Monday, October 1, 2007

Help Restore the Americans with Disabilities Act


Did you know that the Americans with Disabilities Act may not protect someone with a disability from an employer who does not hire or fires that person?

October is National Employment Awareness for People with Disabilities month!

People with disabilities should not be subject to discrimination in the workplace. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was passed with overwhelming support from both parties and signed by President George H.W. Bush in order to give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to work and a chance to be judged fairly.

But this is not happening. The courts have created a Catch-22 so that a person is "too disabled" to do the job but "not disabled enough" to be protected by the ADA. This is wrong!

Four strong leaders of both parties have introduced a bill to restore the Americans with Disabilities Act to its original intent. You can send an email that is ready to go to your own Representative and your own two Senators.

Go to http://donations.unitedspinal.org and click on Take Action.

If you or someone you know has been fired or not hired due to a disability, add a short description of what happened to the letter you send.

If you get a chance, please thank the primary sponsors of the ADA Restoration Act: Representatives Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Senators Tom Harkin, (D-IA) and Arlen Specter(R-PA). Harkin was the lead Senator on original passage of the ADA in 1990.

For more information (including a list of all Representatives who have agreed to co-sponsor the ADA Restoration Act) or any other issues in Washington that are important to people with disabilities, please send an email to publicpolicy@unitedspinal.org