Disability discrimination claims increase

USA Today, in a front page story: "More people with disabilities filed charges of discrimination against their employers last year than at any other time in the 20-year history of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Almost 21,500 ADA-related charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2009. The main reasons for the increase: the recession and an amendment to the ADA that broadened the definition of what it means to be disabled" and that took effect in 2009. "Besides being fired, complaints include being overlooked for promotion, not being switched to a job that matches the person's abilities or not getting accommodations such as computer upgrades to be able to do a job" (Bello, 8/20).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.