Compiled by Peggy Hathaway
Keeping the Promise to End Unfair Employment Discrimination
Four Congressional leaders have introduced a bill to restore the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to its original intent.
The ADA Restoration Act was introduced in the House and the Senate on July 26, which was the seventeenth anniversary of the ADA with sponsors from both parties in both chambers. Paul J. Tobin, president and CEO of United Spinal Association, said “We are proud that United Spinal Association played a role in obtaining 143 original co-sponsors in the House, and we’re working on persuading even more Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors.”
The primary sponsors of the House bill, HR. 3195 are Representatives Steny Hoyer (DMD) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Hoyer is also Majority Leader of the House.
The primary sponsors of the Senate bill, S. 1881, are Senators Tom Harkin, (DIA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA). Harkin was the lead sponsor in the Senate on original passage of the ADA in 1990.
The ADA was passed in 1990 with overwhelming support from both parties and signed by President George H.W. Bush in order to give people with disabilities a chance to be judged fairly.
Just as other civil rights laws prohibit employers from basing decisions on characteristics like race or sex, Congress wanted the ADA to stop discrimination based on disability.
People with disabilities want to work to their full ability and not have to turn to public assistance to live. The ADA is supposed to level the playing field so everyone who wants a job has an equal opportunity to work. The focus needs to be on what a person is able to do.
The courts, however, 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.
Courts have so badly misinterpreted the ADA that it does not look like anything even close to what Congress intended. Courts decide against people who challenge disability discrimination 97% of the time. People are often not even allowed to show that the employer treated them unfairly.
People with some conditions who manage their disabilities with medications, prosthetics or other “mitigating measures” are viewed as “too functional” to have a disability and are denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination. People denied a job or fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job-or because the employer does not want “people like that” in the workplace-are also denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination.
Support ADA Restoration
To send a letter electronically, or to sign up for updates and Action alerts on this critical issue and other legislation affecting people with spinal cord injuries and disorders, go to www.unitedspinal.org/advocacy.
Or, to send a letter to your Representative go to www.house.gov/writerep/ and to your Senators go to www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.
If your representative is one of the co-sponsors of the House bill, HR 1881, please thank them. As of our publication deadline, the following representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of HR 1881:
Rep. Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1]
Rep. Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5]
Rep. Allen, Thomas H. [ME-1]
Rep. Andrews, Robert E. [NJ-1]
Rep. Bachus, Spencer [AL-6]
Rep. Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2]
Rep. Berkley, Shelley [NV-1]
Rep. Berman, Howard L. [CA-28]
Rep. Bilbray, Brian P. [CA-50]
Rep. Bishop, Timothy H. [NY-1]
Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [OR-3]
Rep. Bonner, Jo [AL-1]
Rep. Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [GU]
Rep. Boswell, Leonard L. [IA-3]
Rep. Boucher, Rick [VA-9]
Rep. Brady, Robert A. [PA-1]
Rep. Braley, Bruce L. [IA-1]
Rep. Brown, Corrine [FL-3]
Rep. Brown-Waite, Ginny [FL-5]
Rep. Butterfield, G. K. [NC-1]
Rep. Calvert, Ken [CA-44]
Rep. Cardoza, Dennis A. [CA-18]
Rep. Carnahan, Russ [MO-3]
Rep. Carney, Christopher P. [PA-10]
Rep. Carson, Julia [IN-7]
Rep. Castle, Michael N. [DE]
Rep. Chandler, Ben [KY-6]
Rep. Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1]
Rep. Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5]
Rep. Clyburn, James E. [SC-6]
Rep. Coble, Howard [NC-6]
Rep. Cohen, Steve [TN-9]
Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14]
Rep. Costa, Jim [CA-20]
Rep. Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12]
Rep. Courtney, Joe [CT-2]
Rep. Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7]
Rep. Davis, Danny K. [IL-7]
Rep. Davis, Tom [VA-11]
Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [OR-4]
Rep. DeGette, Diana [CO-1]
Rep. Delahunt, William D. [MA-10]
Rep. DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3]
Rep. Dicks, Norman D. [WA-6]
Rep. Dingell, John D. [MI-15]
Rep. Doggett, Lloyd [TX-25]
Rep. Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14]
Rep. Dreier, David [CA-26]
Rep. Edwards, Chet [TX-17]
