Word: ada
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Nine years after the passage of the ADA, which was designed to prohibit discrimination in the workplace against those with disabilities, the situation has changed for America's disabled--and for their employers. In large ways and small--but mostly small--American businesses have adapted themselves to make the disabled more welcome and productive. Such workplace accommodations often cost little and can be as simple as offering flexible work hours to an employee suffering from chronic depression, or buying a computer keyboard with all the control keys on one side for someone missing a hand. In general, most workplace accommodations...
...experts cite a 1998 survey by Louis Harris & Associates that found only 30% of adults with disabilities to be employed full or part time, compared with nearly 80% of adults without disabilities. Nearly 6 out of 10 of those surveyed last year in Louis Harris' annual poll said the ADA had made no difference in their lives...
...move to intensify the ADA's impact, the Federal Government is once again stepping in. Last March, President Bill Clinton created the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, which presented its first report in December. "The report basically says that so much more needs to be done to help people with disabilities in the workplace," says Coelho, vice chair of the task force. The report's recommendations included tax changes to help people with disabilities pay for work-related expenses, a new program with the Small Business Administration to assist those who want to start their...
...address this, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in 1997 issued guidelines to help employers define mental disabilities under the ADA and provide them with assistance. But some critics say these were not enough. "The guidelines did not help clear up the confusion that's out there, and did not really apply to what goes on in the real world," says Michael Lotito, managing partner in the San Francisco law firm of Jackson Lewis, which represents management in labor disputes. EEOC Commissioner Paul Miller counters that the guidelines did raise awareness of psychiatric disabilities on the part of employers but were...
While the ADA has heightened awareness that discriminating against the disabled is illegal, there has been a backlash from some less enlightened employers, sources say. "Because of a greater awareness of the law, sometimes companies are afraid to hire people with a disability. They fear that they'll be sued if that person is fired for any reason," says Patricia Veal, a human-resources placement specialist with the North Carolina division of vocational-rehabilitation services in Greensboro...