Civil Rights
and the Americans with Disabilities Act
ADA Protections for People
with Mental Disabilities
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law
on July 26, 1990, can be found in the United States Code at 42 U.S.C. §§
12101-12213. To access it online, click here.
Alert:
The ADA Restoration Act, introduced in September
2007, would correct erosion of the ADA's protections by judicial
decisions in the past decade.
The ADA is designed to integrate people with disabilities fully into
the mainstream of American life. It protects:
- people who currently have a disability;
- people who have a history of a disability;
- people who are regarded as having a disability by others, whether
or not they actually have a disability; and
- people who are not themselves disabled but who encounter discrimination
on the basis of their association or relationship with a person who
has a disability—parents of children with disabilities, for example.
The ADA explicitly includes people with mental disabilities, including
individuals with psychiatric impairments. It prohibits:
For more information on the ADA...visit ADA Watch
Please note that although this site describes court decisions, it should
not be used as a substitute for independent legal research.
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