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ACLU Praises House Passage of ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (09/17/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union welcomes today’s passage of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) by the House of Representatives. The legislation, introduced by Representative Hoyer (D-MD) in the House and Senator Harkin (D-IA) in the Senate, rolls back two decades worth of legal decisions that have thwarted the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The House passed the bill by a voice vote, as did the Senate last week.

Disability Backlogs Violate Due Process Rights (05/08/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union was encouraged by today’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on service delivery problems with the Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. The SSA has struggled in processing disability claims in reasonable timeframes and the ACLU has concerns that a mandatory employment verification system would capsize the already overburdened agency.

Employment Verification Would Create a ‘No Work List’ in the U.S. (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – As the House Ways & Means subcommittee on Social Security met today to debate employment eligibility verification systems, the American Civil Liberties Union sounds its call for Congress not to erect barriers for Americans who seek employment. The hearing is to examine the impact that employment verification systems would have on the Social Security Administration (SSA), an already overburdened governmental agency.

Social Security Delays of Disability Claims Violate Due Process Rights (04/23/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union commends the House Ways and Means Committee for holding a hearing today on the backlog of Social Security disability claims. The ACLU has submitted a written statement to the committee.

Budget Cuts Target Elderly and Disabled Refugees (02/06/2008)
PORTLAND, ME – Many elderly and disabled refugees who have sought asylum in Maine could lose their only source of income under proposed budget cuts that will be presented Thursday to a joint meeting of the Appropriations and Health and Human Services Committees. The budget cuts proposed by Governor John Baldacci would change current law, which has allowed the state to help disabled refugees who are here legally but who are not eligible for federal SSI benefits.

Disability Rights - ACLU Position/Briefing Paper (01/01/1999)

Complaint Ligas v. Maram (07/28/2005)

ACLU Written Statement Submitted to the Senate Finance Committee (05/08/2008)

Written Statement of Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, Submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee on Social Security Claim Delays for Disability (04/23/2008)

ACLU comments on proposed DOJ regulations impacting disabled prisoners (05/26/2005)

Sign On Letter to House of Representatives Urging Members to Vote Against the Class Action Fairness Act (02/23/2005)

Coalition Sign-On Letter Urging Exemption of Civil Rights and Wage Hour Cases from S. 5, the Class Action Fairness Act (02/02/2005)

Winter 1999 -- ACLU Briefing Paper #21 on Disability Rights (02/28/2002)
People with disabilities are the poorest, least employed, and least educated minority in America. At the end of 1995, it was estimated that one out of five people in the U.S. had some level of disability, one of ten, severe. Too often, people with disabilities have been treated as second class citizens, shunned and segregated by physical barriers and social stereotypes. They have been discriminated against in employment, schools, and housing, robbed of their personal autonomy, and too often, hidden away and forgotten by the larger society. By and large, people with disabilities continue to be excluded from the American dream: