Americans With Disabilities Act Research Articles

A systems analysis of Access-A-Ride, New York City’s paratransit service

Abstract The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires paratransit service to bridge gaps in accessibility on public transit. Access-A-Ride (AAR) should be a comparable alternative to fixed-route service, but requires 24-hour advance planning and is known for high cost, inefficiency, and poor service. This pilot study uses narrative analysis and systems theories to examine the interaction between users’ experiences and federal and transit agency policies. Methods An “activity meaning system” was developed to identify consistencies and inconsistencies between policy and practice. Values analysis was used for texts from three stakeholders: the ADA section regarding paratransit, a section of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s AAR guidelines, and one user narrative. For more detail from users’ perspectives, plot elements were coded for 25 narratives about AAR taken from in-depth interviews with eight adult wheelchair users living in New York City. Quotations from values analysis and plot analysis were also coded using ecological systems theory. Results Values analysis indicated that federal policy denounced discrimination, while acknowledging limitations to providing comparable service. The MTA’s values placed responsibility for miscommunication on users and emphasized externalities and costs. The user narrative shared most of the values of the ADA and MTA policies, except for recognizing cost. Plot analysis revealed over twice as many complications (n = 139) as resolutions (n = 65). Complications included limited options, logistical issues, excessive time or distance, and psychological/physiological problems, while resolutions were acceptive, reactive, or proactive. Systems analysis revealed that values of stakeholders were aligned with ecosystem levels. Complications occurred in similar frequencies at micro/meso and exo/macro levels, but resolutions were most frequent at the micro level. Conclusions The findings reveal a need and opportunity for dialogue about policies affecting how AAR service is delivered and highlights areas where policy has failed to ensure equal service, causing distress for users.

The Positive Effect of Workplace Accommodation On Creative Performance

The issue of workplace accommodation has generated a great deal of attention in the past a few years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Previous research mainly...

Accessible Media: The Need to Prepare Students for Creating Accessible Content

Electronic media accessibility has come a long way since the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In 2010, the Communication and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) mandated closed captioning many online videos and called for making video blind accessible through audio descriptions. The Department of Justice (DOJ) ruled Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) applied to the virtual world. Since January 2015, there have been over 240 online-accessibility lawsuits. As educators, we need to prepare students to understand what accessibility is and how to make electronic media accessible. This article outlines accessibility issues across the curriculum, including closed captioning, audio descriptions, and online documents, and calls for better integration of accessibility into the electronic media curriculum.

The Disability Employment Puzzle: A Field Experiment on Employer Hiring Behavior

The authors investigate potential discrimination against people with disabilities through a field experiment that sent job applications to 6,016 accounting positions for which the applicants’ disabilities are unlikely to affect productivity. One-third of the cover letters disclosed that the applicant had a spinal cord injury, one-third disclosed the presence of Asperger’s syndrome, and one-third did not mention disability. The disability applications received 26% fewer expressions of employer interest. This gap was concentrated among experienced applicants and small private companies that are not covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Tests suggest possible positive effects of the ADA, but not of state laws, in reducing the disability gap. Results indicate there may be substantial room for employer and policy initiatives to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Test Anxiety and the Americans With Disabilities Act

Test anxiety leads to requests for accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), but many testing entities have expressed skepticism about whether test anxiety qualifies as a disability. This article addresses three legal issues raised by the inclusion of test anxiety under ADA: whether test anxiety is a mental impairment, whether test-taking is a major life activity, and whether test anxiety substantially limits test-taking. The article then turns to questions of policy: How should ADA claims for test anxiety be handled by educational institutions, independent testing agencies, and employers? A review of scientific research and legal authorities are used to answer these questions. Most individuals with high test anxiety levels will not qualify as disabled under ADA, although there will be exceptions to that general rule, and testing entities should always conduct an individualized inquiry into each claim.

Rethinking ADA signage standards for low-vision accessibility.

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and International Code Council (ICC) standards for accessible buildings and facilities affect design and construction of all new and renovated buildings throughout the United States, and form the basis for compliance with the ADA. While these standards may result in acceptable accessibility for people who are fully blind, they fall far short of what they could and should accomplish for those with low vision. In this article I critique the standards, detailing their lack of evidence base and other shortcomings. I suggest that simply making existing requirements stricter (e.g., by mandating larger letter size or higher contrasts) will not ensure visual accessibility and therefore cannot act as a valid basis for compliance with the law. I propose two remedies. First, requirements for visual characteristics of signs intended to improve access for those with low vision should be expressed not in terms of physical features, such as character height and contrast, but rather in terms of the distance at which a sign can be read by someone with nominally normal (20/20) visual acuity under expected lighting conditions for the installed environment. This would give sign designers greater choice in design parameters but place on them the burden of ensuring legibility. Second, mounting of directional signs, which are critical for effective and efficient wayfinding, should be required to be in consistent and approachable locations so that those with reduced acuity may view them at close distance.

