Americans with Disabilities Act

American With Disability Act

American with disability

A legislation to protect the rights of the disabled members of the community in America was signed to law in July 1990. This legislation is an extension to other anti-discrimination legislations that have been signed to law. These legislations are aimed at prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion and sex. They ensure that all Americans get equal employment, promotion, dismissal and trainings in places of work without referring to their nature of creation or operation of their limbs. Americans with Disabilities Act has covered government institutions, employment bureau, telecommunication, private institutions and transport sectors (Shaw, 2008, p.20). Since the legislation was signed to law, companies other relevant institutions are required to train their employees on the contents of the act and what the legislation demands from the employees.

ADA has five categories; the first states that all businesses should provide facilities that can accommodate the disabled individuals whether they are employees or just regular customers, business plans are required to have special facilities for transporting and accommodating the disabled people while the already set up businesses are required to adjust accordingly and have special provisions for the disabled. As a part of the act, the employers are required to offer special treatments to the disabled; first, it requires the disabled to receive superior medical services, considerate salaries and wages and also give them special treatment during the recruitment processes (Meneghello, 2008, p.22). The second aspect in the act addresses the public services; this provision require the governmental and private institutions to allow disabled people the privileges that are enjoyed by other people, also other service sectors such as transport systems are required to adjust so that they can accommodate the disabled.

Third aspect in the act is concerned about the public accommodations; all new constructions that are targeted to serve the public are supposed to comply with this regulation and make the appropriate adjustments to enable they can accommodate all members of the society including the disabled. These service industries include; retail shops, restaurants, hotels, guest houses, hostels, hotels, etc. The fourth aspect is telecommunication; all telecommunication companies in the country are required to have telephone relay services to be used by the deaf people. Miscellaneous is the fifth concept, it is aimed at protecting the disabled against threats and coercion; it will also protect those that aid the disable against assertions from the society and employers.

Failure of the Legislation

Fairness in implementing law is one of the essential elements in a country's prosperity. When the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) was enacted to law many people thought that would be the end of discrimination against the disable members of the society. But, the dream of the disabled for receiving fair treatment has never been.

The government is ensuring that every new construction comply with the Act, but the public perception on the issue has not changed, consequently the lives of the disabled members of the society have not been any better. Although different institutions are responding to the government demands, the situation has not been very different as the Act has some loopholes that have been used to propagate discrimination against the disabled. The government should work towards eliminating the loophole to ensure the Act is followed to latter (Lande,1998 p.518).

The Act should be redefined to ensure it does not contain any ambiguous and unclear statements that have been used previously to discriminate against the disabled. The Act is not adaptable, it is not distinct in nature and it is costly to implement (Reynolds, 1995). These factors have allowed the public to disregard the members of the society that were supposed to be protected by the Law. It has been difficult to distinguish the groups that are protected by the Act, to ensure the Act is understood and applicable, the Act should be refined, reworded and simplified to ensure that it is easily understood and adapted (Lande, 1998).

Employers have in a greater way been able to deny disabled people employment although the disabled person may be in a position to perform most of the responsibilities; they are not given the opportunity to prove their ability to perform. The employer refuses to hire the person not on the basis of inability to perform but because they are physically disabled (Shaw, 2008). Whenever an employee is terminated due to disabilities they bear great responsibilities of proving their disabilities were actually not affecting their output as employees (Hermes, 2008.

The Act does not also provide for the job security when an employee is injured in the course of duty, many employees are dismissed because their output reduce after they get injured. The Act should have a provision for workers compensation when they are injured and it should also demand for the retention of the employee. Although the output of the employee might drop, the company/employer should assign the right duties but should not contemplate dismissal at any cost (Sparks, 1998, p.5). The Act that was aimed at empowering the disabled people has been working against them, since its enactment in 1990; more than 7.2% of the disabled men have become unemployed (DeLeire, 2000, p.694).