An overview of and comments on the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

The authors overview the key components of the ADA in this article. A discussion is offered on why and how persons with disabilities are discriminated against. Critical United States Supreme Court decisions are presented; these decisions have greatly limited the power of the ADA in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. Even though the United States Supreme Court has narrowed the impact of the ADA in American life, a number of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cases are presented suggesting this federal agency is attempting to protect persons with disabilities against discrimination. Finally, the authors deal with the topic of advocacy; advocacy may well be one of the most effective tools to help insure that the rights of people with disabilities are protected.     

An Analysis of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

In this paper, the author overviews the key components of the ADA. A discussion is offered on why and how persons with disabilities are discriminated against. The standard stereotypes often heard about persons with disabilities are offered. Critical United States Supreme Court decisions are presented; these decisions have greatly limited the power of the ADA in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. Even though the United States Supreme Court has narrowed the impact of the ADA in American life, a number of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cases are presented, suggesting this federal agency is attempting to protect persons with disabilities against discrimination. The final part of the paper deals with the topic of advocacy; advocacy may well be one of the most effective tools to help insure that the rights of people with disabilities are protected in the 21st century.     

An Overview and Comments on Recent Americans With Disabilities Act Court Rulings

Abstract

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is designed to protect persons with disabilities from discrimination in nearly every aspect of American life. This commentary focuses on a number of recent United States Supreme Court decisions that help to clarify the intent of the ADA. It is critical for social workers to be aware of these recent court rulings because they affect social work practice and have important policy implications.     

United States Supreme Court Decisions Summary

Abstract

This summary of United States Supreme Court decisions offers social workers and other human services professionals information on the impact that these decisions have on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Each court decision is noted followed by the question presented, the holding, and the implication of the decision. The reader will observe that a number of these decisions have restricted the impact of the ADA.     

A Youth Perspective on Life with a Disability

Abstract

A momentous piece of legislation, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provided for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities and more significantly is aimed toward improving their employment opportunities. There is, however, evidence that the ADA implementation has not moved fast enough in increasing employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. This article reviews the literature on disability and employment barriers, federal statutes, societal attitudes and biases, and human relations misconceptions associated with disabilities. It discusses social work roles, advocacy for social justice, implications for rehabilitation counselors, and issues related to disabilities and employment.     

Direct Threat Issues in the Employment of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

In the decade since initial implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States, many questions have arisen pertaining to the rights of employers and employees in light of the employment of and services that must be provided to persons with disabilities. One of the most controversial aspects of the legislation is the issue of direct threat. This relates to the concern that workers or clients with disabilities may be a threat to others due to their condition. Integral to this fear is the employer's ability to protect persons within the work environment from such a threat, while remaining in compliance with the ADA. This paper considers the issue of direct threat and its pertinence to the social work profession, and provides recommendations for employers and supervisors in the field.     

Three Recent United States Supreme Court Decisions for Professionals Who Testify in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

This article provides a basic review of the most recent United States Supreme Court decisions that directly relate to child sexual abuse. These cases are Maryland v. Craig, Idaho v. Wright, and White v. Illinois. More specifically, the article illustrates how the legal principles of these cases practically affect professionals who treat and counsel sexual abuse victims when and if they are called to testify in court proceedings. After a brief introduction, a background section succinctly explains the basic legal principles of confrontation and hearsay which underpin the recent Supreme Court decisions. The rest of the article then analyzes each of the three recent cases and focuses on citing examples of testimony that was or was not admissible. This article is not intended to be an exhaustive legal analysis nor a commentary on the appropriateness of the case holdings, but rather a practical review with specific examples of what the United States Supreme Court has held to be acceptable as of this writing.     

Knowledge,Tasks and Strategies for Teaching About Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Persons with disabilities are a distinct and insular minority group within the United States. Given the fact that social workers offer critical social services to this group, it is important for social work programs to offer meaningful curriculum content on persons with disabilities. This article presents key issues that social work educators should find useful for teaching about persons with disabilities. Specifically, a discussion is offered on the disability civil rights movement, the culture of disability, models for defining disability, knowledge areas on disability issues, teaching tasks and strategies for focusing on persons with disabilities.     

Whose rights are they anyway?: The supreme court and the rights of Juveniles

This article examines selected United States Supreme Court decisions from 1923 through the 1984 term of the Court. The selection, which includes Wisconsin v. Yoder, In re Gault, In re Winship, and Schall v. Martin, traces and illustrates the triangle of interest among parent, child, and state as parens patriae, when the issue raised is the interest of children. The focal question is: Have children been recognized as having their own individual Constitutional rights, or have their rights been merged with those of their parents and/or the state standing in the place of the parents?     

The National Protection and Advocacy System

Abstract

Many in the profession of social work are unfamiliar with the national system of protection and advocacy services that were set in place by Congress. The system provides advocacy and legal representation to protect the civil rights of all persons with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on persons with developmental disabilities and persons with mental illness. The article describes this system of resources, its method of operation, and shows its compatibility with the purpose and mission of social work.     

'We Won't Go Back': the ADA on the grass roots level

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights statute protecting people from discrimination based on a disability in both the private and the public sectors. Using interviews with grass roots persons with disabilities across the USA-many of whom are experienced activists-and using other sources this article describes the reaction of the disability community in the United States to the passage of the ADA and its impact. Largely people with disabilities feel empowered by the ADA. However, a strong amount of cynicism is also found at the grass roots level regarding it. A revealing example of the empowerment felt by people with disabilities is the conflict in New York City over a proposal for non-accessible public toilets. Other reactions and developments are discussed including the possibility of the repeal or weakening of the ADA. A fundamental change occurred in the US with the passage of the ADA and the disability community will not allow that change to be undone.     

