On July 26, 2020, the nation celebrates the 30th anniversary of the landmark legislation known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa is proud to play a critical role in the Department of Justice’s enforcement efforts under the ADA.
The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in many contexts, including employment, state and local government activities, places of public accommodation, transportation, and telecommunications. The Department of Justice is authorized to investigate complaints, conduct compliance reviews to ensure accessibility, initiate and intervene in litigation, and provide technical assistance to businesses, governments, and the general public to promote voluntary compliance with the ADA.
“Our office is proud to continue its work to enforce the ADA and to uphold its promise of equal access and opportunity for all," said U.S. Attorney Peter E. Deegan, Jr.
Over the past 30 years, our country has undertaken the hard work of changing attitudes about disability, tearing down barriers to equality, and dismantling the systems that have historically excluded people with disabilities. On this anniversary, we commemorate the many ways that the ADA has transformed our society-by replacing exclusion with access, segregation with integration, and limitations with self-determination. The ADA has advanced the promise of the American dream, ensuring that people with disabilities can write their own stories. And as a society, we are better and stronger because of the contributions that people with disabilities make.
For more information on the ADA, please call the Department of Justice’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. To file a complaint with the Department, please visit the Civil Rights Division’s portal at https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
