House Votes Again to Protect Americans with Disabilities from Discrimination

By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 09-17-2008, 03:48 PM in

The House of Representatives gave final approval today for legislation to stop discrimination against individuals with disabilities by restoring the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act. By a voice vote, the House passed the ADA Amendments Act (S. 3406) to reverse several U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since the ADA’s enactment nearly two decades ago, courts have dramatically reduced the numbers of workers who are protected from employment discrimination under the law. The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature.

In a series of rulings beginning in 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the definition of who is protected under the ADA. The court held that workers with disabilities who are able to mitigate their impairments, such as by wearing hearing aids or taking medication, should not be considered disabled. In such cases, these workers would have no remedy under the law when they are discriminated against on the basis of disability. In other words, an employer could fire or refuse to hire a fully qualified worker simply on the basis of a physical or mental impairment, while contending in court that the worker is not “disabled enough” to qualify for protection under the law.

The ADA Amendments Act will reverse these court decisions and restore the original Congressional intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act by:

Prohibiting the consideration of measures that reduce or mitigate the impact of impairment – such as medication, prosthetics, and assistive technology – in determining whether an individual has a disability.
Covering workers whose employers discriminate against them based on a perception that the worker is impaired, regardless of whether the worker has a disability.
Making it clear that the Americans with Disabilities Act provides broad coverage to protect anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of disability.

A similar House bill, H.R. 3195, introduced by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), passed the House in June.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act guaranteed that workers with disabilities would be judged on their merits and not on an employer’s prejudices. But, court rulings since the law’s enactment have dramatically limited the ability of people with disabilities to seek justice under the law. Today we make it absolutely clear that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of a disability.” -- Chairman George Miller

“This victory today will restore the commonsense, meaningful definition of disability and overturn the Supreme Court’s misinterpretation of our Congressional intent.” -- Rep. Rob Andrews, chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions