Michael P. Maslanka, assistant professor of law, UNT Dallas College of Law.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is broken. As the sportscasters intone, let’s go to the stats. Based on the last census, one in every 25 Americans are ADA disabled. Yet only 41 percent of those with a disability, in the age 21 to 64 cohort, are employed.
According to Matthew Brault, U.S. Census Bureau, Americans with Disabilities Act (2012) these numbers reflect the harsh reality that “people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged … economically.” What went wrong? Promise was bright when the law was enacted in 1990.
