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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2008
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Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
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HOUSE PASSES HOLT-COSPONSORED ADA RESTORATION LEGISLATION
Bill Would Restore Civil Protections for Americans with Disabilities
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(Washington, DC) – The U.S. House of Representatives last night passed legislation that Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) co-sponsored, which would clarify the definition of disability so that individuals who Congress originally intended to protect from discrimination are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Recent Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the interpretation of the landmark 1990 Act to define “disability” in a way that has excluded individuals with diabetes, heart impairments, epilepsy, cancer, and other conditions. This has created a Catch 22 where an employer may say a person is “too disabled” to perform a job but not “disabled enough” to be protected under the ADA. The bill would require courts to focus on whether a person has experienced discrimination “on the basis of disability” rather than requiring individuals with disabilities to demonstrate first that they are substantially limited in some major life activity.
“The courts’ interpretations fail to protect a large number of Americans from discrimination and erect a new set of barriers for them to overcome,” Holt said. “This bill would reaffirm the ADA’s mandate for the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability and allow the ADA to reclaim its place among our nation’s most important civil rights laws.”
In March, Holt hosted a roundtable discussion at Project Freedom – a disability housing project in Lawrence – with individuals with disabilities, disability rights groups, and legal advocates to discuss the (ADA). Participants reinforced the need to clarify the definition of disability to provide broad coverage to protect anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of disability.
Holt noted that the bill has received support from both the disability and business communities in New Jersey and across the country.
“I am proud that my home state of New Jersey has enacted our own tough employment protections for individuals with disabilities. My state’s experience belies the claims made by some of the bill’s opponents that this legislation is overprotective of individuals with disabilities,” Holt said.
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