The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1988 (S.B. 2345; H.R. 4499) was introduced in April by Senators Lowell Weicker, Jr. (R-Conn), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Congressmen Silvio O. Conte (R-Mass.), Tony Coelho (D-Calif.), and Major R. Owens (D-N.Y.), and over eighty additional bipartisan Congressional co-sponsors. The ADA is the most important piece of legislation protecting the civil rights of children and adults and older Americans with disabilities to be introduced by the United States Congress in the past fifteen years. In addition to bipartisan Congressional support, the bill is also endorsed by over fifty national disability organizations and agencies. DREDF is playing a key role in developing this legislation by providing educational assistance to Members of Congress on the need for comprehensive civil rights legislation for people with disabilities.
The purpose of this bill is to bar discrimination against disabled people in such areas as employment, housing, public accommodation, travel, communications, and activities of state and local government. While such protections are already afforded