The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Tool to Combat Poverty

Abstract

Statistics consistently demonstrate that people with disabilities are the poorest, least educated, and largest minority population in America. This article examines the employment provisions of Title I of the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its use in combating poverty for individuals with disabilities. The ADA in its entirety, and Title I in particular, is useful both as an advocacy and pedagogical tool to understand and alleviate poverty, oppression, and discrimination. Suggestions for infusing this content into the professional foundation curriculum are included.     

A Commentary on the Admission and Retention of Students with Disabilities in Social Work Programs

Abstract

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is the federal law upon which the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is built. Both laws are designed to prevent discrimination against students with disabilities. This commentary offers a comparison of section 504 with the ADA. An analysis of the case law under Section 504 is also presented; this analysis provides guidelines that universities and colleges will have to follow under the ADA. The implications of the ADA are offered for social work programs in the areas of admission and retention of students with disabilities.     

The Co-Evolution of Marriage and Parental Rights of Gays and Lesbians

ABSTRACT

Historically, federal and state legislation placed different conditions on same- and opposite-sex couples' ability to marry, adopt, or exercise their parental rights. Given the historical intertwining of marriage and parenting, legal issues remain hinged on differing conceptions of marriage and what constitutes a legal family in the United States, especially for same-sex partners compared to their different-sexed couple counterparts. This article provides a historical review of decisions that serve as the foundation for queer parenting rights in the United States. A key focus is on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) marriage decision on queer parenting and its relevance to researchers and practitioners whose work involves queer families. State discrepancies continue to exist for the treatment of parental rights in spite of the legalization of same-sex marriage. Finally, suggestions are provided for future directions for the field.     

Social Work Admissions and Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

ABSTRACT

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects students wth disabilities from discrimination by academic and professional programs in higher education. A student with a disability cannot be denied admission to an educational program because of his or her disability if the student is otherwise qualified. This means that a student with a disability who is qualified for an academic or professional educational program cannot be denied admission to a program based solely on the student&s disability. This educational requirement mandated by the ADA applies to all educational fields including social work education. The purpose of this study was to explore how social work programs are dealing with these requirements in their admission and academic accommodation procedures. Twelve social work programs located in the mid-western United States participated in the study. Representatives of each of these programs were given an in-depth interview focusing on their admissions process, academic accommodations, and general topics related to social work education and disabilities. All programs taking part in the research were accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The CSWE is the national accreditation body for social work education within the United States.     

ANTITRUST POLICY AND MERGERS: THE WEALTH EFFECT OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Many believe that antitrust policy has had a dramatic impact on merger strategies in the United States. For this to be true, enforcement of antitrust laws must affect a wide range of firms, not just those firms whose mergers are contested. This study tests whether or not firms engaged in uncontested mergers are affected by antitrust enforcement, as signalled by Supreme Court decisions. Using event study methodology, we find that antitrust policy against mergers was binding during the 1960s and 1970s as it ulowered the value of targets in ucontested ongoing mergers.     

The authority of Supreme Court precedent

We construct the complete network of 30,288 majority opinions written by the U.S. Supreme Court and the cases they cite from 1754 to 2002 in the United States Reports. Data from this network demonstrates quantitatively the evolution of the norm of stare decisis in the 19th Century and a significant deviation from this norm by the activist Warren Court. We further describe a method for creating authority scores using the network data to identify the most important court precedents. This method yields rankings that conform closely to evaluations by legal experts, and even predicts which cases they will identify as important in the future. An analysis of these scores over time allows us to test several hypotheses about the rise and fall of precedent. We show that reversed cases tend to be much more important than other decisions, and the cases that overrule them quickly become and remain even more important as the reversed decisions decline. We also show that the Court is careful to ground overruling decisions in past precedent, and the care it exercises is increasing in the importance of the decision that is overruled. Finally, authority scores corroborate qualitative assessments of which issues and cases the Court prioritizes and how these change over time.     

The U.S. Criminal Justice System: A Role for Radical Social Work

ABSTRACT

Characteristics of the current United States criminal justice system include mass incarceration at a rate higher than that of any other Western country, extraordinarily long sentences, rampant racial discrimination, and discrimination against all low-income persons. The impact of this system goes beyond devastation of those subject to supervision of the system to their families, communities, and society at large. This article analyzes the current criminal justice system relative to neoliberalism and ongoing reform efforts. The possible roles of radical social work in facilitating reforms and connecting criminal justice advocacy and issues to larger structural issues as well as direct practice strategies are explored.     

The supreme court,family policy,and alternative family lifestyles: The clash of interests

This article reviews the basis for the judicial system's involvement in the development of national family policy. Major Supreme Court decisions in establishing the rights of the nuclear family, the extended family, foster families, communal families, homosexual couples, and unwed fathers are discussed. The Supreme Court is seen as having established the parameters of a nationally definedfamily, and the implications of the court's actions for the development of national family policy are considered.     

Who Is Protected?

Many employers have excluded women whose infertility is not medically documented from allegedly hazardous work claiming they feared if the women became pregnant, their fetuses would be harmed. In United Auto Workers v. Johnson Controls, the Supreme Court held in 1991 that so-called "fetal protection policies" are unlawful sex discrimination. After examining four cases challenging exclusionary policies in Britain and the United States, this article unmasks and argues against the assumptions underlying such policies. By returning to well-established sex discrimination doctrine, moving away from a male norm, and reaffirming women's right to both work and have children, the Supreme Court's decision in UAW V. Johnson Controls is an important victory. The decision should help to break down job segregation, prompt the EEOC to act, and clear the way for addressing questions of health and safety rather than equality and difference.