S. 3406
Friday, August 29 2008
Keeping to my theme from yesterday, I want to point out that S. 3406, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, is on the calendar in the Senate. This is a crucial piece of legislation for the millions of Americans who have some form of disability (and I include myself in that category), yet the only blog that seems to be keeping track is run by the American Association of Persons with Disabilities.
Disability law isn’t health care per se, but the two intersect in fairly profound ways. For example, when your health insurance is tied to your job, the fact that you can be fired – discriminated against – for being sick is directly relevant to your health.
In theory, the original ADA was supposed to address this, but in the last several years the courts (ie the Supreme Court) have handed down increasingly restrictive interpretations in cases like Sutton v. United Airlines, Albertons’ v. Kirkinburg, and Toyota v. Williams. These decisions have gone directly against the legislative intent behind the original ADA – so says Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who introduced the original bill and last year introduced a slightly different Amendments bill. Harkin explains the new bill again here.
Most people – even many disabled persons – have no idea that there was anything wrong with ADA. I have known about Sutton and co. for some time, and often wondered what it would take to fix the statutes. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one: I heard about the bill a few months ago on NPR (I was still half asleep, and thought I’d dreamt it). But even as it races towards passage, there’s relatively little reporting on the subject.
Once again, this is why the blogosphere needs me.
The site is a bit generic at present, I know. I plan to spend some time in the next few weeks dressing it up, but for now I am simply trying to keep to regular bloggering.
