been amended. 

On September 11, 2008, the U.S. Senate passed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 on a voice vote, restoring Congress' original intent to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.  In an odd twist of history, the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law September 25, 2008 by President George W. Bush, son of the President who signed the original ADA.  It is a small world indeed.

The real buzz in support of amending the ADA began building about two years ago with the announcement of “The Road to Freedom” Tour.  This was a national awareness campaign inspired by the historic journey of Justin and Yoshiko Dart who traveled America in the 1980’s to mobilize support for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Throughout the Road to Freedom Tour, national and state disability leaders were joined by people with disabilities, family members and others in a campaign to restore and strengthen the ADA.

Meanwhile, the push on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC was led by long-time congressional advocate Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) as well as advocates such as Andrew Imparato of the American Association of People with Disabilities and Yoshiko Dart, widow of Justin Dart. The final version of the ADAAA passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate.  Although no one got everything they wanted, most agree it is a long overdue course correction for the ADA.

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “amend” as: 1: to put right; especially: to make emendations in (as a text) 2 a: to change or modify for the better: IMPROVE <amend the situation> b: to alter especially in phraseology; especially: to alter formally by modification, deletion, or addition <amend a constitution>.  What needed to be amended in a law that we all cheered about 18 years ago when as the elder President Bush signed the groundbreaking legislation into law on July 26, 1990?  That truly is the question from many of our constituents across the Southeast, as well as “Do we have to relearn the ADA?”  “What really was amended?” and, “What is available to help me understand these amendments?”

Major Provisions of the ADA Amendments Act

A very important element of the Act is an instruction to the Supreme Court to interpret the ADA in a manner that favors “broad coverage” to ensure that more people are covered by its provisions.

The ADAAA focuses on the discrimination at issue, instead of the individual's specific disability.  It makes important changes to the definition of the term "disability" by rejecting the holdings in several Supreme Court decisions and portions of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) ADA regulations. The Act retains the ADA's basic definition of "disability" as an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. However, it changes the way that the statutory terms should be interpreted.

The ADAAA directs EEOC to revise the portion of its regulations that defines the term "substantially limits.”  

• States that mitigating measures other than "ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses" shall not be considered in assessing whether an individual has a disability;
• Clarifies that an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active;
• Provides that an individual subjected to an action prohibited by the ADA (e.g., failure to hire) because of an actual or perceived impairment will meet the "regarded as" definition of disability, unless the impairment is transitory and minor;
• Provides that individuals covered only under the "regarded as" prong are not entitled to reasonable accommodation; and
• Emphasizes that the definition of "disability" should be interpreted broadly.

Equally importantly, the ADAAA expands the definition of "major life activities" by including two non-exhaustive lists.  (Non-exhaustive means that the items included in the list are there only as examples of the types of things to be considered and are not intended to be lists of the only activities or bodily functions to be considered.)

The first list includes many activities that the EEOC has recognized as being major life activities (e.g., walking) as well as activities that EEOC has not specifically recognized (e.g., reading, bending, and communicating).  The second list includes major bodily functions (e.g., "functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, respiratory, neurological, brain, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions"). 

What’s Next?

There will undoubtedly be many rounds of rulemaking by government agencies to issue new regulations to implement the revised ADA.  Throughout this process, agencies will be seeking public comment that will provide another avenue to strengthen the law, or at the very least, oppose regulations that could undermine it.  Furthermore, the courts will be faced with new round of lawsuits in the years to come that will certainly address issues that may remain unresolved or conflicts that arise as a result of the amendments to the ADA.

Resources:

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008

ADAAA Resource Sheet (Developed by the DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center)

ADA/ADAAA Comparison Sheet (Developed by American Association of People with Disabilities)

For More Information

DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center
Toll Free:  1-800-949-4232 (v/tty)
Email:  sedbtacproject@law.syr.edu
Website:  www.sedbtac.org

Article written by: Cheri Hofmann, 
DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center/Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University

Source: EEOC Notice Concerning Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 

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