History, Spirit, and the Intent of the ADA

Teri Blankenship: So could you just briefly summarize for us what was the intent 
of the ADA?

Lex: Well, yes, briefly I can. I think I can say the intent of the ADA was to 
ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities and to ensure that 
discrimination, which can be prevented, would not interfere with the person's 
right to work, right to enjoy the benefits of our great society. And clearly, 
you know, that's it in brief. That was clearly the intent of the ADA. Now that 
contains a whole lot. That small, short statement means a whole lot. And 
obviously, it's now 12 years into the implementation of the law and it's still 
not completely implemented. And it will take some time more. 

There were a number of issues that we had to address when we developed the 
original legislation, Teri. And it might be enlightening for people to know 
about that. For example, the question was whether our legislation should be 
retroactive or not; whether ADA should apply to parts of the environment, 
buildings, for example, that existed before the law. And essentially, we took a 
proactive view as opposed to a retroactive view and basically said on the date 
of the passage of the law, from this date forward, all transit systems newly 
purchased transit vehicles should be accessible. Now from this date forward, all 
new jobs programs should include provisions to ensure opportunities for people 
with disabilities. Our goal was not to amend for the sins of the past, but to 
ensure that we didn't make bad decisions in the future and to ensure that we 
didn't systematically engineer people with disabilities out of the environment 
and out of the workplace. And to some extent, that was a very good judgment. 
However, it seems that people still ignore the intent and some of the clear 
provisions of the law and so they do have to go back and fix those things. To 
that degree it's retroactive for some. But I think only to the extent that 
they've failed to appreciate and commit themselves to the intent of the law in 
the first place.