From MarketWatch:

Vital Signs columnist Kristen Gerencher says a broad coalition of disability rights and business groups has come together behind a measure to revise the ADA in the wake of  a series of Supreme Court decisions that severely narrowed the law’s definition of disability. The ironic effect of those decisions, Gerencher says, is that the people who most need protections under the ADA often can’t get them.

An excerpt:

That means many people who suffer from a chronic disease but manage their illness well aren’t considered disabled and therefore aren’t covered by the law — even if an employer fires or refuses to hire them because of their disease.

The courts’ decisions have resulted in a Catch-22 for people with a range of disabilities, including diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy and mental illness, said Jennifer Mathis, deputy legal director for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington.

“You can be disabled enough to be fired but not disabled enough to sue,” she said.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 6:28 am and is filed under ADA, diabetes, employment, epilepsy, law, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post