National Spinal Cord Injury Group Fully Supports Restoration of the Americans with Disabilities Act
New York, NY – United Spinal Association, a national organization for persons with spinal cord injuries or disorders, announced today its uncompromising support for the quick enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act Restoration Act.
The ADA Restoration Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) as its main sponsors and more than 110 co-sponsors. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) are the main sponsors of the ADA Restoration Act in the U.S. Senate.
This bill would restore the original intent of the ADA employment provisions, which was to give individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to compete for, and to retain jobs based solely on their performance. Unfortunately, over the past 17 years, a number of court decisions have narrowed the definition of disability so much that many individuals with disabilities find themselves no longer protected by the Act. Courts have created an absurd “Catch-22” that allows employers to say a person is “too disabled” to do the job but “not disabled enough” to be protected by the law. This is wrong!
It is also not what Congress and President George H.W. Bush intended when the ADA was enacted in 1990. The ADA was intended to level the playing field so everyone who wants a job has an equal opportunity to work.
United Spinal Association President and Chief Executive Officer Paul J. Tobin stated “there is no doubt that the ADA’s 1990 adoption has greatly improved accessibility for persons with all types of disabilities to facilities and services in both the public and private sectors. But finding and keeping a job remains the key to individual economic solvency and full community participation. We urge the Congress to pass this bill quickly so that our members and other persons with disabling conditions can get back to working, and living.”
Further need to strengthen the ADA employment requirements emerged from the 2000 Census data, which found that only 60 percent of people between the ages of 16 and 64 with disabilities are employed.
United Spinal Association was founded in 1946 at military and veterans hospitals in the New York City metropolitan area by returning World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. In 2004, we changed our name and opened our membership to individuals of all ages with spinal cord injuries and disorders. Our staff played a lead role in successful public transportation litigation in New York and Philadelphia in the 1980s, and as a result, we helped to craft both the transportation provisions and implementing regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.