The ADA Is Under Serious Attack! URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Action Alert Americans with Disabilities Act General The Americans with Disabilities Act

April 17, 2017

The person in wheelchair symbol on disabled parking spots.

Tell the House of Representatives to OPPOSE H.R. 620

"The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017"

H.R. 620 and similar ADA notification bills are gaining more steam in Congress than ever before. If any passes, it will take the heart out of the ADA by denying people with disabilities the power to enforce some of its requirements.

We must counter the business lobby, which wants to make it much more difficult to attain accessibility when businesses such as stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. disregard their ADA responsibilities.

H.R. 620:

  • Removes any incentive for voluntary compliance.
  • Requires a person with a disability who encounters an access barrier to send a letter detailing the exact ADA provisions that are being violated.
  • Rewards non-compliance by allowing businesses generous additional timelines, even though the ADA's reasonable requirements are already over 25 years old!
  • Perpetuates the myth that the ADA benefits unscrupulous lawyers rather than the truth: that the ADA is the most important civil rights law for people with disabilities.
  • Ignores the extensive, free educational resources already available today to any business on how to comply with the law.

Tell your Congressional Representative to OPPOSE H.R. 620, and any other bill to weaken the ADA! Express the concerns listed above. See the Additional Resources for more information.

Congress Members are on recess this week, but many of their staff are still in D.C. to get your messages. Let's all contact them this week, so when the Members return, their staff will tell them they've heard from hundreds of people!

Also, the House Judiciary Committee could consider this bill as soon as the last week of April. If it passes, it may go very quickly to the full House for a vote—so the entire House needs to hear from us, starting immediately and for the next few weeks!

What to do:

  • Go to contactingcongress.org and insert your zip code to find many simple methods for contacting your House representative: via e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter, fax, etc.
  • Call your House of Representatives Member using the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. They will help you find your Representative's name if you don't know it, and switch you to your Representative's office. If you know your Representative's name, here is the House of Representatives phone list.

Extra urgent, if your Representative is on the Judiciary Committee:

If your Congressional representative, or any Representative from your state, serves on the House Judiciary Committee, it is especially important to contact them ASAP, because this Committee will vote on the bill first. See a full list of Committee members.

Town Halls this week:

Members of Congress are in their home districts this week. Many will be at Town Halls or other public events where you can ask them to oppose H.R. 620, and say why. To find local events, try townhallproject.com. Or, check your Representative's website or call their local district office; see contactingcongress.org.

Additional Resources:

Additional questions? E-mail info@dredf.org