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ACTION NEEDED:
Call your Representative at 202-224-3121 (http://www.congress.gov) and urge him/her to co-sponsor the ADA Restoration Act when it is introduced on Thursday, July 26..

BACKGROUND:
Seventeen years ago, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with overwhelming bipartisan support. However, in recent years, a number of Supreme Court decisions have significantly reduced the protections available to people with disabilities in employment settings.

Courts are quick to side with businesses and employers, deciding against people with disabilities who challenge employment discrimination 97% of the time, often before the person has even had a chance to show that the employer treated them unfairly.

Indeed, courts have created an absurd Catch-22 by allowing employers to say a person is “too disabled” to do the job but not “disabled enough” to be protected by the ADA. People with conditions like epilepsy, diabetes, HIV, cancer, hearing loss, and mental illness that manage their disabilities with medication, prosthetics, hearing aids, etc. -- or “mitigating measures” -- are viewed as “too functional” to have a disability and are denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination.

People denied a job or fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job or because the employer does not want people with disabilities in the workplace are also denied the ADA's protection from employment discrimination.

ADA RESTORATION ACT TO BE INTRODUCED JULY 26TH

AAPD has been working with a broad coalition of disability organizations who have helped Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) draft the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, which would enable Americans with disabilities utilizing the ADA to focus on the discrimination that they have experienced rather than having to first prove that they fall within the scope of the ADA's protection.

With this bill, the ADA's clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability will be properly restored. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who played a leading role in passage of the ADA in 1990, will be an original co-sponsor, but we need more Representatives to sign onto the bill when it is introduced to show the bipartisan support and importance of this measure.

Your help is urgently needed to garner support and passage of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. Call your Representative today and ask him/her to co-sponsor the bill.

Sample Telephone Message for Use BEFORE JULY 26 seeking ORIGINAL COSPONSORS:

“Hi. My name is_______ and I live in ________. I would like Representative______ to be an original cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. Employers can say that I am “too disabled” to perform my job, but “not disabled enough” to be protected by the ADA. This is wrong! Restore the ADA and restore the rights my rights – Please be an original cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. If you would be willing to be an original cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, please contact Representative Hoyer’s or Sensenbrenner’s offices. ”

Sample Telephone Message for use AFTER JULY 26 seeking Cosponsors:

“Hi. My name is_______ and I live in ________. I need Representative______ to cosponsor the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. Seventeen years ago, the ADA was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, yet people with disabilities are still being treated unfairly. People with disabilities are in a no-win situation. Employers can say that I am “too disabled” to perform my job, but “not disabled enough” to be protected by the ADA. This is wrong! Restore the ADA and restore my rights – Please cosponsor HR _____.”