1. TITLE:Disability Act’s First 10 years and the Challenges Ahead (August 13, 2000)
2. AUTHOR: David Nather, Congressional Quarterly Staff
3. MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE: As supporters of the ADA celebrate its 10th anniversary (in 2000), there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the law workable for everyone. Bob Dole, who was one of the strongest supporters of the law and is now a special counsel to a Washington, D.C. law firm, has been circulating a proposal that would let businesses obtain advisory opinions from the government to determine whether or not they are in compliance before they get sued. Civil rights and literally getting through the door was the first issue solved. However just like the issues that came after the passage of the Civil Right Act of 1964, there are several issues left unresolved in health care, personal attendant services, special education, transportation and housing costs.
4. NEXT STEPS:

Ticket to Work (PL 106-170): allows people with disabilities to keep the federal health insurance after they go to work and allows states to create an option for them to buy into Medicaid.
Family Opportunity Act (S. 2274): would allow parents of children with disabilities to buy into Medicaid. The bill would encourage parents to obtain private insurance first and then use Medicaid as a "wraparound" benefit to pay for services their private plan did not cover. About 850,000 children are eligible for Medicaid though the Supplemental Security Income Program.
Personal Attendants (S.1935): would let Medicaid recipients get long-term care at home, through community-based attendants services, rather than in nursing facilities. Currently, states have to apply for a waiver from the federal government to offer community-based services. Several governors oppose the legislation saying it would create an expensive new entitlement. But Senator Harkin, the bill’s sponsors, disagrees, " On the average, it will be cheaper. There will be some severely disabled people for whom it will be more expensive. But even it’s a wash we should do it because it brings Medicaid into compliance with the letter and the spirit of the ADA."
5. DIGITAL DIVIDE:According to a March 2000 study, only 23.3 percent of people with disabilities have access to a computer at home and only 11.4 percent are able to connect to the Internet. By comparison 51.7 percent of people without disabilities have home computers and 31.1 percent connect to the Internet. The biggest reason for the gap is that people with disabilities cannot afford computers or the specialized software or hardware, such as a screen reader or Braille printer needed to use the computer. The 1998 Rehabilitation Amendments Act (PL105-220) requires the federal government to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
6. EMPLOYMENT: The Social Security Administration’s Disability Insurance (SSDI), which provides benefits to 4.9 million people who have paid into Social Security but can no longer work because of a severe and long-term disability, is running out of money. Its caseload has grown by 67 percent over the last 15 years and its benefit payments have nearly tripled. In seven years, the SSDI trust fund will be paying out more than it takes in and, by 2003 it will not be able to pay full benefits. This dilemma will force Congress to address the issue of how to help more people with disabilities enter the workforce. The ADA requires employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for workers with disabilities as long as they do not create "an undue hardship" for the business. Public services such as mass transportation and all kinds of private business that serve the public have to be just as accessible for people with disabilities as they are to able-bodied people. According to a survey by the Job Accommodation Network, business reported spending an average of $943 on accommodations for each worker with a disability since the ADA took effect in 1993. For every dollar the employers spent, they estimated they got almost $35 back in other benefits such as retaining a qualified employee and saving on workers’ compensation costs. However business groups, agreeing that the law has had numerous benefits, complained that the ADA is written in such a vague and ambiguous way that business never know whether they’ve complied with the law completely until they winded up in court.

   State governments have joined the fight. In October 2000, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments in University of Alabama of Trustees v. Garrett, a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of ADA lawsuit against states over discrimination in employment and public services. The late Justin Dart said, if the court strikes that part of the law, "it could not help but encourage the people who would like to repeal the whole thing." Other disability groups say that the threat of lawsuits is overblown and that most people with disabilities have neither the will nor the money to sue anybody.

7. THE ADA NOTIFICATION ACT (HR 3590): would require people to give 90 days’ notice before filing a lawsuit under the ADA. Supporters believe that the measure would help well-meaning business owners comply with the law by giving them time to fix whatever problems they may have. Representative Foley, the sponsor of the bill, wants to pass the bill as a suspension item, a designation normally reserved for such non-conversational measures as renaming post offices. He said, "Unless it is a suspension item, I will not let it go to the floor. I don’t want the 90-day notice bad enough to let the ADA go down in flames." But supporters of the ADA believe the bill to be the first step in chipping away the ADA’s protections. Stephanie Thomas, a national organizer for ADAPT said, "The Act is ten years old. People have had lots of notice."

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