This learning activity highlights sections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) that concern anti-discrimination in the workplace. It also uses video clips from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting to hear from disabled people about the real-life impacts of these laws, as well as continuing challenges to employment. More information about current employment requirements per the ADA can be found on the EEOC website.

Before jumping into the discussion questions, spend some time breaking down the language in the two laws, so students are able to summarize the main ideas in their own words. You might choose to break up the class into pairs or small groups to tackle different parts of the ADA excerpts document and then teach each other.

Potential Discussion Questions

1. How did the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 break from past tradition? In other words, what was the government doing differently now regarding the employment of people with disabilities?
   1. Students might compare these modern laws to the 1918 Rehabilitation Act and/or other government initiatives (like the National Employ the Handicapped Week).
   2. Consider discussing the different models of disability (moral, medical, social, etc.) and their relevance to these laws. (Short descriptions of some of the models can be found here or here.)
2. What was the major difference between the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 regarding employment?
3. What impacts did the disability legislation have?
4. What obstacles to employment continued to exist for disabled people? Provide specific examples from the video clips.
5. What are attendant services and why are they so important to disabled people’s well-being?
6. How does affirmative action in the hiring of disabled people relate to ideas about equality versus equity?

Additional activities

• Ask students to research recent news articles concerning disabled people’s employment. Have students analyze their chosen article paying particular attention to whose perspectives are included and/or missing. Then ask students to provide relevant historical context to the article based on what they’ve learned in class.

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This source set can be put into conversation with:

-the longer history of disabled Americans’ employment across the twentieth century

-other civil rights legislation (like the Civil Rights Act of 1964) & subsequent affirmative action initiatives

-ongoing employment inequalities (such as the gender wage gap)

-a broader discussion of the ADA (employment is only one component of it)