Disability at work: Understanding the impact of the ADA on the workplace

AbstractIt has been more than 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed by Congress. Many supporters of the law hoped that it would improve the employment outcomes for people with a disability, yet many scholars argue that it has fallen short in achieving this goal. Such judgments of success or failure are typically offered with little regard for the complex relationship between law and social change. In this paper, I apply a socio‐legal perspective to scholarly research regarding the impact of the ADA on employment. Socio‐legal studies offer a variety of concepts and perspectives, which better capture the complexity of law's impact on social life, and the various paths through which it might have an impact on social change. From this perspective, studies tend to assume that ADA law will either impact social change directly or indirectly. I discuss the findings of both of these approaches and conclude with some directions for future research.

Public Transportation: An Investigation of Barriers for People With Disabilities

The physical accessibility of public transportation increased nationwide following the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Despite removal of many physical barriers within fixed-route systems, significant barriers to overall access of public transportation systems are still widespread. The purpose of the current study was to provide a full description of barriers experienced by individuals with disabilities when using the public transportation and the complementary paratransit services. An online survey was developed and disseminated to contacts of the National Network of ADA Centers, and 4,161 individuals responded. Results highlight significant barriers for people with disabilities who use public transportation and complementary paratransit services. Barriers to these transit systems are physical and attitudinal in nature, and as a result, modifications to the physical environment and educational opportunities to reduce negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities are recommended.

Attention Deficit Disorder and the Americans With Disabilities Act: Is Anyone Paying Attention?

As millions of individuals who have been given a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder enter the workforce, more individuals with these mental impairments are filing claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended in 2008 by the ADA Amendments Act. The ADA forbids employment discrimination based on an individual's disability and also requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Health care managers must be well prepared with knowledge of the employers' rights and responsibilities under the law. By exploring the legal challenges being made to employers' policies and practices and examining how the courts are resolving those disputes, managers can reduce the risk of expensive, time-consuming litigation caused by employment discrimination claims based on disability.

The Politics of (Dis)Information: Crippled America, the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign

Politics – especially presidential campaigns – are an important means by which to examine the values and issues that are given priority by members of a society and the people who wish to be leaders of that society. The issues discussed in a campaign, and the ways in which they are discussed, reveal much about social attitudes and policy goals. In the past twenty years, information and communication technologies have become simultaneously central policy issues at the national level (access, privacy, security, etc.) and the main channels by which candidates engage their supporters (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). In this paper we examine both of these roles of information and communication technologies in the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States through the lens of disability issues. This particular focus was driven by: the occurrence of the 25th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act during the first year of the campaign, and, more significantly, the intersection of disability, information, and technology as a major civil rights issue for people with disabilities, who represent nearly one-fifth of the population of the United States. For this study we collected and analyzed campaign materials released online about disability issues by selected presidential campaigns, as well as news stories and other related Web content, to better understand the issues related to disability being discussed in the campaign and implications of those issues for people with disabilities.

Navigating the Rolling Hills of Justice: Mental Disabilities, Employment and the Evolving Jurisprudence of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mental illness and disability affect millions of individuals yearly in the U.S. The most important legislation protecting the mentally disabled in the workplace in the U.S. over the last half century has been the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its associated legislation and guidance. Although the employee should first request reasonable accommodation with the employer, evaluation by a mental health professional is one of the initial steps for individuals who report significant psychiatric symptoms that are impairing their functioning at work in the U.S.. Important regulations and laws in the United States that are essential knowledge to performing thorough mental disability evaluations include the ADA and Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), Social Security Disability, Workers' Compensation, and private disability insurance. These laws differ in applicability and in their definitions of disability. Social Security Disability is applicable to workers who have long-term impairments regardless of whether the disability arose on or off the job, while Worker's Compensation is specific to persons with work-related illness and injuries that occur on the job (Reno, Williams, & Sengupta, ). The Social Security definition of a disabled person is a person who is not "able to engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a medically-determinable physical or mental impairment(s): that is expected to result in death, or that has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months" (Social Security Red Book, ). However, the Workers' Compensation definition of what illnesses/injuries are compensated, the level of benefits and who provides the insurance are state-specific. Due to these differences in definition of disability, it is essential for the mental health professional performing a mental disability evaluation to clarify with the referral source or referring agency which legislation and laws they feel are directly relevant to the specific situation before starting the evaluation. While the ADA and ADA Amendments Act of 2008 have had the greatest impact on the improvement of conditions for mentally disabled individuals in employment over the last 25 years, they have also been the most challenging by far for mental health experts to understand and apply (Cook, ). Interestingly, the ADA has had a much quicker effect on improving access to services for the medically disabled as compared with the mentally disabled in the U.S. (Ullman, Johnsen, Moss, & Burris, ). This article reviews the history and status of current ADA- and ADAAA-related law and employment as well as Canadian disability law and global progress towards universal disability legislation as evidenced by the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The construction of access: the eugenic precedent of the Americans with Disabilities Act

