“The Americans With Disabilities Act is one of the most significant lawsin American History.
The preamble to the law states that it covers 43,000,000Americans. “(Frierson, p. 3) Before the Americans With Disabilities Act(A. D. A. )was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simplybecause he or she was disabled.
With no other reason other than the personsphysical disability were they turned away or released from a job. The AmericansWith Disabilities Act prevented this type of discrimination by establishingrules and regulations designed to protect persons with physical disabilities. With a workforce made up of 43,000,000 people, it is impossible to ignore theimpact of these people. The Americans With Disabilities Act not only opened thedoor for millions of Americans to get back into the workplace, it is paving theroad for new facilities in the workplace, new training programs and creatingjobs designed for a disabled society.
I believe the Americans With Disabilities Act is the most importantprecedent set in the struggle against all discrimination for persons withdisability. In this paper I will give a brief description of the statutes setby the Americans With Disabilities Act, pertaining to disabilities in theworkplace. I will then discuss what employers are required to do according tothe A. D. A. and some of the regulations they must abide by.
The next section ofthis paper will discuss the actual training of employees with disabilities witha highlight on training programs for workers with mobility and motiondisabilities. The following section of this paper will discuss the economiceffects of a vocational rehabilitation program. Finally this paper willconclude with a brief discussion of what the measures set by the Americans WithDisabilities Act means to the actual workers and people it benefits. The Americans With Disabilities ActThe Americans With Disabilities Act has a section devoted to nothing butpractices by employers regarding the treatment of applicants and on staffworkers based on their physical condition or any health problems they may have.
Some of the disabilities included are vision, hearing, motion, or mentalimpairments. “Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibitsemployers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities injob application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, jobtraining and other terms and conditions of employment”(The Americans WithDisabilities Act). According to the Americans With Disabilities Act, the onlyway an employer can refuse to hire an employee based upon a disability is ifthat persons disability imposes an undue hardship on the operation of theemployer’s business. Then the question arises, what is considered an unduehardship? The Americans With Disabilities Act states that an undue hardship isany action that is considered to be in excessive cost to the employer, or if thereforms are too extensive, substantial, disruptive to the goings on of thecompany or anything that would substantially change the operation of thebusiness.
In addition to this, the Americans With Disabilities Act provides someinformation on what employers cannot do. For instance the A. D. A. states that”employers may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severityof a disability”(The Americans With Disabilities Act). This is a very importantstep in that it cancels out any possible internal prejudice the employer mayhave despite the regulations set by the A.
D. A. For example if the employer hasa pre-concieved notion of what he or she believes a disabled person can do, thisrule will protect the applicant from such prejudice. Also, the employer cannotrequire an applicant take a medical examination before a job is offered. Furthermore, that a job can only be conditioned based on the results of amedical exam if those conditions apply to all workers.
This aspect is importantbecause it places all the employees of that company on the same level right formthe beginning. These measures have been set not only to put persons with disabilitieson level ground with other applicants, it also protects thier rights as to thekind of treatment they will recieve. Because of this, more and more people withdisabilities are going out and applying for jobs. With the added assurance andcomfort the A.
D. A. provides, disabled workers can go out with confidence andapply for almost any position. There is a certain classification set by A. D.
A. on what constitutes aperson with a disability, that is if the person has a physical or mentaldisability that substantially limits a major life activity. Also, in order tobe protected by the A. D. A.
this person must have a long .