Rep. Ehlers, Vernon J. [MI-3]
Rep. Emanuel, Rahm [IL-5]
Rep. Emerson, Jo Ann [MO-8]
Rep. Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17]
Rep. English, Phil [PA-3]
Rep. Etheridge, Bob [NC-2]
Rep. Farr, Sam [CA-17]
Rep. Ferguson, Mike [NJ-7]
Rep. Filner, Bob [CA-51]
Rep. Frank, Barney [MA-4]
Rep. Franks, Trent [AZ-2]
Rep. Frelinghuysen, Rodney P. [NJ-11]
Rep. Gallegly, Elton [CA-24]
Rep. Giffords, Gabrielle [AZ-8]
Rep. Gillmor, Paul E. [OH-5]
Rep. Green, Gene [TX-29]
Rep. Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7]
Rep. Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4]
Rep. Hall, John J. [NY-19]
Rep. Hare, Phil [IL-17]
Rep. Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23]
Rep. Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie [SD]
Rep. Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22]
Rep. Hinojosa, Ruben [TX-15]
Rep. Hodes, Paul W. [NH-2]
Rep. Holden, Tim [PA-17]
Rep. Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12]
Rep. Honda, Michael M. [CA-15]
Rep. Israel, Steve [NY-2]
Rep. Issa, Darrell E. [CA-49]
Rep. Jefferson, William J. [LA-2]
Rep. Johnson, Henry C. Jr. [GA-4]
Rep. Jones, Stephanie Tubbs [OH-11]
Rep. Kagen, Steve [WI-8]
Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9]
Rep. Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1]
Rep. Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5]
Rep. Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13]
Rep. Kind, Ron [WI-3]
Rep. King, Peter T. [NY-3]
Rep. Kirk, Mark Steven [IL-10]
Rep. Knollenberg, Joe [MI-9]
Rep. Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10]
Rep. LaHood, Ray [IL-18]
Rep. Langevin, James R. [RI-2]
Rep. Lantos, Tom [CA-12]
Rep. Levin, Sander M. [MI-12]
Rep. Lewis, Jerry [CA-41]
Rep. Lewis, John [GA-5]
Rep. Loebsack, David [IA-2]
Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16]
Rep. Lowey, Nita M. [NY-18]
Rep. Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9]
Rep. Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14]
Rep. Markey, Edward J. [MA-7]
Rep. Matheson, Jim [UT-2]
Rep. Matsui, Doris O. [CA-5]
Rep. McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4]
Rep. McCollum, Betty [MN-4]
Rep. McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11]
Rep. McDermott, Jim [WA-7]
Rep. McGovern, James P. [MA-3]
Rep. McHugh, John M. [NY-23]
Rep. McNulty, Michael R. [NY-21]
Rep. Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2]
Rep. Miller, Brad [NC-13]
Rep. Miller, George [CA-7]
Rep. Mollohan, Alan B. [WV-1]
Rep. Moore, Gwen [WI-4]
Rep. Moran, James P. [VA-8]
Rep. Murphy, Christopher S. [CT-5]
Rep. Murphy, Patrick J. [PA-8]
Rep. Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8]
Rep. Neal, Richard E. [MA-2]
Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC]
Rep. Nunes, Devin [CA-21]
Rep. Oberstar, James L. [MN-8]
Rep. Olver, John W. [MA-1]
Rep. Ortiz, Solomon P. [TX-27]
Rep. Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [NJ-8]
Rep. Pastor, Ed [AZ-4]
Rep. Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10]
Rep. Perlmutter, Ed [CO-7]
Rep. Peterson, Collin C. [MN-7]
Rep. Petri, Thomas E. [WI-6]
Rep. Rahall, Nick J., II [WV-3]
Rep. Ramstad, Jim [MN-3]
Rep. Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15]
Rep. Reyes, Silvestre [TX-16]
Rep. Rodriguez, Ciro D. [TX-23]
Rep. Roskam, Peter J. [IL-6]
Rep. Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9 Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34]
Rep. Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch [MD-2]
Rep. Ryan, Paul (WI-1]
Rep. Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39]
Rep. Sanchez, Loretta [CA-47]
Rep. Sarbanes, John P. [MD-3]
Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9]
Rep. Scott, Robert C. “Bobby” [VA-3]
Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [WI-5]
Rep. Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16]
Rep. Sestak, Joe [PA-7]
Rep. Shays, Christopher [CT-4]
Rep. Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1]
Rep. Sires, Albio [NJ-13]
Rep. Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [NY-28]
Rep. Smith, Christopher H. [NJ-4]
Rep. Solis, Hilda L. [CA-32]
Rep. Souder, Mark E. [IN-3]
Rep. Space, Zachary T. [OH-18]
Rep. Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13]
Rep. Sutton, Betty [OH-13]
Rep. Tauscher, Ellen O. [CA-10]
Rep. Tiahrt, Todd [KS-4]
Rep. Tierney, John F. [MA-6]
Rep. Towns, Edolphus [NY-10]
Rep. Udall, Tom [NM-3]
Rep. Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8]
Rep. Visclosky, Peter J. [IN-1]
Rep. Walsh, James T. [NY-25]
Rep. Walz, Timothy J. [MN-1]
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [FL-20]
Rep. Watson, Diane E. [CA-33]
Rep. Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30]
Rep. Welch, Peter [VT]
Rep. Weldon, Dave [FL-15]
Rep. Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6]
Rep. Wu, David [OR-1]
Rep. Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4]
Rep. Young, C.W. Bill [FL-10]
Rep. Young, Don [AK]
