Report focusing on the Americans with Disabilities Act and its impact on facilities management and planning.
This report explains who is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the laws enacted under the Act. The paper also talks about some of the misperceptions and misunderstandings many Americans have regarding the Act and suggests that it is a law based on common sense and will help businesses in the long run as they make their sites more accessible to the disabled.
“There are obviously qualifications for someone to be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. A person who has a disability must still be qualified to participate whether a disability was there or not. If someone with a disability desired to join a swim team or some other activity where the individual would not otherwise have made the team, keeping her off the team would not be considered discrimination. For example, a 15-year-old girl with spinal bifida tries out for the swim team but she cannot swim, a coach would not be discriminating. This would not be discrimination under Americans with Disabilities Act because the girl would not have qualified either way – the problem was she was a non-swimmer not that she was disabled. If facilities managers and planners make the barriers go away, companies should then be able to hire workers who increase productivity with or without the Americans with Disabilities Act.”