🚀 go-pugleaf

    The rights of the disabled are being eroded by a handful of criminals
and their attorneys who have managed to use the ADA as a device to extort
money from honest businesses.
    The ADA has also meant billions of dollars being spent on buildings and
modifications which are of use only to a tiny minority of society.  Remember
that the ADA was passed with the promise that it would provide greater
access to the disabled.  While this goal has been accomplished to a great
extent, the great majority of the money devoted to these purposes has gone
to the bureaucracy and their cronies who benefit from the required
improvements.
    While the ADA is very valuable to those who really need it, it is a dead
issue because of the abuses of a few greedy people.  It represents
corruption and excess.  The ADA is going away and you aren't going to win
this one.  It isn't Bush's fault so look to your own.

"Deaf Power" <deaf@power.com> wrote in message
news:T5Cyd.9264$jn.381@lakeread06...
>
> http://www.aclu.org/DisabilityRights/DisabilityRights.cfm?ID=9962&c=69
>
> Preserve the Rights of the Disabled
>
>  The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by Congress in 1990
> with overwhelming bipartisan support, and signed into law by President
> Bush and the evidence of its success is everywhere. Handicap parking
> spaces, Braille instructions on ATM's, and ramps built into sidewalks
> have all become commonplace fixtures that make an enormous difference
> in the lives of persons with disabilities. Yet, despite ample evidence
> that the ADA is working, some Members of Congress are trying to place
> new roadblocks to justice for people with disabilities.
>
> A bill called the "ADA Notification Act" (HR 728) was introduced by
> Rep Mark Foley (R-FL) to punish individuals for bringing timely
> lawsuits to enforce the ADA. Legislation of this nature would punish
> individuals who do not first notify a business of an ADA violation and
> then wait nearly three months before filing a lawsuit - even if the
> business has been breaking the law for years!
>
> Take Action! Urge your members of Congress to oppose this legislation.
>
> * The ADA has been in effect for 14 years. Businesses that have spent
> the past decade breaking the law should not be rewarded.
> Supporters of this bill claim that it would ensure that businesses are
> given adequate notice. In reality, the ADA included several safeguards
> to ensure that businesses and other public accommodations would have
> adequate notice of their obligations and ample time to take steps to
> bring themselves into compliance. Businesses have had a full decade to
> become ADA compliant, and there is no reason for further delay.
>
> * There is ample information and training available for businesses to
> determine if they are in compliance.
> Each year for the last seven years, the U.S. Justice Department has
> notified more than 6 million businesses of their responsibilities
> under ADA and how to comply. The Justice Department also runs a
> toll-free ADA information line, which receives more than 100,000 calls
> a year. Given that materials are prepared for a wide array of business
> and specifically for small businesses, there is no reason that a
> business cannot determine if they are ADA compliant well before a
> lawsuit is filed.
>
> * Three months is too long for someone who needs an accommodation
> today.
> Persons with disabilities should be able to engage in such basic
> activities as work, travel and obtaining healthcare without worrying
> about which businesses are complying with the ADA and which ones are
> breaking the law. Persons with disabilities have had to travel from
> hotel to hotel to find one that is wheelchair accessible, have had to
> demand that their guide dogs be allowed into restaurants, and have had
> to risk losing their professional accreditation when mandatory
> education classes were not sign-language interpreted.
>
> * Claims of frivolous lawsuits are already handled in current law.
> The bill's supporters claim that the legislation would cut down on
> frivolous lawsuits. But frivolous lawsuits are already prohibited by
> law and such claims are regularly handled by courts and state bar
> associations. Courts already fine law firms and plaintiffs when they
> find that a lawsuit is frivolous.
>
> TAKE ACTION!
>
> � ACLU