This week, 60 Minutes aired a piece on lawsuits relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that is creating a lot of discussion in the disability community. [Editor’s note: the 60 Minutes video is transcribed, though not described.] The concern over the segment—which focuses on so-called "Drive-by Lawsuits"—is that it puts a negative spin on the ADA, one of our country's most comprehensive and celebrated pieces of civil rights legislation. The worry, of course, is that in today's fragile political environment, media stories like this one could ultimately contribute to the chipping away of rights for millions of Americans with disabilities. It was disappointing to see that the 60 Minutes story failed to include any commentary from the many disability rights experts, employees, and business owners who have experienced the benefits of the ADA firsthand, despite the fact several of them were interviewed in advance of the segment.
In light of this, we believe it's important to revisit what the ADA is and why it's critical to ensuring millions of people with disabilities have equal access and opportunities to fully participate in society.
The American Foundation for the Blind was one of the early champions of the ADA, which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990. The landmark law extended civil rights protections to a broad spectrum of Americans, from individuals with vision loss to injured veterans. It also established accessibility requirements for public transportation, businesses that cater to the public, and even websites. As a result, we have more braille and large-print signage and better-designed websites, which give us improved access to the basic opportunities that all Americans should enjoy, to work and shop and get around independently.
For a deeper dive into proposed bills that could weaken the ADA, we recommend reading this letter from the current and past chairs of the National Council on Disability. We stand with this bipartisan commission in viewing such "ADA notification" bills as a solution in search of a problem, given that:
- The ADA has been the law of the land for the past 26 years, and its requirements are publicly available.
- Only certain states, such as Florida and California, have civil rights statutes that provide for damages. A national amendment to the ADA would not change the state laws that allow for these occasional abuses, but it would make the ADA less effective for the rest of the country. This makes it a dangerous national policy “solution” to a state-level issue.
- The ADA specifically encourages the use of alternative means of dispute resolution, including mediation, to resolve disputes, and the Department of Justice already has a program in place to refer cases to mediation.
The ADA is a critical piece of civil rights legislation that has always had strong bipartisan support. AFB has been there from the beginning and with your help, will continue to fight for sensible, effective implementation of its protections.
