Bazelon Center Celebrates House Action on ADA Amendments Act

June 25, 2008—By an extraordinary margin of 402-17, the House of Representatives passed the ADA Amendments Act to reverse Supreme Court holdings that had deprived many people with disabilities of the law’s vital protections. The bill would restore the intent of Congress when it enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.

Please visit http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll460.xml to see your Representative's vote and say thank you by phone, postcard or email. (See How to Contect Your Lawmakers.)

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is particularly gratified that the bill will rescue people with psychiatric disabilities from the “Catch 22” in which the court left them—that when medications reduce their symptoms, however temporarily, many no longer qualify for protection as “disabled” under the ADA. 

“We hope soon to see the ADA as again a strong tool to help people with mental illnesses secure the protections they need to participate fully in society,” said Jennifer Mathis, the Bazelon Center’s deputy legal director.

Mathis was a negotiator in a unique coalition of disability and civil rights advocates and members of the business community that worked over several months to reach consensus on protections for people with disabilities that could be supported by employers. The compromise bill replaced the proposed ADA Restoration Act (see the Bazelon Center's June 23 Action Alert).

Now advocacy must focus on the Senate, where the ADA Restoration Act was introduced last year by Tom Harkin (D-IA). Watch this space for updates.