Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA) is a law that was passed by the United States Congress in 1990. President George H. W. Bush signed the ADA, making it an official United States law, on July 26, 1990. Later, President George W. Bush amended (changed) the ADA and signed those changes into law. The changes started on January 1, 2009.
The ADA is a detailed civil rights law whose goal is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. Before the ADA, people with disabilities did not have many legal protections. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This law made it illegal to discriminate against people because of their race, religion, gender, national origin (home country), and many other things. But people with disabilities were not included or protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ADA gave the Civil Rights Act's protections - and some others - to people with disabilities.
Who Is Protected Under the ADA?
The ADA protects people with disabilities. The ADA says that a disability is a physical or mental problem that makes it very difficult to do at least one "major life activity." Major life activities are things like walking, breathing, learning, reading, communicating, seeing, hearing, thinking, and other very important tasks.
The ADA does not include a complete list of all possible disabilities, but it does give some examples. As long as they make it very difficult to do at least one major life activity, examples of disabilities protected under the ADA include:
The ADA also counts some other groups of people as "people with disabilities" to protect them from discrimination:
Who Is Not Protected Under the ADA?
The ADA lists some conditions that are not counted as disabilities. People with these conditions are not protected by the ADA. The goal of not including these people was to make sure the ADA's goal of protecting people with disabilities was not abused.
Conditions that do not count as disabilities under the ADA include:
Sections of the ADA.
The ADA has five sections, which are called "titles". Each title protects against a different kind of discrimination. The titles are numbered in Roman numerals: I (one), II (two), III (three), IV (four), and V (five).
Title I: Employment.
Title I of the ADA protects against discrimination in employment (work).
What Employers are Covered by the ADA?
Not every employer has to follow the ADA's rules. Employers that are covered by the ADA, and have to follow the ADA's rules, are called "covered entities."
Employers that have to follow the ADA's rules include: 
What Do Employers Have to Do?
Title I says that employers who are covered by the ADA cannot discriminate against a person with a disability, as long as that person is qualified (able) to do their job. Title I does "not" say that people with disabilities have to be hired for jobs that they are not qualified for.
These employers do have to give "reasonable accommodations" to workers with disabilities if needed. An "accommodation" is a change in the way things are usually done. It is a change that a worker needs because of a disability, to help them do their job. If a worker with a disability needs reasonable accommodations to do their job, that does not mean they are not qualified to do their job. As long as the worker is able to do their job with the help of accommodations, they are qualified to do the job.
Some accommodations are very simple, like letting a worker have a glass of water at their desk so they can take medicines. Examples of other accommodations are: 
However, the accommodation must be "reasonable." An accommodation is not reasonable if it would be very difficult or very expensive. If an accommodation is not reasonable, the employer does not have to give it.
What is Employment Discrimination?
Title I protects against many kinds of discrimination, including:
Usually, employers cannot ask workers or people applying for jobs whether they have a disability, or ask them to give details about their disability.
Complaints.
If a person with a disability thinks their employer has discriminated against them, they can make a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The complaint has to be made within 180 days of when the discrimination happened. If the EEOC thinks discrimination has happened, they will send a letter that tells the person with the disability that they have the right to sue (file a lawsuit against) their employer. The person with the disability may then file a lawsuit in federal court.
Title II: State and Local Government Activities - and Public Transportation.
Title II protects against discrimination in all activities of state and local governments.
What Do State and Local Governments Have to Do?
Government Activities.
State and local governments have to give people with disabilities the same chances as people without disabilities to use all of their programs and services. If people with disabilities need reasonable accommodations to be able to participate in these programs, the state or local government has to make them.
For example, people with disabilities must be allowed, just the same as people without disabilities, to:
State and local governments also have to:
Public Transportation.
A special part of Title II covers public transportation. It protects people with disabilities from being discriminated against by public transportation. This includes city buses, subways, commuter trains, Amtrak, and all other transportation that the public can use.
Local and state governments have to:
Wherever there is a bus or train line that runs on a fixed route (it cannot make special stops), the government must provide "paratransit". Paratransit is a service for people with disabilities who cannot use the regular public transportation system. Paratransit (usually a car or bus) picks them up and drops them off where they need to go.
Complaints.
If a person with a disability thinks that they have been discriminated against by a state or local government, they can complain to the United States Department of Justice. The complaint has to be made within 180 days of when the discrimination happened. A few different things might happen after the person files their complaint:
A person with a disability can also file their own lawsuit in a federal court, saying that the state or local government discriminated against them. The person does not need to complain to the Department of Justice first, or have the Department of Justice tell them they have the right to sue.
Title III: Public Accommodations.
Who Is Covered by Title III?
Title III protects against discrimination by "public accommodations." Public accommodations are private organizations or people which own, lease, or run places meant for the public to use. Examples of public accommodations include:
Title III also protects against discrimination by:
There are two types of places that are exempt from Title III, and do not have to follow its rules. These are:
What Do Public Accommodations Have to Do?
"All" public accommodations have to do these things:
The rules for what is "accessible" are set out in the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessibility Design. Examples of these rules include:
"Most" public accommodations (but not commercial facilities) have to do these things:
Private companies that teach classes or give tests must make reasonable accommodations to make it possible for people with disabilities to take the classes or tests. Some examples of reasonable accommodations are:
Complaints.
If a person with a disability thinks that they have been discriminated against by a public accommodation, they can complain to the United States Department of Justice. They can write a letter, fax a letter, or use an online form at http://www.ada.gov/filing_complaint.htm. A few different things might happen after the person files their complaint:
If a person is unable to write, fax, or type a complaint because of a disability, the Department of Justice will make reasonable accommodations to help. The person can call the Department of Justice's ADA Information Line. The Information Line is answered by ADA Specialists. A person with a disability can explain their complaint, and the Specialist will write it down for them. If the person is deaf and uses American Sign Language, a Specialist can take their complaint by videophone (so they can see each other and sign back and forth to each other).
A person can also file their own lawsuit against the public accommodation, without needing the Department of Justice to say they have a "right to sue."
Title IV: Telecommunications.
Who Is Covered by Title IV?
Title IV of the ADA protects against discrimination by telecommunications companies in the U.S. (like phone companies).
Title IV protects any person with a disability, but it focuses on people with speaking and hearing disabilities, because they have the most trouble talking by phone.
What Do Telecommunications Companies Have to Do?
Title IV says that all telecommunications companies in the United States have to make sure that people with disabilities have equal access to telecommunication. This means that they have to provide telecommunication services that are just as good as what people without disabilities get. For example, they have to:
Relay services have changed a lot since 1990. At first, the most common relay services were teletypewriter (TTY) and Telecommunications for the Deaf (TDD) devices. These were like phones with typewriters attached. Two people with TDDs could type back and forth to each other. Or, if a person with a disability wanted to call a regular phone (like a pizza restaurant), they could type into the phone, an operator would read the message out loud to the pizza restaurant, listen to the restaurant's answer and type it back to the person with a disability.
Title IV also led every state in the U.S. to create Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), such as STS relay. STS stands for Speech-to-Speech. It was created for people who have speaking problems. STS relay operators listen to what the person is saying and repeats it in a clear voice to make it easier for the other person to understand. Today, many calls that use TRS are made over the Internet by consumers who use broadband connections. Some are Video Relay Service (VRS) calls, while others are text calls. Either way, communication assistants translate between the signed or typed words of a consumer and the spoken words of others. In 2006, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), VRS calls averaged two million minutes a month.
Complaints.
Complaints about discrimination under Title IV go to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Title V: Miscellaneous.
Title V includes various other extra rules. For example, it says: