No Protection for Americans with Disabilities
Prior to 1990, Americans with disabilities had no protection in how they worked or lived. To give just one example, this meant that any person in a wheelchair might have been unable to get a job because of a lack of a ramp to get in the front door. While there were no specific laws discriminating against people with disabilities, these “little oversights” in making workplaces accessible to everyone put many Americans at a disadvantage.
In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring public places to be accessible to those with disabilities and nixing job discrimination practices against those same people.