Unit 5 Discussion and Responses

My Post The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, was signed into law in 1990. It is a civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination and guarantees the same opportunities in American life to people with disabilities. Some of these opportunities are employment, purchasing goods and services, transportation, communication, and to participate in state and local government programs and services. The ADA protects people with disabilities. It does not list all impairments covered, but defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

My Post Cont. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998. It blocks the Federal government from obtaining electronic and information technology goods and services that are not fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. Section 508 outlines binding, enforceable standards that must be followed in order for electronic and information technology products to be available to individuals with disabilities. It was the first ever US federal accessibility standard for the internet and state governments and businesses can be held accountable for complying with section 508. To summarize section 508 requires all website content, which includes wed applications, web pages, all attached files on the internet, and the internet itself, to be accessible to individuals with disabilities.

My Response to Sabrina Hinterman Hi Sabrina, I really like your post because you gave a lot of real life examples of ADA and Section 508. When doing my research on the two I found a lot of information, but most of it was hard to understand because it was all put into legal words. It is kind of fun to go around and actually see ADA in action. Like, earlier today I was at the bank, and it has a connection for a headset. Or the wheelchair buttons to press to open a door.

My Response to Dakota Liles Hi Dakota, I like that you included students when talking about ADA. I think a lot of people mainly see it as the handicapped parking spots or ramps, but do not know that it extends into schools. As a future teacher it is important to know all the laws that pertain to the school and the students.