The Americans with Disabilities Act was enforced to protect the civil rights of American citizens by providing equal opportunities and equal access for those individuals who had special needs. It protects the rights of people with disabilities so that they can access goods and services provided by the public service workers. Another aim for the Americans with Disabilities Act was to eliminate discrimination against people with disability in America. It provides clear and consistent regulations which address the issues of discrimination against such individuals. The Act ensures that the federal government plays its part in ensuring that the standards passed in the Act protect disabled people against discrimination. It was also meant to invoke the congress authority so that the federal government could address the main issues of discrimination against the disabled people.
The Act was written by Tony Coelho, who was a former congressman and a committed leader for civil rights for individuals with disability . It was passed in the United States. America is comprised of many people who have one or more physical and mental disability. This is close to one-fifth of American population. However, the number of individuals with disability increases as the population grows. The Act relates to the construction industry in different ways.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Under the Act, disabled individuals are protected against discrimination by the companies that deal with construction. For instance, when people who have disabilities apply for jobs in the construction industries, they get denied with such opportunities without getting a valid reason. Such companies turn disabled people away by giving reasons that are related with their state such as if a person has a hearing problem, the company cannot work with them because they cannot communicate with clients in the expected manner.
Americans with Disabilities Act was put in place to allow those people who have disabilities get access to services that they were previously denied such as education, housing and employment (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014) . Such individuals, who are sometimes described as “impaired”, get affected negatively by the perception that people have over their conditions. The ADA is divided into a number of titles which include equal employment opportunities, access to public services, access to public and private businesses and access to all communication channels such as telephones. The state and local government must abide by the provisions provided in the Act. Such provisions apply to all kinds of businesses regardless of the size and owners of the business. It has provision for certain circumstances whereby the business could undergo hardships when they abide by the regulations. In the past years, people who had disabilities could be separated from the rest of the population.
In the past days, people assumed that those who had disabilities were living under a curse and therefore such individuals were supposed to be separated from the rest of the world. Children who got the opportunity to study got admitted in separate academic institutions where they could not mingle with other children. The attempts to fight against discrimination did not effectively work until the nineteen century when life became easier and people engaged in charitable works. Such charities stressed on the need to help and support individuals who had disabilities.
New laws were, however, implemented in the mid nineteenth century that were based on scientific beliefs. Such laws prevented individuals with mental and emotional disabilities from marrying and associating with others in society. This led to the disabled people to get segregated against including segregation through special and vocational education. The civil rights Act provided a platform for other legislations such as the architectural barrier Act. The rehabilitation Act that was passed in 1973 brought to an end many barriers that were subjected to people with disability. The American with Disability Acts was one of the legislations which was built upon the previous Act by providing equal opportunities for people with disability.
Certain findings were made about ADA before it was set out to be a law. It clarified that an individual was not supposed to be denied their rights because of disability. Such people were to be treated equally like other individuals and they were to take part in all activities in the society. Many people who were physically and mentally challenged were discriminated against. Society had put aside such people in isolation and the law is meant to endure that equal opportunities are provided for such people. The purpose of ADA was to provide comprehensive national mandate in order to eliminate segregation against individuals with discrimination (Kanter, 2015) .
The ADA Act covers all workers in private and public sectors (Riccucci, 2018) . It protects such individuals from discrimination and requires that employers should provide equal opportunities for disabled individuals. The Act prohibits public organizations which include the state and local government from segregating individuals who were qualified and had disabilities. Such people were excluded from attaining services and engaging in normal activities because they are disabled. Federal regulations were put in place to enforce the Act.
Another aim of the Act was to prevent private places of accommodation that was meant for public purposes from discriminating against people who had disabilities. Examples of public places that were privately owned included leased facilities such as hotels, restaurants and private schools among others. Such places were required to get rid of any barriers in the building which could be a hindrance to the disabled people. It also requires businesses to make reasonable modifications to their normal way of doing their activities when serving individuals with disabilities. They are expected to learn how to effectively communicate with those customers that have disabilities. Telephone and internet companies had to provide communication services that allow people with hearing and speaking disabilities to effectively communicate over the telephone.
Disability was no longer considered as a hindrance for people to get education and engage in other activities after the Act became implemented. The individuals were no longer isolated but instead they got integrated in the community and were treated equally like other citizens. They were brought into the education system and the workforce. This made them to be perceived as equals just like other individuals.
