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Americans with Disabilities Act

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Almost three decades after the passage of the Civil Right Act of 1964, a federal law passed giving people with disabilities the same rights as minorities and women. This law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, gives people with disabilities the right to compete fairly for jobs. ADA also gives people with disabilities the right to shop where they please, stay in whatever hotel they choose, and patronize any establishment open to the public; the right to use public transportation; and many other rights. Before the ADA became law, it was legal for most employers to look a person with a disability in the eye and say,” you have dyslexia. I will not hire you.” Today, employers (with 15 or more employees) cannot do that. The goal of the law is simple. It is to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits private employers, state, local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations.
The ADA’s nondiscrimination standards also apply to federal sector employee under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended and its implementing rules. An individual with a disability is a person who: has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment. A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential

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