THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1988

FACT SHEET

-- The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1988 was a key recommendation of the National Council on the Handicapped in its 1986 report, Toward Independence.

-- The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap in areas such as employment, housing, public accommodations, travel, communications, and activities of State and local governments.

-- The Act covers employers engaged in commerce who have 15 or more employees; housing providers covered by Federal fair housing laws; public accommodations; transportation companies; those engaged in broadcasting or communications; and State and local governments.

-- The Act specifically defines discrimination, including various types of intentional and unintentional exclusion; segregation; inferior or less effective services, benefits or activities; architectural, transportation, and communication barriers; failing to make reasonable accommodations; and discriminatory qualifications and performance standards.

-- The Act specifies those actions that do not constitute discrimination. They include unequal treatment wholly unrelated to a disability or that which is the result of legitimate application of qualifications and performance standards necessary and substantially related to the ability to perform or participate in the essential components of a job or activity.

-- The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board will issue minimum accessibility guidelines. Other regulations will be issued by the Attorney General, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Secretary of Commerce.

--The Act will not repeal Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and all regulations issued under those sections will remain in full force and effect.

-- Enforcement procedures include administrative remedies, a private right of action in Federal court, monetary damages, injunctive relief, attorney's fees, and cutoffs of Federal funds.

Dole Archives: s-leg_553_004_004_d.pdf 
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