Legal Definitions - American-style option

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive federal law in the United States that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. It aims to ensure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, or working.

The law is divided into several sections, or "Titles," which address different areas:

• Employment (Title I): Prohibits discrimination in all employment practices, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, and training. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or applicants with disabilities, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. This title generally applies to private employers with 15 or more employees.
• State and Local Government Services (Title II): Prohibits discrimination by state and local government entities in all their programs, services, and activities, regardless of whether they receive federal financial assistance. This includes public transportation, courts, and voting.
• Public Accommodations (Title III): Prohibits discrimination by private entities that own, lease, or operate places of public accommodation, such as restaurants, hotels, stores, schools, and doctors' offices. These entities must provide equal access and reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures, and remove architectural and communication barriers where readily achievable.

Here are some examples illustrating the application of the ADA:

• Example 1 (Employment): A software development company interviews a highly qualified candidate who uses a screen reader due to a visual impairment. The company initially hesitates to hire them, concerned about the cost of specialized software. However, under the ADA, if the candidate can perform the essential functions of the job with a reasonable accommodation like a screen reader, the company must provide it unless it creates an undue hardship. Refusing to hire solely based on the need for this accommodation would be a violation of Title I of the ADA.

• Example 2 (Public Accommodations): A newly constructed movie theater opens in a suburban area. A customer who uses a wheelchair attempts to purchase tickets but finds that the ticket counter is too high to reach comfortably, and there are no accessible seating options in the main viewing areas. This situation would likely violate Title III of the ADA, which requires public accommodations to be accessible to individuals with disabilities, including providing accessible service counters and seating.

• Example 3 (State and Local Government Services): A city's public park hosts a popular annual music festival. A deaf resident requests a sign language interpreter for the main stage performances, but the city declines, stating it's too expensive. This refusal could be a violation of Title II of the ADA, as state and local government entities must ensure their programs and services are accessible to individuals with disabilities, which may include providing auxiliary aids and services like interpreters.