United Spinal Association is proud that its recent advocacy efforts will reinstate protections against employment discrimination on the basis of disability.
As the 110th session of Congress draws to a close, the House and the Senate found a common cause that they could unanimously support – the ADA Amendment Act. The measure passed both bodies by unanimous consent.
United Spinal Association helped lead the unusual coalition that reached a compromise and came together to back this bill. It has the support of 269 business, disabilities, civil rights, faith and veterans/military groups.
President Bush is expected to sign this critical civil rights legislation in the near future – thereby reinstating many of the civil rights protections of the original Americans with Disabilities Act that was signed by father, President George H.W. Bush, in 1990. The original ADA had been weakened by a series of Supreme Court decisions that eroded its employment protections. The ADA Amendment Act tells the courts that the way they have been interpreting the ADA leaves out the very people it was meant to protect – Americans with disabilities.
Paul Tobin, President of United Spinal Association, said “This bill will help all Americans with disabilities. It is especially significant that it will also protect the many disabled veterans who will attempt to reenter the workforce upon their discharge from the military. We owe a special debt of gratitude to the honorable men and women who become disabled in the service of our country and this bill will help protect disabled veterans — and other Americans with disabilities — from unlawful discrimination. No qualified individual should be shut out of a job because of a disability.”
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) predicts that President Bush will sign the bill during the week of September 21st. Assuming he does so, Americans with disabilities will have a fair chance to have a job and support themselves and their families.
United Spinal Association thanks the lead sponsors – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) – who have demonstrated that the American citizenry is best served when the two parties work together.
Too bad this does not include voter registration. I made the National Voter Registration Form Accessible to the blind and the American Foundation for the Blind tested it and found it was accessible to JAWS and Window Eyes, the screen readers used by the blind and they sent it to the Secretary of State of West Virginia.
I sent it to the Elections Assistance Commission which said that their webmaster was in charge of making them Section 508 compliant. The Elections Assistance Commission is responsible for the National Voter Registration Form and was created by Congress to make Voting Accessible to the blind. But it is their webmaster who is in charge of setting policy for the agency.
They are not accessible to the 1.8 million legally blind people in the US, nor are the accessible to the 10 million visually impaired people in the US.