Legislation · 1990

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Signed by President George H. W. Bush on the South Lawn of the White House, the ADA prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public transportation, public accommodations and telecommunications. It required reasonable accommodations and accessibility standards so that Americans with disabilities could take part fully in economic and civic life.

“…to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities…”

July 26, 1990

Why it matters

Passed with broad bipartisan support, it is widely regarded as the most sweeping civil rights law since the 1960s. Comparing it to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bush declared at the signing: “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

Read the full text at govinfo.gov

Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

civil rights disability rights employment accessibility

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