ENGLER/COELHO: Securing the promise of the ADA

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By John Engler and Tony Coelho

OP-ED:

When employer, disability and civil-rights advocates collaborate to pass legislation in this era of partisan wrangling, that is something to celebrate. Remarkably, that is what happened last week with overwhelming bipartisan passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act in the House of Representatives. Employers, Congress and organizations representing people with disabilities found common ground and worked together to pass the ADA Amendments Act, which renews the strength and coverage of the original Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA, which was passed by bipartisan majorities in the U.S. House and Senate and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, has worked well for employers and employees. For more than a decade and a half, Americans with all kinds of disabilities have had the opportunity to take jobs for which they are clearly capable and qualified. The result? Hundreds of thousands of hardworking, talented people have proven that the only factor in getting, keeping and moving ahead in a job should be whether you can do the job. As these employees demonstrate every day, there's no reason why someone who can't walk without a wheelchair shouldn't program computers or why someone with a hearing loss can't proofread public documents.

These willing workers can now support themselves and contribute to their companies, their communities and their country because of the ADA. Unfortunately, over the last decade, judicial interpretations have narrowed the ADA, and as a result, excluded people originally covered by the law, leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to discrimination. People with diabetes, epilepsy, serious heart conditions and even cancer have had their claims of discrimination discarded because of narrow readings of the law.

For example, as the court's interpretations stand now, people who have epilepsy and must take medications to manage the disease are no longer covered by the ADA because their symptoms are improved with medication. That's a personal issue for me, Wall Street and in high technology - all while taking medicine for epilepsy.

It's a practical issue for my co-author Gov. John Engler, president of the America, and it's also the right thing to do. Employers urgently need qualified workers to fill vacancies. No one intended for this law to exclude qualified individuals who want to work from appropriate protections.

That's why we both support the ADA Amendments Act. It would clarify Congress' original intent and restore coverage to people who have been cut out of the law's protections because, in a distinction worthy of "Catch 22," the courts have ruled them "too functional" to meet the definition of "disabled." Such hair-splitting ignores the fact that these Americans still are vulnerable to discrimination -– and our economy and our entire society still need their fullest contributions.

At a time when the baby-boom generation is beginning to retire, companies and industries are facing growing shortages of skilled workers and international competition is becoming more intense, there must be zero tolerance for discrimination that discourages capable workers. And as injured veterans return from U.S. Senate and signing it into law.

California, he served as House majority whip.