Forward The New Stage Of Democracy: Perceptions On Disability And Employment Discrimination After The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990

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.