Enabling act. (Americans with Disabilities Act) (editorial)

Nation, The, October, 1989 by Johnson, Mary

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which passed the Senate 76 to 8 last month, seems assured of acceptance by the House. In its present form the law will make it illegal for employers to deny a person

a job solely because of a disability and will require them to make a "reasonable accommodation" to that person's incapacity, unless doing so would cause the company "unreasonable hardship." Businesses will have to take "readily achievable" steps to open facilities to disabled people, and new buildings will have to be made accessible to them, as will bus and rail lines. Telephone companies must provide relay service for hearing- and speech-impaired people.

Although trade groups like the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the American Bus...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.