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Question: The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was designed to protect workers

with disabilities against employer discrimination. As a group discuss the following: In

actual practice, how well does the Act achieve this goal? Explain. Support your answer

with examples from recent court decisions. Submit a summary of the group’s consensus.

People with disabilities account for a significant portion of the American population.

Disabilities are typically overlooked in traditional social sciences of categorization and

inequality, despite their ubiquity and potential for harm. Limitations on job access,

transportation, community spaces, government services, and communications have had a

significant detrimental effect on economic development, restricting the ability of people with

disabilities to obtain an education, seek employment, and create wealth.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) removes these barriers, allowing society

to benefit from handicapped employees' understanding, talents, and productive capacity,

resulting in extremely wonderful careers in the society (Kennedy, 20201). Harassment of

disabled persons is prohibited in all parts of society, especially work, academic institutions,

communication, as well as all governmental and non - governmental locations accessible to

the public. The legislation's goal is to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal rights

and privileges as the rest of the population. Persons with disabilities are afforded legal

protections equivalent to those afforded to citizens on the grounds of ethnicity, skin

pigmentation, sexuality, nationality, and religious beliefs under the Act. Persons with

disabilities are guaranteed equal access to public facilities, work, transit, local and state

welfare programs (Bagenistos, 20201).

The Americans With Disabilities Act was regarded as the finest Act passed since the

Civil Rights Act when it was passed by the United States Congress in 1990. The point of

dispute, meanwhile, has always been whether the Act has met its objectives. This legislation
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has always been the focus of a number of legal proceedings, with the Supreme Court

separately hearing 20 cases.

The 2009 case by the United States Employment Equal Opportunity Commission

against Creative Networks Limited is one of the successful stories of the Americans With

Disabilities Act. The case was filed by the commission’s office in Phoenix, Arizona. The

company specialized in providing services to people with disabilities. In the case, the

commission alleged that the company had discriminated a hearing-impaired person by failing

to provide her a sign language interpreter as required by Americans with Disabilities Act

accommodation standards. This was after the disabled individual had earlier informed the

company of his disability and requested for a sign language interpreter to help her complete

her employment orientation and training. A federal judge delivered a judgement in favor of

the U.S Employment Equal Opportunity Commission in September, 2020. The judge held

that Creative Networks, LLC failed in accommodating and hiring the hearing impaired

individual due to her disability, which violated the ADA laws.

The 2020 equal access case between Guerra, et. al., and West los Angeles College

gives an insight into the act’s success in ensuring the welfare of disabled individuals. The

Ninth Circuit favored the students with disabilities in its judgement citing that the college had

violated both state and federal laws regarding discrimination of disabled persons. The court

found that the college placed an unfair burden on disable students by requiring them to learn

through old ways that existed before the shuttle program was stopped. The lawsuit was

initially filed in 2016, with allegations of violation of federal discrimination laws that require

all public and private facilities open to the public to have meaningful accommodation and

access for people with disabilities.

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The Act has also faced several backslashes because of the court rulings with issues

arising due to different interpretations on the Act. The United States of America, according to

AARP Foundation, needs to understand the Act's likely effect on the lives of Individuals with

disabilities. Notwithstanding the issues with the interpretation of the Americans With

Disabilities Act and its level of disability equality protection, and the legal and political

battles that have surrounded the Act, we can boldly say that the Act has accomplished its

aims. Organizations are now taking the ADA's facility accessibility standards seriously as a

compliance problem. The Act appears to have accomplished its purpose, since many

successful court decisions have demonstrated the degree of protection it offers to Americans

with disabilities. Agencies entrusted with enforcing the Act, such as the United States Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the United States Department of Justice, and

the United States Department of Labor, have performed admirably in guaranteeing equity for

persons with disabilities.

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References

Kennedy, H. (2020). Recent Court ADA Case Review for Conflict Resolution Practitioners.

Retrieved 4 August 2021, from https://www.mediate.com/articles/kennedy-ADA-

review.cfm

Bagenstos, S. (2021). The ADA and the Supreme Court: A Mixed Record. Retrieved 4

August 2021, from https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles/1624/

Judiciary News. (2018). Just the Facts: Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved 4 August

2021, from https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2018/07/12/just-facts-americans-

disabilities-act

AARP Foundation. (2020). Supreme Court Case: Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved

4 August 2021, from https://www.aarp.org/aarp-foundation/our-work/legal-

advocacy/supreme-court-preview/info-2020/ada.html

Guerra v. West LA College | Disability Rights California. (2020). Retrieved 4 August 2021,

from https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/cases/guerra-v-west-la-college