The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. This is a Civil Rights law that prohibits any discrimination based on any disability. This was "one small step for man", and "one giant leap" for the disability community. This act was passed so any individual would have equal rights in the workplace, at home, at school, and in the general public. The act is separated into 5 sections(titles).

Title 1: Equal Employment Opportunity

This allows people with disabilities the same access to employment the same as everyone else. This also means that employers have to provide reasonable accommodation for that person as long as it does not provide a financial hardship on the employer.

Title 2: Nondiscrimination in State and Local Government

This means that State and Local Governments, plus government agencies have to change their policies in order not to be discriminatory towards people with disabilities.

Title 3: Public Accommodations

This allows the minimum accessibility requirements for public places. For example, this means business owners have to have curb-cuts, or ramps if their building is not level with the ground. Every business has to have a specific number of accessible parking spaces for the number of regular parking spaces there are and square feet.

Title 4: Telecommunications

This title allows for the deaf or hard of hearing to be able to use a relay service to be able to talk on the phone with someone.

Title 5: Misc. Provisions

This is basically a whole bunch of mumble jumble about social security benefits, legal fees, what is and what isn't considered a disability by the Government, and a lot of things that I don't quite understand yet.

Now that you have the basic understanding like me of what the ADA is, we can continue to learn more about the ADA, and that we should be vigilant in providing strong advocacy for individuals with disabilities.