July is Disability Pride Month, commemorating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which remains extremely important to this day.
According to the CDC, about 61 million adults in the U.S. live with a disability, with the highest percentage concentrated in the South. Amongst the American disabled community:
- 1 in 3 do not have access to adequate healthcare because of the cost (CDC)
- 9% of disabled Americans are unemployed as of 2021 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- People with disabilities are four times more likely to be violently attacked than non-disabled people. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and many public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.
In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law and became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made a number of significant changes to the definition of “disability.” The changes in the definition of disability in the ADAAA apply to all titles of the ADA, including Title I (employment practices of private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, agents of the employer and joint management labor committees); Title II (programs and activities of state and local government entities); and Title III (private entities that are considered places of public accommodation).
https://adata.org/learn-about-ada