This paper interrogates the language of the legal precedents of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and their function, including the 1891 Immigration Law and the series of ‘ugly laws’ that spanned from the late nineteenth century until the early twentieth century. Legislative language is used to construct and deploy static definitions of normalcy and disability, relying on ‘objective’ evidence couched in medical and scientific discourse. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the legislative precedents of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) that were motivated by the eugenicist imperative to strengthen the image of a productive and robust nation. I begin by outlining eugenicist logic and demonstrate how it functions within a semiotic system. Then, I will introduce the process by which eugenicist logic works within legal semiotics. Lastly, I will provide three examples of how this process functions in the legislative language and implementation of the 1891 Immigration Act, the ‘ugly laws’ and the ADAAA. Ultimately, I will demonstrate how all three provide evidence of a pattern of semiotic systems that pathologize human difference and manages these differences so as to segregate and disenfranchise in the name of nationalism.

Accessibility and Inclusion Issues in Library Acquisitions: A Guideline to Evaluating and Marketing the Accessibility of Library E-Resources

The purpose of this study is to emphasize accessibility and inclusion issues within academic libraries in the United States, specifically in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal laws relevant to acquisition services. A review of best practices for evaluating, purchasing, and marketing electronic resources is undertaken with an understanding of U.S. federal law and regulations in relation to purchasing and marketing, specifically Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010). Few other recent studies document the exact application of evaluating products and services for users with disabilities in acquisition workflows and electronic resource implementation practices. As a model for other libraries, the author discusses using LibGuides as an outreach tool to disseminate information and documentation dedicated to disability issues among City University of New York (CUNY) librarians. The methodology of this study is to share best practices at the College of Staten Island (CSI) Library–CUNY with other academic libraries. The results will hopefully lead to more inclusive acquisition purchasing practices and more diverse marketing initiatives within academic libraries. The conclusion of the study is that purchasing and marketing workflows need to be redesigned to be universally applicable to all library users.

Every Dog Has His Day: Why a Uniform Code for State Disability Education Law Will Circumvent Unjust Hurdles Inherent to the Current Structure

Education has traditionally been controlled by the state rather than federal government, but disability issues in schools are usually adjudicated in federal courts under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Although these Acts were enacted with admirable goals, they can lead to limited and procedurally complicated relief for students with disabilities. In Fry v. Napoleon Cmty. Schs., the Sixth Circuit held that an elementary school student with cerebral palsy who was denied use of her service dog at school should exhaust her administrative remedies under the IDEA despite the fact that she did not seek relief under that statute, nor was the monetary relief she sought available through that channel. This would necessitate additional years and thousands of dollars to litigate the dispute. This case exemplifies a need for simpler avenues for students battling discrimination in school settings. Because of states’ traditional control over educational matters and strong public policy in favor of protecting children with disabilities, state legislatures should enact statutes obligating schools to provide accommodations for students with disabilities and prohibiting discrimination against such students. These statutes would give students the option of seeking relief in state courts, leading to quicker, less complicated, and less expensive litigation. The most effective method for widespread reform would be to establish a uniform code, similar to the Uniform Commercial Code and the Model Penal Code. This article provides an example statute to address the substantive issue in Fry to demonstrate how a more state-driven approach could be beneficial. The article advocates for the establishment of a uniform code that aggregates statutes similar to this model.

Pathological, Disabled, Transgender: The Ethics, History, Laws, and Contradictions in Models that Best Serve Transgender Rights.

This article addresses the precarious place of transgender and gender non-cis persons in relation to their discrimination-protections in recent legal, medical, and ethical policies in the United States. At present, there exists a contradiction such that trans persons are considered "pathological" enough that they are included in the latest iteration of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) as "gender dysphoric," but they are not included in the category of "disabled" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As such, trans persons in America are subject to the stigma of pathology (albeit with medical treatment) without the full protections of the ADA. By contrast, transgender and non-cis-gender Americans find their queer cohorts who are HIV-positive to be fully protected by the ADA. We ask whether transgender and non-cis-gender persons should embrace their (already pathologized) personhood as a disability. Sometimes "choosing disability" affords more rights than it deploys stigma.

