Activists fight to rewrite disabilities act
October 23rd, 2007By Joseph Shapiro on National Public Radio:
Civil rights groups that won passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 are now pushing to have the landmark legislation rewritten. The reason: a Supreme Court decision has narrowed the definition of disability, saying that people who can control their disability with medications and devices might not be considered disabled.
They want a new ADA, even though Congress is not so sympathetic to passing civil rights laws anymore, and rewriting the laws runs the risk of giving opponents a chance to further water it down.
“We are prepared to take those risks,” says House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. “Certainly I don’t think we’re going to do anything more to undermine the ADA than the courts have done, which we’re trying to correct.”
Hoyer says Congress always intended the ADA to cover conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and mental retardation.
… But business groups worry that any rewrite is likely to broaden who is called disabled — way beyond what was intended by the original ADA.
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on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 4:49 am and is filed under ADA, ADA restoration, NOT2BEMISSED, law, politics.
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