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Fundamental
Civil Rights for Persons with Disabilities
The
Americans with
Disabilities Act became law in 1990, based on Congressional
findings that 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or
mental disabilities and that this number is increasing as the
population as a whole is growing older. Historically, society
has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities
and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination continue
to be a serious and pervasive social problem. Congress found that
discrimination existed in such critical areas as employment, housing,
public accommodations, education, transportation, communication,
recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting and
access to public services. Further, Congress found that the Nation's
proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure
equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living
and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals. Finally, Congress
found that the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary
discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the
opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities
for which our free society is justifiably famous.
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Significant
ADA Cases
- PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, U. S. Supreme Court, decided May 29, 2001 (Title III prohibits denial of access)
- Fisher v. Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, decided July 15, 2003 (persons "at risk" of institutionalization covered by ADA)
- Tennessee v. Lane, U. S. Supreme Court, decided May 17, 2004 (access to courthouse)
You
may receive technical
assistance on the ADA at 1-800-526-7234 or technical
assistance at 1-800-949-4232. In order to reach the United
States Department of Justice to receive information or file
a complaint, you may call a toll free number, 1-800-514-0301 (voice)
or 1-800-514- 0383 (tdd). The DOJ's Civil
Rights Division maintains home pages for: (1) Section
508 of the Rehab Act, (2) Americans
with Disabilities Act, and (3) Employment
Litigation Section. The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission accepts complaints on employment
discrimination. Housing discrimination is covered under the Fair
Housing Act and Housing and Urban
Development accepts complaints on housing discrimination.
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State
ADA/504 Coordinators
In
order to ensure that Title II nondiscrimination, accessibility
and other requirements are met by state entities and that individuals
can easily identify the ADA coordinator of the state, the Office
of Handicapped Concerns has provided the following list of state
agency coordinators.
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Providing high quality legal services to people with physical and mental disablities.
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