Dealing with Disability Laws
Disabilities > > Dealing with Disability Laws
When we have the unfortunate task of learning about and making best practice use of disability laws, we at first might feel overwhelmed—especially if the disability we have incurred has happened upon us suddenly. But disability laws are made in our favor, protecting us even from the ones who abuse these laws.
This piece of writing is by no means a substitution for legal information, as this writer is not a qualified legal expert or even personnel, do instead this is an overview—in list form—of some of the primary disability laws that protect us and support us in times of need.
But first, a working, workable definition of disability might help to introduce an overview of disability laws. As the real experts (at Cornell) tell it, and since disability laws are for the most part regulated by the 1990 ADA (American Disabilities Act), the ADA decides upon the requisite consistent variables: that is, the ADA defines what a disability constitutes:
1. a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of the individual.
2. a record of such impairment.
3. being regarded as having such an impairment. (Legal Information Institute at Cornell)
Such details covered include alcoholism and drug addiction, too, but exclude “socially undesirable behavioral disorders and do not list all disabilities covered under disability laws, either.
But disability laws that are included involve issues that protect disabled individuals from/with the following:
AIDS patients
Abuse-spousal, child, and other disabled victims
Accident victims
Addiction-involved individuals
Automobile, home, and property buyers/general consumers
Children
Civil Workers
Educators and students
Emotionally [disturbed]/Mentally Ill
Federal Workers (military, for ex.)
Homeless
Physically disabled
Seniors
The best thing to do is contact/consult with a legal representative in your area, for more specific information on specific disability laws. And in the meantime, trust that the ADA and other institutions are created and exist to protect us.