Health Care for Americans with Disabilities — 25 Years after the ADA

Some provisions of the Affordable Care Act should extend the advances made by the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990. But the persistence of health disparities and barriers to care for people with disabilities indicates that more remains to be done. Twenty-five years ago, on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), designed to meet four goals for people with disabilities: equal opportunity, full participation in the community, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. This landmark civil rights law aimed to prevent employment discrimination and give equal access to public and private services for all people with disabilities. At the signing ceremony, Bush exclaimed, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” Since the passage of the ADA, there have been extensive gains in access to public services, the built environment (e.g., crosswalks . . .