Equality of Opportunity: The Making of the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Future for Americans with Disabilities

ADA represents a significant accomplishment in the evolution of society’s views and treatment of people with disabilities. . . . Nonetheless, ADA is but one node in a continuum of progress, and it pales in relation to the extant overwhelming service and survival needs of people with disabilities. Ultimately, the full impact of ADA will be realized only after the majority of people with disabilities gain access to certain basic services like attendant care, readers, interpreters, transportation, housing assistance, affordable health care, and medical and vocational rehabilitation. Formless as liquid in a vacuum, the concept of equality has little meaning for people who struggle to survive without the resources necessary to meet fundamental human needs.

Lex Frieden¹

1. Lex Frieden, quoted in “ADA: A Special Issue,” Worklife 3:3 (Fall 1990), p. 15.