Disability identity development model: Voices from the ADA-generation

BackgroundFor persons with disabilities, 2015 was a historic year, marking the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It is important to consider the effects of this fundamental shift towards equal opportunity and participation on persons with disabilities' identity development. In practice, however, there are few empirical studies that have looked at this phenomenon and even fewer models of disability identity development. ObjectiveWe conducted a qualitative study to explore the disability identity development of college students with disabilities. MethodsAt two research sites, we conducted individual interviews and observations with 17 college students with varying disabilities, and used in vivo and structural coding analysis to identify and develop themes. ResultsThe results of this study led to establishing a model of psychosocial identity development for individuals with disabilities. The model highlights four developmental statuses: acceptance, relationship, adoption and engagement. Sharing voices from the participants themselves, we also provide commentary on the possible impacts of this work for healthcare professionals and areas for future research. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that this model of psychosocial disability identity development can help to provide an understanding of the psychological processes that individuals with disabilities go through. The model also has application as a framework for healthcare professionals and psychologists who are working with individuals with disabilities.

Effect of Playground Environments on the Physical Activity of Children With Ambulatory Cerebral Palsy.

To compare the effect of 2 different playground environments on the physical activity of children with ambulatory cerebral palsy during their playground play. Five 7- to 8-year-old children with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Functional Classification System [GMFCS] level II) participated. Using an alternating treatment, single-subject design, stride patterns were obtained using an activity monitor on an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant and noncompliant playground. Visual and statistical analysis of the stride data was used to analyze the effect of the playground environments. Four of the 5 participants increased the number of strides on an ADA-compliant playground. Children with cerebral palsy (GMFCS II) may benefit from an ADA-compliant playground to increase their physical activity.

Video on Demand for People with Disability: Traversing Terrestrial Borders

Within Australia, the approach taken to the ways in which disabled people access television is heavily influenced by legislation and activism from abroad. This is increasingly the case as television moves to online modes of distribution where physical and legislative boundaries are more fluid. While early investigations of the intersections between television and the concept of abroad focused on the impacts of representation and national reputation (Boddy), the introduction of new media technologies saw a shifting focus towards the impact and introduction of new media technologies. Drawing on Chan’s definition of media internationalisation as “the process by which the ownership, structure, production, distribution, or content of a country’s media is influenced by foreign media interests, culture and markets” (Chan 71), this article considers the impacts of legislative and advocacy efforts abroad on Australian television audiences with disabilities accessing subscription Video on Demand (VOD)...

Patients with Hearing Impairment and Chronic Pain

Deaf patients face unique obstacles in health care and pain management. Not every facility that deaf patients encounter is going to have the proper resources to effectively communicate with them even if regulations are mandated. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that health care institutions provide means of communication for patients, their family members, and hospital visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing. Very little research has been done regarding how the hearing-impaired population effectively communicates pain experiences. Hearing loss can be accompanied by an additional disability, which can further complicate communication between health care providers and deaf patients. Although resources are available to aid communication between health care practitioners and deaf individuals, resources related to hearing loss plus additional disabilities and health care are lacking. Health care providers should educate themselves and their staff so that they are prepared to treat a deaf patient and accommodate the patient’s communication needs.

Hiring of people with disabilities: Perceptions of Hispanic small business owners

BACKGROUND: Employment of people with disabilities continues to be a concern in the field of rehabilitation counseling. Employment rates remain low, resulting in many people with disabilities living at or below the poverty line. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of Hispanic small business owners toward hiring people with disabilities. METHODS: The 38-item Employer Attitudes Questionnaire (EAQ) and the 33-item Small Business Owners Survey (SBOS) were used to investigate attitudes and concerns about hiring issues along with the business owners’ general feelings toward the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Survey packets were distributed in the business districts of two selected cities in southern Texas. Two hundred and seventeen participants took part in the study. RESULTS: The findings suggest that there is a range of views about the capabilities of workers from various disability categories as well as differing opinions on the cost of reasonable accommodations. The results of a regression analysis yielded three significant predictors influencing hiring decisions: whether the business owner had a family member or a friend with a disability, the business owner’s marital status, and their awareness of the ADA. CONCLUSIONS: There is a continuing need to educate small business owners about disability- and employment-rights legislation; however, cost considerations to provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities seem to be significantly more important for small business owners than for large corporations.