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There is valuable and pertinent information in the interpretive guidance of the ADA whose purpose is to support equal opportunity for people with disabilities. However,

  • The guidance, primarily in the ADA Guidelines for Accessibility (ADAAG) tends to focus on a limited set of conditions, especially wheelchair users and people who are blind.  That is a very small percentage of people with disabilities in the US.
  • Though intended as measures of compliance rather than fixed requirements, ADA guidance is commonly viewed with a ‘just tell me what I have to do’ attitude. This is an unintended consequence of the legislation but has hampered an embrace of the vision of equal opportunity that requires a change in thinking.
  • Limiting eligibility to the protections of the ADA to people who fit the narrow definitions of ADA disability results in a false sense of a rigid dichotomy between people with disabilities and everyone else.
  • There has been a great deal of interpretive guidance generated since 1990 to assist in making the vision of the ADA real.  Given the breadth of types of functional limitations and of circumstances, no amount of guidance could deliver complete instructions for ensuring equal opportunity and non-discrimination.  Human experience, skill and creativity by those with responsibilities, such as DV/SA service providers, remains a key to effective implementation.
  • The ADA is the base on which we build solutions for inclusion in the US.  The initial legislation, as well as a wealth of resources and case law, has changed the experience of people with disabilities and society in general.  It has also contributed to the international movement toward civil or human rights initiatives for people with disabilities. But, like its precursor, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation cannot achieve fundamental social transformation.