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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been hailed as a landmark piece of civil rights legislation and a boon to people with disabilities in the United States. Title I of the ADA specifically addresses employment discrimination toward persons with disabilities. Congressional proponents of the ADA anticipated that the statute would bring about a reversal of the high unemployment numbers among the disabled. This thesis examines the unemployment data for persons with disabilities 10 years following enactment of the ADA. It shows that the ADA has not reversed unemployment trends among persons with disabilities. This work compares the expectations of the bill's sponsors and/or advocates for improvements in employment opportunities for working aged adults with disabilities, provided for by Title I of the ADA, with the actual outcomes. This thesis highlights some the principal problems inherent with the law itself, problems that may be contributing to the ADA's inability to reverse high unemployment numbers among the disabled. This paper also addresses concerns within the US business community regarding implementation of the law. The results presented show that the ADA has not brought about the flood of litigation originally anticipated by American business, neither has it increased frivolous litigation. Data are also offered which demonstrate that compliance with the law in the form of accommodation expenses for persons with disabilities is not onerous. Finally, this study presents some of the ongoing problems with regard to discrimination against persons with disabilities in the workplace. / Master of Arts

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Community colleges face great challenges in dealing with students with disabilities. The purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is to extend protection against discrimination to individuals with disabilities. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act is very general and does not address specific situations, the fact is clear that colleges are mandated to provide equal educational opportunities for students with disabilities. Proper implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act is necessary not only to assure compliance with the law but also to assure that every student is afforded equal opportunity to achieve success in college. The problem of the study was to ascertain the extent to which the 15 community colleges in Mississippi have made efforts to provide equal access and equal educational opportunities in accordance with the ADA and with certain standards suggested in scholarly literature related to the topic of students with disabilities. The research suggests that a large part of the effort that has been made by community colleges to accommodate disabled students is reflected in both the policy and procedure manuals and in the operation of the disability services offices. The researcher studied the policy and procedure manuals and the operation of the disability services offices in the 15 Mississippi community colleges to examine the extent to which inclusions recommended by experts in the field are present. The study was divided into two parts. The first part was an examination of the availability and content of policy and procedure manuals to see if they contain what experts in the field consider necessary inclusions. The second part of the study included an examination of the background of the disability services administrators as well as a questionnaire to ascertain the disability services administrators’ perceptions about the operation of the disability services offices. The results of this study indicate that although Mississippi community colleges have made some progress in implementation of the ADA, there are areas that are lacking. For example, 40% of Mississippi community colleges do not have readily available policy and procedure manuals. Additionally, none of the policy and procedure manuals contains all of the inclusions recommended by both experts in the field and by the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)

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ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF ADA TITLE I ALLEGATIONS OF WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION AS FILED WITH THE EEOC BY PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS Jessica Erin Hurley A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Health Related Sciences—Rehabilitation Leadership Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Dissertation Chair: Brian T. McMahon, Ph.D., CRC This study explores employment discrimination as experienced by persons with mental illness who filed allegations under Title I (the employment provisions) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The entire universe of employment discrimination allegations filed under Title I of the ADA from July 26, 1992 (its first effective date) until the present is maintained by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in a database named the Intermission System (IMS). This database contains over 2 million allegations of workplace discrimination filed not only under Title I of the ADA, but also under all statutes in its jurisdiction. From the IMS, two extractions containing ADA Title I allegations only and ranging from July 26,1992 through December 31, 2008 [the last date before the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008 went into effect] were made: the first including all Title I allegations for all impairments, not just mental illness (402,291); and the second containing only those Title I allegations filed by persons with mental illness (56,846 total: depression (25,375); unknown mental illness (11,977); anxiety disorder (10,370); bipolar disorder (7,675); and schizophrenia 1,449). Using nonparametric tests of proportion, each group of allegations is compared to the balance of mental illness allegations that is left once the group of allegations is removed. In addition, each group individually, as well as the complete group of all mental illness allegations, is evaluated with an exploratory technique called the Exhaustive Chi Squared Interaction Detector. Lastly, findings are provided and implications for employees, employers, rehabilitation professionals, policy makers, and future researchers are discussed.

