The ADA in 2016

A photo of President George Bush signing into law the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 on the South Lawn of the White House. L to R, sitting: Evan Kemp, Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Justin Dart, Chairman, President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. L to R, standing: Rev. Harold Wilke and Swift Parrino, Chairperson, National Council on Disability, 07/26/1990.

By the Disability.gov Team

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) celebrates its 26th anniversary on July 26, 2016. For some, 26 years may seem like a long time, but the truth is 1990 isn’t so far in the past. The ADA improves the lives of people with disabilities by protecting their rights to have access to employment, public entities, transportation, public accommodations and commercial facilities, telecommunications and more. It helps people with disabilities compete equally for employment and receive the accommodations and protection they need to work. In public and commercial spaces, the ADA requires accessible features and technologies, such as curb cuts and closed captioning.

The achievement of the ADA was accomplished through hours of planning, organizing and hard work by the disability community. As the ADA was being voted on, disability rights activists gathered together, some crawling up the steps of Capitol Hill without their crutches or wheelchairs. The image of disabled activists of all ages, races and genders proudly making their way up the steps where their rights were being determined moved the nation. This demonstration, called the “Capitol crawl,” helped result in the passing of the ADA.

The ADA from A to Z

Disability.gov will recognize this landmark milestone on social media next month. Starting July 1, we will be launching “26 Days of the ADA: A to Z” on Twitter. Every day we will post a fact related to the ADA corresponding to each letter of the alphabet – don’t forget to follow us and retweet. We will also be featuring ADA related content on Facebook andDisability.Blog. Visit Disability.gov and subscribe to our site for updates, as well as the Disability Connection newsletter, to celebrate with us!

Find More Information on Disability.gov

Learn about disability rights, laws and history onDisability.gov. Read Disability.gov’s Guide to Disability Rights Laws to learn more about the ADA’s history, what the law covers and other disability rights laws. The guide provides this information in an easy-to-read format. Find more information about disability rights, from your rights on the job to yourvoting rights, by visiting Disability.gov.