19 September 2008
To protect people with disabilities, Congress gave final approval for a bipartisan, major civil rights bill and overturning several Supreme Court decisions. This bill was voted for unanimously last week in the House. Bush’s father signed the original Americans With Abilities Act in 1990 and the current Bush in office will sign this new bill. The strict Supreme Court standards previously used to determine disability have been rejected in this bill. The bill declares that the court was wrong “eliminating protection for many individuals whom Congress intended to protect†in the 1990 bill. The bill says “The definition of disability in this act shall be construed in favor of broad coverage.†The bill is considered one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation of our time.
Many law suits were thrown out of court because people with epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other ailments had been denied protection because their conditions could be controlled by medications. Previously, the more successful a person was at coping with a disability, the more likely it was that the court would find that they were no longer disabled and therefore no longer covered under the A.D.A. That kind of ruling will end and a real difference will be made in the lives of people.
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