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Law & Psychiatry: Congress Restores the Americans With Disabilities Act to Its Original Intent

Mr. Petrila is affiliated with the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612 (e-mail: petrila{at}fmhi.usf.edu). Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D., is editor of this column.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was created to prohibit discrimination based on disability. Although many individuals filed claims alleging discrimination in the workplace based on disability, the federal courts, led by the U.S. Supreme Court, adopted an increasingly constricted interpretation of key provisions of the ADA. As a result, many individuals with serious impairments were found by the courts to not be disabled. In 2008 Congress overturned these court decisions by enacting the ADA Amendments Act. These amendments overrule several decisions by the United States Supreme Court that narrowed the applicability of the ADA, and they restore the ADA to its original intent.

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