Human resource management has its tasks outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. When it comes to employee training sessions, the human resource should provide alternative training materials, additional training time and additional training materials that cater for individuals with disabilities. When it comes to the process of hiring employees and terminating their contracts, human resource management is expected to follow procedures that provide for fair and equal considerations without discriminating against people with disability as outlined in the Act. Moreover, employers are expected to ensure that the human resource managers ensure that all areas in the work place can be accessed by employees who have disabilities.
The managers of human resource are responsible for ensuring that all organizations that have more than fifteen employees comply with the American with Disabilities Act (Erickson et al., 2014). They have the mandate to ensure that all procedures carried out at the work place adhere to the guidelines outlined in the Act. They have the responsibility of sticking to all federal regulations. Human resource management must understand how to implement policies within their organizations that go hand in hand with the American with Disabilities Act. They should enhance equality in all sectors of the work place such that deaf employees should be availed with a sign language interpreter in an interview, employees with chronic diseases, for instance diabetes, should be allowed regular breaks during the work day to monitor their insulin levels, blind employees should get assistance in reading what is written on a bulletin board and sick employees should be allowed for sick leaves to attend to medication.
Mental illness disability was an issue that the affected people found difficulties in dealing with it. Those with mental illness got discriminated against and their attempts to get in employment seemed not to be successful. ADA, however, protected against discrimination for such individuals mostly at the work place. The Act identifies people with mental disorders as disabled people who have mental impairment that limits some of their daily life activities. It protected mentally ill people by putting in place the anti-discrimination rules which prevents employers from discriminating against people with mental disability when they seek employment. The law also protects the disabled people from promotion hindrance at the work place and provides them with all freedom associated with employment.
Under the American Disability Act, an employer is expected to provide reasonable accommodation to employees who are qualified but have disabilities . Such accommodations are changes to a work setting that can allow one to perform at their level best when at work. Work accommodation includes support such as adjustment in the normal schedules of work. Employers need to provide reasonable accommodation for employees who have mental disability. However, ADA Act provides exceptions to the requirement in that, employers are not required to provide accommodation for mentally challenged employees if the accommodation will provide an “undue hardship” on the business. For instance, such accommodations can be prohibited if they are very costly or if they cause an alteration in the nature of the business.
Another exception for the Act is provided when a mentally challenged individual poses a risk to the health and safety of the work place. In such cases, an employer has the right not to provide employment to such a person. However, the decisions must be based on evidence that is provided by a healthcare provider or other credited sources. The Act prohibits employers from discriminating against people who are mentally challenged regarding the procedures that are associated with employment application, hiring, promotion and terminating the contracts of such individuals. The principals prohibiting such kinds of discrimination for people with mental disabilities was meant to enhance equality at the work place.
In conclusion, the American with Disability Act has enhanced positive effects for people with disability. Better guidelines that include laws against discrimination were enhanced. It provided clear mandates to bring to an end the segregation against disabled people in all sectors. However, the Act has some conditions regarding employing individuals who can pose a risk to other individuals at the work place. The human resource management has the mandate to ensure that the regulations provided in the Act are adhered to. In the employment sector, all processes that concern employment from hiring to dismissing an individual must be fair. Work organizations should as well provide a conducive environment for the disabled so that they can move easily within the work place. It brought to end discrimination in all sectors including transport, education and communication sectors among others. Disabled people were previously discriminated against and could not carry out normal activities like other people but the Act brought all kinds of discrimination to an end. This means that, a disabled person can work, study and live in any place that they choose to.
Reference
Cortiella, C., & Horowitz, S. H. (2014). The state of learning disabilities: Facts, trends and emerging issues. New York: National center for learning disabilities , 25 .
Erickson, W. A., von Schrader, S., Bruyère, S. M., & VanLooy, S. A. (2014). The employment environment: Employer perspectives, policies, and practices regarding the employment of persons with disabilities. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin , 57 (4), 195-208.
Kanter, A. S. (2015). The Americans with Disabilities Act at 25 years: lessons to learn from the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Drake L. Rev. , 63 , 819.
Riccucci, N. (2018). Managing diversity in public sector workforces: Essentials of public policy and administration series . Routledge.
