House committee reviews case of ADA Restoration Act of 2007

If you didn’t already know, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor had a hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 3195) yesterday. For details of the hearing, go to the
committee’s official press release site.

The committee hearing is part of the review process of the legislation, which is seeking to reaffirm the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Included in the report are testimony excerpts from Carey McClure, Andrew Imparato, and Robert Burgdorf.

McClure spoke about how General Motors revoked their initial job offer to him, due to his muscular dystrophy. The courts supported GM’s position, citing that McClure had adapted his activities of daily living sufficient enough so that he was no longer considered disabled, and thus, not covered by the ADA.

Imparato is the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities and spoke on the progressive trend of courts stripping away the beacon of hope that the original ADA was to people with disabilities.

Burgdorf is a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia and addressed the factual statistics that support Imparato’s allegations.

For party contrast, you may also want to review the
Republican view,
As the tone of that press release leans in a different direction than that which is in the first report.

It is good to finally see this legislation working its way through the system. We can only hope that the good and common sense of Congress triumphs over the prevailing system of Washington lobbyists dollars being used to push their agendas.