The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act: Solution or Dilemma?
The United States is known as the land of opportunity. Millions of immigrants have flocked to its shores in order to escape persecution start a new life in a country free from harassment, discrimination, and intolerance. This too became true for Americans with disabilities in the early 1970s with the passing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and then with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It was then that employees with disabilities were officially recognized as having protected rights against unfounded disability discrimination.
However, despite the “good intentions” behind the ADA, a recent article in The National Law Journal described the shortcomings of the bill and pushed for Senate approval of the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA). The article described the inadequacies of the ADA, citing the dilemma Americans with disabilities face - if they attempt to mitigate their disabilities, they can no longer be considered disabled, however, if they do not, they can be considered unfit to perform their job.
The article acknowledges the potential problem that people will take advantage of the ADAAA in order to obtain monetary compensation for concocted disabilities, however, the article states how individuals who are truly disabled will get the opportunities they deserve to have a role in the workforce free from disability discrimination.
