Mar 19, 2009
Amendment Restoring ADA Protections Passed
MS activists and others in the disability rights movement changed the course of history when they helped to push the ADA Amendments Act through Congress. President Bush signed the legislation in September 2008.
The Act became effective January 1, 2009, bringing millions of people back under the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
As originally written, the ADA was designed to ensure that all people with disabilities could receive reasonable accommodations in the workplace. But over time, court rulings narrowed the definition of "disability" to exclude those who could "control their symptoms." This included people with MS responding well to their disease-modifying drug.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chief sponsor of the ADA Amendments Act, described the situation: "The more successful a person is at coping with a disability, the more likely the court will find that they are no longer disabled and therefore no longer covered under the ADA."
The new Act reverses four Supreme Court decisions that had eroded ADA coverage for people with MS and other conditions, including diabetes and epilepsy, that are controlled by medication, are episodic, and/or do not always severely restrict major life activities.
Starting this January, courts may not consider "mitigating measures" such as prescription drugs, hearing aids or artificial limbs. The new law says "an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active."
To learn more about this historic bill, and the protections it provides, visit adabill.com.