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Note: Why the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act is Destined to Fail: Lack of Protection for the "Truly" Disabled, Impracticability of Employer Compliance, and the Negative Impact it Will Have on Our Already Struggling Economy

Abstract

On September 25, 2008, former President George W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act of 2008 (ADAAA), setting into motion perhaps the most extensive change to employment law in the last decade. The ADAAA, which took effect on January 1, 2009, aims to reinstitute the original congressional intent behind the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Act that grants employment protection to the disabled, which many believe was destroyed by a sequence of Supreme Court rulings that narrowed the definition of "disabled." Notwithstanding Congress's good intentions, the ADA was unsuccessful at integrating the disabled into the American workforce, and the ADAAA is likely to be just as unsuccessful as its predecessor. This Note aims to explain and analyze the inherent failings of the ADAAA.