The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, and was the first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. It applied to all qualifying private employers (employers with 15 or more employees), all state and local government programs, including the public schools, and all places of public accommodation, including non-religiously controlled colleges and universities and test agencies.
Following its enactment, some of the fundamental provisions of the ADA were narrowed by Supreme Court rulings. The rulings (most notably Sutton v. United Airlines, 1999 and Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams, 2002) served to limit the scope of opportunities and protections that were originally intended Americans with Disabilities Act.
Somewhat under the radar an Amendments Act (ADAAA) was passed in 2008 and became effective in 2009. Recently school boards including Dallas ISD have been looking at the effect of the ADAAA on the education of children with Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADD and ADHD respectively.
The ADAAA did not change the basic definition of disability, but rather the manner in which the definition is to be interpreted. The ADAAA continues to define disability as an individual:
1. With a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
2. Who has a record of such an impairment; or
3. Who is regarded as having such impairment.
A major change occurred in the definition of what are termed "Major life activities." Before the amendment the definition of major life activities included but was not limited to: caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Recent changes have included the addition of: eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, reading, concentrating, thinking, and communicating. While the list of major life activities has been expanded, it is intended to illustrate what is covered and is not intended to be completely inclusive.
The legislation also clarified that an impairment substantially limiting one major life activity does not need to limit others to be considered a disability. For example, a student will be considered to have a disability if his or her impairment substantially limits reading even if it does not substantially limit learning.
A particular area of recent clarification is that just because a person has up till now managed their limiting condition on their own without intervention, does not prevent them from seeking protection and accomodation under the ADA.
This means that a student with a learning disability who has performed well academically can still be a qualified individual under both the ADAAA and Section 504. So that should a student encounter issues in academia at any point they can seek ADA protection and modification or accomodation as needed.
Of some note, AD/HD was the most common basis for a Section 504 plan, followed by diabetes.
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