The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) makes it unlawful to discriminate in employment against a qualified individual with a disability. The ADA also outlaws discrimination against individuals with disabilities in State and local government services, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. This section explains the part of the ADA that prohibits job discrimination. This part of the law is enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and State and local civil rights enforcement agencies that work with the Commission.

Are You Protected by The ADA?

If you have a disability and are qualified to do a job, the ADA protects you from job discrimination on the basis of your disability. Under the ADA, you have a disability if you have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. The ADA also protects you if you have a history of such a disability, or if an employer believes that you have such a disability, even if you don't.

To be protected under the ADA, you must have, have a record of, or be regarded as having a substantial, as opposed to a minor, impairment. A substantial impairment is one that significantly limits or restricts a major life activity such as hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working.

If you have a disability, you must also be qualified to perform the essential functions or duties of a job, with or without reasonable accommodation, in order to be protected from job discrimination by the ADA. This means two things.

First, you must satisfy the employer's requirements for the job, such as education, employment experience, skills or licenses.
Second, you must be able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. Essential functions are the fundamental job duties that you must be able to perform on your own or with the help of a reasonable accommodation. An employer cannot refuse to hire you because your disability prevents you from performing duties that are not essential to the job.

Illinois White Cane Law

Under this law, persons who are blind or visually impaired, or hearing impaired, or have other physical disabilities are entitled to full and equal use of all hotels, lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement or resort and other places to which the general public is invited. This includes the right to a support dog or guide dog without extra cost. Click here to download (2 page Word document).

Self-Help & Informational Materials by Topic Area

Go to Equip for Equality's website for further Employment Law and ADA resources. They have many Fact Sheets organized by a variety of topics including Employment Law, Assistive Technology, Reasonable Accommodation Request Sample Letter and many other useful topics.