Forward The New Stage Of Democracy: Perceptions On Disability And Employment Discrimination After The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990
Date
2016-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Despite decades of disability movement and the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990, many people with disabilities are still excluded and discriminated in
various areas of life, including the workforce. The primary reason for such exclusion
is that our society is exposed to ableist standards, which often either undermine or
exaggerate the life with a disability. Since this is more of structural discrimination,
most people often unintentionally impose these standards and bias. As a result,
reevaluation of disability is need for a more inclusive model of democracy. In many
aspects, the Title 1 of ADA tries to remedy such ableism by explicitly prohibiting
employment discrimination.
But what law can do is limited. It cannot always penetrate into our cultural and
social values. Given the limits of law, I examine how well the ADA corresponds to
Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach and how it has progressed through the
Supreme Court cases till the Amendments Act of 2008. This study mainly involves a
theoretical analysis of different philosophers and a legal analysis of the court cases,
hoping to sketch a new stage of democracy that can be more inclusive.
Description
Keywords
democracy, disability, employment discrimination