ADA in the News: July 27, 2015

AT&T awards $100K for tech to help people with disabilities

CNET

Twenty-five years after President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, AT&T called on developers to use existing technology to create solutions for people with disabilities.

Why Disability Employment = Good Business (Part I of II)

Pulse

All savvy employers should know by now that providing equal opportunities to people with disabilities simply makes good business sense in the 21st century economy. However, it appears that some executives, managers and leaders within corporate America still haven’t gotten the message.

Disabled People Must Make Themselves Visible - NYTimes.com

New York Times

What the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 accomplished was in full view on July 20, at the White House. President Obama had gathered 500 leaders and advocates of disability rights to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the passage of that momentous civil rights law that promised equality to people with disabilities – the largest minority group in America.

Disability Laws Are Not Enough to Combat Discrimination

New York Times

A little perspective helps us understand the truly revolutionary effects that the Americans with Disabilities Act has had on American society. Schools, stores, stadiums, government buildings and business enterprises of all kinds are accessible to people with all sorts of disabilities here — as are the sidewalks and public transit systems that enable people to enjoy the basic right “to live in the world,” as the great disability rights activist Jacobus tenBroek put it. Americans with disabilities participate as full and visible members of our society to a degree unmatched even in other advanced industrialized countries, and the A.D.A. is the reason.

More Work Needs to Be Done to Prevent Exclusion of the Disabled

New York Times

The Americans with Disabilities Act has made a dramatic difference for those of us who live with disabilities. But as often happens with collective wins for civil rights, after the law passed, the activist communities, the positive expressions of disabled identity and the collective energy that grew during the fight for the A.D.A. faded. Those of us with disabilities suddenly had legal rights. But we had to exercise those rights in isolation by filing individual claims with the Office of Civil Rights or by filing suits in federal courts.

Americans with Disabilities Act falls short in employment opportunities, observers say

NewsOK.com

For people with disabilities, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act unequivocally improved their access to buildings, public services and telecommunications. But 25 years later, employment opportunities for the disabled still fall considerably short.

5 best practices for ADA compliance | Employee Benefit Views

Employee Benefit News (blog)

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act has been in effect for 25 years, many employers still struggle with how to comply with the law and how to best help employees with disabilities perform their job duties.

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