The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Title 42- The Public Health and Welfare

CHAPTER 126- EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

     Section 12101 Findings and purpose
            
              (a) Findings. Congress finds that

     (1) physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person's right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded form doing so because of discrimination; others who have record of disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
     (2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious a pervasive social problem;
     (3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
     (4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
     (5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, over protective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and regulation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;
     (6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;
     (7) the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
     (8) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity.
 
  (b) Purpose. It is the purpose of this chapter

     (1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
     (2) to provide clear, spring, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
     (3) the ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards
established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities; and
     (4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by purple with disabilities.

     (Section 12101 note: ADA Amendments Act of 2008, partial)
  
   (a) Findings. Congress finds that

    (1) in enacting the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Congress intended that the Act "provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities" and provide broad coverage;
     (2) in enacting the ADA, Congress recognized tat physical and mental disabilities in no way diminish a person's right to fully participate in all aspects of society, but that people with physical and mental disabilities are frequently precluded form doing so because of prejudice, antiquated attitudes, or the failure to remove societal and institutional barriers.

    (b) Purposes. The purposes of this Act are

      (1) to carry out the ADA's objectives of providing a"a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination" and "clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination" by reinstating a broad scope of protection to be available under the ADA
    
SUBCHAPTER II- PUBLIC SERVICES

    Part A- Prohibition Against Discrimination and Other Generally Applicable Provisions

    Section 12131. Definitions
   
 As used in this subchapter:
      
      (1) Public entity. The term "public entity" means
           (A) any state or local government;
           (B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.

       (2) Qualified individual with a  disability. The term "qualified individual with a disability" means an individual who, with or without reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity.

     Section 12132. Discrimination

Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.