# Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990) Signed by President [[George H.W. Bush]] on **July 26, 1990**, the ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment (Title I), state and local government services (Title II), public accommodations (Title III), telecommunications (Title IV), and other domains. It is the most significant rights expansion since the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the only major civil rights legislation of the post-Reagan era to pass with bipartisan support. ## What It Did **Title I — Employment:** Employers with 15+ employees may not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities; must provide reasonable accommodations. **Title II — State & Local Government:** Public services, transportation, and programs must be accessible. Drove the curb-cut, ramp, and accessible-transit infrastructure that is now ubiquitous. **Title III — Public Accommodations:** Private entities serving the public (restaurants, hotels, retail, healthcare) must remove access barriers. Generated decades of architectural retrofit. **Title IV — Telecommunications:** Required telephone relay services for deaf and hard-of-hearing users; foundation for later digital-accessibility expansions. ## Why It Passed The ADA is the canonical case of a movement using **direct action to break a legislative logjam**. The "Capitol Crawl" (March 12, 1990) — disability-rights activists physically dragging themselves up the Capitol steps — produced televised images that made continued opposition politically untenable. ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) had spent years on coordinated direct action, including bus blockades and chaining themselves to inaccessible federal buildings. The bipartisanship was real but contingent: George H.W. Bush's signing speech ("let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down") reflected a Republican Party that still included a disability-rights caucus. By 2010, the ADA Amendments Act passed Congress only after the Roberts Court had spent a decade narrowing the original ADA's scope through restrictive interpretations of "disability." ## How It's Being Eroded The ADA hasn't been rolled back legislatively but has been hollowed out judicially: - *Sutton v. United Air Lines* (1999) — Court held mitigating measures (medication, prosthetics) must be considered in determining whether someone is "disabled" for ADA purposes, dramatically narrowing coverage. Effectively reversed by ADA Amendments Act of 2008. - *Board of Trustees v. Garrett* (2001) — Court ruled states have sovereign immunity from ADA Title I employment damages claims. - [[Trump 2.0]] administration has rolled back federal enforcement guidance on web accessibility, transit accessibility, and disability accommodations in federal employment contexts (echoing the broader civil-rights enforcement collapse pattern). ## The Through-Line The ADA demonstrates the **strategic-litigation + direct-action** combination that the [[Civil Rights Movement]] templated and that the disability rights movement explicitly studied and adapted. It also demonstrates the contemporary pattern where rights expansions, once passed, are eroded through judicial reinterpretation rather than legislative repeal — the same pattern visible in [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] erosion via *Shelby County*. ## See Also - [[Resistance Hub]] - [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] — strategic and statutory template - [[Civil Rights Movement]] — methodological inheritance