My dissertation offers three empirical studies of the outcomes following public policy changes designed to reduce the impact of discrimination. The first two chapters focus on the migration of black South Africans soon after the notorious apartheid policies of the South African government were eliminated in the early 1990s. The last chapter of my thesis touches another anti-discrimination policy, the American with Disabilities Act of 1990.Chapter 1 investigates the impact of internal migration on the human capital redistribution within South Africa. As apartheid was being dismantled, new opportunities for movement opened up to black workers, leading to a surge in internal migration. The empirical analysis shows that individuals prefer localities with higher expected log wages regardless of their educations and skills. Second, over the study period, brain drain arose among blacks within South Africa: the share of people with high school education rose in areas that had originally had more people with high school educations.Chapter 2 studies the impact of family migration on women's employment status in South Africa as apartheid was being dismantled. Black women in migrating households with both spouses were more likely to be unemployed than in nonmigrant households. Moreover, the initial negative relationship between migration and employment in a new area for white spouses of migrants was eliminated within 2 years, while black spouses of migrants experienced higher levels of unemployment relative to nonmigrants over a more extended period.Chapter 3 examines the changes in the Oaxaca decomposition measures of labor market discrimination for individuals with disabilities before and after the passage of the ADA. The results indicate that the employment and wage gaps between the disabled and the non-disabled have risen sharply over time, both before and after the passage of the ADA. Most of the rise prior to the ADA was attributable to a rise in differences that cannot be explained with measurable factors. Nearly all of the rises in the gaps after the introduction of the ADA, however, are attributable to factors that can be measured. The unexplained differential has held relatively constant during that period.

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, retrospective research study was to examine the charges of disability-related, private-sector workplace discrimination made by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To date, there has been a lack of research regarding the nature, scope and dynamics of employment discrimination affecting individuals with ASDs.A portion of the EEOC's Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) database was analyzed, drawing upon the following five major categories: (1) charging-party demographics, (2) responding-party characteristics, (3), U.S. region, (4) ADA Title I discrimination charge categories, and (e) case resolutions. All charges that were received, investigated, and fully resolved by the EEOC from July 26, 1992 (the first date the ADA went in effect through September 30, 2003 (last day of fiscal year 2003), were available for analyses.First, an exploratory descriptive design was employed, in order to capture the characteristics (or profile) of the ADA Title I charges of discrimination made to the EEOC by individuals with ASDs.The second phase of the study, comparative in nature, contrasted the ASD profile against three groups of individuals with other types of disabilities: (1) other physical, sensory, and neurological disabilities, (2) emotional or psychological disabilities, and (3) mental retardation. Overall, the use of Fisher's exact tests and t-Tests for independent groups revealed that the profile of ASD charges has relatively more in common with the charge profile for mental retardation than the other two comparative groups.The third phase of this study, predictive in nature, explored whether or not the final EEOC case resolutions of ASD charges (considered simply as merit vs. non-merit resolutions) could be predicted as a function of some of the contextual variables available within the database. Logistic regression analysis revealed that ASD case resolutions can be partially predicated as a function of: (1) the employer's industry (i.e., Service industries vs. all other industries), and (2) the size of the employer.

July 26, 2010 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act; the greater implications of comprehensive disability policy are yet to be seen. Nearly twenty percent of Americans have a disability. With such a significant portion of Americans affected, is equal access to employment opportunities, transportation, and communication available? The history of disability in America tells a story of isolation and institutionalization. The civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s opened up an opportunity for America’s most versatile minority group. A survey conducted by the International Center for the Disabled in 1986 showed sixty-six percent of non-institutionalized disabled individuals wished to be employed but did not have access to a job. The ADA attempts to knock down the societal barriers facing these individuals. Two decades later, the efficacy of the ADA is under fire. A series of legal battles during the 1990’s narrowed the scope of ADA regulations. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 attempts to “restore the intent and protections” of the original bill but does it succeed? Disability rights experts and disabled citizens agree: there is much work to be done.

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