The Americans with Disability Act of 1990, Titles I and V

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed July 26, 1990 as Public Law and became effective on January 26, 1992. The ADA is landmark federal legislation that opens up services and employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities. The law was written to strike a balance between the reasonable housing of citizens' needs and the size of private and public entities to respond. It is not an affirmative action law but is intended to eliminate illegal discrimination for disabled individuals. The ADA recognizes and protects the civil rights of people with disabilities and is modeled after earlier landmark laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race and gender. The ADA covers a wide range of disability, from physical conditions affecting mobility, stamina, sight, hearing, and speech to conditions such as emotional illness and learning disorders. The two specific ones I that ADA addresses is the access to the workplace (title I) and miscellaneous instructions to Federal agencies that enforce the law (title V). Title I prohibits employers, including counties, cities, towns and other local governments, from discriminating against qualified job applicants and workers who are or who may become disabled. The law covers all aspects of employment including the application process and hiring, training, compensation, advancement, and any other employment term, condition/ privileges. The law defines an undue hardship as an "action requiring significant difficulty or expense. The employment provisions of the law ensure that persons with disabilities are given the same opportunity to secure employment that nondisabled people take for
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